Behind the sensational ‘Main Thakur hoon’ viral video from Kanpur’s HDFC Bank lies a couple’s harrowing account of humiliation and threats. Ritu Tripathi, recently resigned, and husband Rishi Mishra opened up on the Panki branch melee that spiraled from petty to perilous.
January 6 saw Ritu, mid-fast, submit papers expecting a 2-4 hour affair for home puja. Her sister-in-law’s washroom visit—door unlocked—provoked Aastha’s tirade. Denying error, Aastha mocked her ‘lowly status,’ taunted nonstop, and clamored for eviction.
Calling reinforcements, Ritu brought Rishi, who fact-checked calmly. Aastha erupted, abusing him and wielding her Thakur lineage as a weapon: ‘I’ll smash you here.’ Ritu demurred, ‘Caste isn’t a license to bully,’ praising decent Thakurs while suppressing her Brahmin retort to quell flames.
Rishi decried the orchestrated torment: slurs unfit for print drove Ritu out, yet they stalled her departure till dusk before peers. His sole misstep? Asking his sister what happened. Aastha ignited the caste inferno solo; a flying laptop nearly marked him. Cluster head’s tardy threat to limit family access smacked of cover-up.
As views skyrocket, this saga underscores simmering divides threatening workplace harmony. Demands for justice grow, reminding all that professionalism trumps primordial pride.