In the era of unicorns, there are very few takers left for Sudha Murty’s brand of simplicity

In invoking her simplicity, Sudha Murty inadvertently set off a social media storm. The author and wife of Infosys founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy, appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show on television a few weeks ago. For more than a week, Sudha Murty Simple, was a trending topic on Twitter, spawning a thousand jokes and several memes. Essentially, this blowback comes from the fact that simplicity is no longer a value that is cherished. There has been a generational shift and there is nothing aspirational about simplicity any more. Why shouldn’t a billionaire dress like one? What is the glory in pretending to be something you are not? There are very few takers left for Murty’s brand of simplicity. Today, the idea is that if you have the money, you should be living the life, so that the rest of us can watch and dream of something similar.

In invoking her simplicity, Sudha Murty inadvertently set off a social media storm. The author and wife of Infosys founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy, appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show on television a few weeks ago.

Flanked by actor Raveena Tandon and award-winning producer Guneet Monga, Murty related two stories. Once, she was travelling business class, she said, and was dressed in a salwar kameez. Two women in the line with her told her, “Behenji, this is not the queue for you, economy passengers go elsewhere”. Murty didn’t say anything and they continued to speak to each other, referring to her as “cattle class people”.

On another trip, she said, she was at the immigration line at London’s Heathrow airport, and the officer asked for her residential address. She wrote down 10 Downing Street. “The fellow looked at me and said, are you joking? No one can believe that I am a 72-year-old woman and simple, so how can I be the mother-in-law of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?” Murty said.

For more than a week, Sudha Murty Simple, was a trending topic on Twitter, spawning a thousand jokes and several memes. Here’s a sample: ‘Why doesn’t Sudha Murty have any ₹2000 notes? She’s a simple person and that would be two grand’. (Cleverly marrying the two discussion points of the day.) Another: ‘Sudha Murthy is so humble that when people tell her she’s down to earth, she says it’s because of gravity’.

You get the gist. This is not the first time Murty has talked about her simple lifestyle. In fact, for a couple of decades now, this has been her central brand message, that despite being a multi-millionaire, she has not let go of her middle-class roots and upbringing. This was not even the first time she spoke about her experience in the business class line. It’s an old story that has always won her a round of applause. This time around though, something shifted.

Essentially, this blowback comes from the fact that simplicity is no longer a value that is cherished. There has been a generational shift and there is nothing aspirational about simplicity any more.

People raised on stories about Gandhi and Shastri and the frugal lives they led are fading out. For them, ostentatiousness was gauche, they shuddered at the sight of luxury and lavishness, judging that as an activity devoid of intellectual acuity. ‘Simple living and high thinking’ represented the mores of the educated middle class.