Why Sudha Murty has not bought a single saree in over 20 years

Sudha Murty has not bought a new saree for herself in over 20 years.

Sudha Murty has not purchased a single saree for herself in over 20 years, despite being one of India’s richest women. Instead, for more than two decades, the 73-year-old philanthropist has relied on sarees gifted to her by her sister, close friends and, occasionally, the NGOs she is associated with.

Once an avid shopper who liked buying clothes and putting outfits together, Sudha Murty is now content with her “100 percent no shopping policy,” according to The Voice of Fashion magazine.

Her change of heart happened during a trip to Varanasi, when she vowed to give up all shopping except for basic necessities like food, water and medicines. “It is said that when you go to Kashi you should give up something you like very much. I used to love shopping and so my promise to the Ganga was that I would give up shopping for this lifetime,” she said in a 2018 interview with the magazine.

Murty believes the lessons she learned from her mother and grandmother have helped her on her journey of minimalism and decluttering.

“When my mother passed away 6 years ago it took us just half an hour to give away the things in her cupboard because she had just 8-10 sarees in it. When my grandma passed away 32 years ago, she had just 4 sarees,” she recalled.

“They travelled light on this earth and since that has been part of my upbringing, I found it easier to adopt a simpler life with fewer possessions,” said the billionaire philanthropist and chairperson of Infosys Foundation.

Sudha Murty also said her husband, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, gave her two sarees on their wedding – “I was so happy to have them. I did not want more,” she said.

“Even today, I find it difficult to understand the seasonal trends and seasonal collections from fashion designers. How long can you go on following the dictates of fashion?” said Murty, whose daughter Akshata Murty is a trained fashion designer.

Akshata Murty, who is married to UK PM Rishi Sunak, started her own clothing line in 2009. Earlier this year, she was named the best dressed person in Britain by Tatler magazine, which cited her sartorial choices as “a shining example of modern-day diplomatically decadent dressing that steals the show.”

In this regard, clearly, the First Lady of UK is poles apart from her mother Sudha Murty, who finds even her few gifted sarees to be too many for her need. When she stopped shopping, Murty’s two sisters started the tradition of gifting her two sarees every year. “I told them enough of this gifting. I have too much already,” she said.

The billionaire author and philanthropist still has a separate section for festive and wedding-wear sarees in her wardrobe. On her daughter Akshata’s 2009 wedding, she wore a yellow and red Paithani that was gifted to her by Shivaji’s descendants several years ago.

“I wore that saree when Akshata (daughter) got married a few years ago and it is still gorgeous after so many years!” said Murty.