You have likely observed this yourself without needing anyone to articulate it. Money possesses a peculiar power to transform rational individuals into versions of themselves they barely recognize. Families that appeared unshakable suddenly fracture over inheritance disputes. Friendships spanning decades vanish because someone owes another person five thousand rupees. Couples who vowed unwavering support end up in bitter conflicts over whose income belongs to whom.
Sudha Murty's observation cuts directly to a truth we all know but often hesitate to admit. Money does not bring people together the way we pretend it does. If anything, it achieves the opposite effect.
The strange aspect is that money itself lacks any meaningful reality. It is merely a symbol we have collectively agreed holds value. However, because we have tied it so tightly to survival, dignity, and self-worth, it has become laden with emotion in a manner almost nothing else is. When someone inquires about your salary, they are not truly asking about numbers. They are probing your value as a person, your success, and whether you deserve respect. No wonder it divides people.
And it is not solely about having or lacking money. It concerns how people treat you when your financial status shifts. When you are successful, people desire your friendship. They return your calls. They consider your ideas brilliant. But navigate a rough patch, lose a business, or get laid off, and suddenly those same individuals are mysteriously unavailable. Money serves as the invisible scoreboard everyone uses to determine who matters.
The truly tragic part is that money could function as a tool for connection. Imagine if we perceived it that way. You assist someone in trouble, not to prove anything, but because that is what people do for one another. You share what you have without keeping a mental tally. You celebrate someone's success without wondering if it threatens you. However, that is not how it operates for most of us.
Instead, we remain trapped in constant comparison. Am I earning enough? Is she earning more? Can I afford what they possess? Should I lend money to my brother-in-law? Every financial decision becomes entangled with ego, fear, and resentment. Money ceases to be about survival and becomes about status, and that is when it truly begins destroying relationships.
Murty is conveying something uncomfortable yet true: money does not unite us because it compels us to reveal what we genuinely value and who we truly are. And that is far scarier than simply admitting we all desire it.
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