What an angry Sudha Murty wrote in letter to JRD Tata

On "The Kapil Sharma Show", Sudha Murty has opened up about numerous topics from her life.

Sudha Murty has been in the news on the internet in the past few days after her appearance on "The Kapil Sharma Show" where she revealed several incidents from her life.

One of them was Murty writing to JRD Tata regarding a notice posted at her institute of a job opportunity, which discouraged women from applying for the role.

"In 1974 I was doing M. Tech at the Tata Institute, Bangalore. I was the only girl in the class with all boys. I had done BE in 1972, even that year I was the only girl among other boys. I was then getting a scholarship to do PhD in America.

One day I was returning to my hostel and I read a notice that read TELCO, Pune was inviting young, bright engineers with a good salary, but in the end they had mentioned that ladies students need not apply.  It really made me angry. I was 23 years old, you tend to get angry more at that age," Murty said.

After reading the notice, Murthy wrote to JRD Tata, stating that if women did not get a chance then India as a country would not progress.

"After reading that I went to the hostel, got a postcard and I wrote to JRD Tata sir. He used to come to our institute every year on March 15 to celebrate Tata’s birthday. I used to see him from far away," she added.

"In my letter I wrote to him, Sir, JRD Tata, when the country was not independent, your group started chemicals, locomotive, iron and steel industry. You are always ahead of times. In this society, there are 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women. If you don’t give an opportunity to women, then you are cutting off the services of women. That means your country will not progress. If women don’t get an education and job opportunities, then a society or a country never rises, and this is one mistake of your company," she wrote.

The impact of her letter was substantial as Tata removed the policy after receiving her letter.

Murty also revealed an incident where she was standing in a queue at Heathrow airport, wearing a salwar kameez, and was referred to as "Behenji" by two co-passengers. The passengers told her to move from standing in the queue of business class and instead, asked her to stand in the economy class queue.

Also read: ‘Are you joking?’ Sudha Murty's 10 Downing Street address stuns UK immigration officer