A trip down memory lane

Dear Editor,

Reading Kanan Dhru’s article Glass ceilings was a journey down memory lane. I had almost identical encounters in Calcutta High Court, where I started my career years ago.

As a young girl and the first person in the family to join a male and clan-dominated profession, it was assumed that I was doing the rounds of the courts until such time I was married off to a suitable boy. There were other women lawyers, experienced and competent, and three on the bench, of whom two were not from a legal family or background. But this made no difference. This was also at a time when there were very few alternatives to litigation for an aspiring lawyer and one had to start off in the courts.

I did get a fair share of junior briefs, which I would like to think was to test my capabilities and not because young male solicitors wanted to be intimate. However, even my chamber seniors, a husband and wife team of successful barristers to whom I owe a lot, often expressed that for professional growth it was imperative to marry into a legal family.