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“Quantitatively speaking, 'conversation' is inversely proportional to economic standing. If you are traveling on a bus, your fellow passengers will get into a conversation with you very quickly and without any reservation. If you are traveling by first class on a train, people will be more reserved.
If you are traveling by air, then the likely hood of getting into a conversation is quite small. If you are in first-class on an international flight then you may travel 24 hours without exchanging a single word with the person sitting next to you.” ― Sudha Murty, Wise and Otherwise
Introduction
Author Name: Sudha Murty
Genre: Non-fiction
Language: English
The book has 50 chapters depicting the most important lessons of her life. Each chapter in this book symbolizes the need for compassion and humanity in general. Readers can connect their emotions to most of the stories.
The stories are simple and filled with emotions. Here we get to see the real neglected interiors of India that need immediate help. We understand a new definition and meaning for the much-used term ‘Women Empowerment. The philanthropy world which plays the role of a fundraiser is an eye-opener for most of us.
About the Author:
Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in north Karnataka. She did her MTech in computer science and is now the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. A prolific writer in English and Kannada, she has written nine novels, four technical books, three travelogues, one collection of short stories, three collections of non-fiction pieces, and two books for children.
Her books have been translated into all the major Indian languages and have sold over three lakh copies around the country. She was the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature and the Padma Shri in 2006.
Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in north Karnataka. She did her MTech in computer science and is now the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. A prolific writer in English and Kannada, she has written nine novels, four technical books, three travelogues, one collection of short stories, three collections of non-fiction pieces, and two books for children.
Her books have been translated into all the major Indian languages and have sold over three lakh copies around the country. She was the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature and the Padma Shri in 2006.
About the Book:
The book has 50 chapters depicting the most important lessons of her life. Each chapter in this book symbolizes the need for compassion and humanity in general. Readers can connect their emotions to most of the stories.
The stories are simple and filled with emotions. Here we get to see the real neglected interiors of India that need immediate help. We understand a new definition and meaning for the much-used term ‘Women Empowerment. The philanthropy world which plays the role of a fundraiser is an eye-opener for most of us.
Sudha Murthy has penned these stories to throw us the light on some strong values that still exist in our money laundering society. There are lessons of values such as honesty, compassion, hard work, giving back to society, empathizing with the people who are in need, enjoying the beauty of every minute of life, never late to learn to be more human, the significance of being an Indian and what not!
There is also desperation about the changes that are to be done immediately in the framework of Education, Industries, Philanthropy, the system of values, societal status.
The book has 50 chapters depicting the most important lessons of her life. Each chapter in this book symbolizes the need for compassion and humanity in general. Readers can connect their emotions to most of the stories.
The stories are simple and filled with emotions. Here we get to see the real neglected interiors of India that need immediate help. We understand a new definition and meaning for the much-used term ‘Women Empowerment. The philanthropy world which plays the role of a fundraiser is an eye-opener for most of us.
Sudha Murthy has penned these stories to throw us the light on some strong values that still exist in our money laundering society. There are lessons of values such as honesty, compassion, hard work, giving back to society, empathizing with the people who are in need, enjoying the beauty of every minute of life, never late to learn to be more human, the significance of being an Indian and what not!
There is also desperation about the changes that are to be done immediately in the framework of Education, Industries, Philanthropy, the system of values, societal status.
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| Image Source: Storypick |
All the stories are true stories that will surprise and shock us. As readers, we are bound to be amazed by the minute observation of the writer. The observation about the daily routines of rich, poor, educated, uneducated, powerful, and many others.
The stories take us to the world of protagonists and make us feel the emotion and the trauma that they are undergoing in their lives. Be it a rich businessman or a poor village schoolmaster, a software engineer, or a daily wage worker. We connect to the characters of the story.
Yet, in another story a few pages ahead, she dwells upon this dilemma of independence again. Well-educated girls who earn enough still bear the brunt of their in-laws' bloated expectations and consequently, their ridicule and neglect, are still crying.
She wonders, what did education bring them, and how are they any different from the underprivileged girls she comes across. There, she suggests that self-sufficiency is something that current education cannot bring - it is a feeling, a thought process that is currently missing amongst us. Some women are bold enough to step up and take command of their ships.
There are success stories of an illiterate woman who gets an equal say in what crop is to be planted in the season, to her friend from college years - whom everybody thought to have been mediocre and expected to have a mediocre lifestyle. Diamonds in the rough.
Sudha comes across as a defiant lady with a tender heart. It is mind-boggling to think that she does so much and yet, she does it anyway. There is amazement and disappointment when some of her friends and acquaintances have a negative outlook towards life - one even asking her as to who ghost-writes her articles and books since she can't be doing so much work (and yet finding time of more). One gets to learn a lot about the work Infosys Foundation does through these short stories.
There are traces where one might wonder why did she have to be so brash and blunt to the people as if it was her prerogative to set people right - like telling the son whose father had died that "it is shameful the way you and your father cooked up this drama for the sake of a few thousand rupees!
Sudha comes across as a defiant lady with a tender heart. It is mind-boggling to think that she does so much and yet, she does it anyway. There is amazement and disappointment when some of her friends and acquaintances have a negative outlook towards life - one even asking her as to who ghost-writes her articles and books since she can't be doing so much work (and yet finding time of more). One gets to learn a lot about the work Infosys Foundation does through these short stories.
There are traces where one might wonder why did she have to be so brash and blunt to the people as if it was her prerogative to set people right - like telling the son whose father had died that "it is shameful the way you and your father cooked up this drama for the sake of a few thousand rupees!
And you are setting a bad example...". Throughout the story, one feels bad for the old man, who had been abandoned by his son and had nowhere to go. Later, when it is revealed that the father, no matter how helpless he was, was complicit in the act - the ire of the reader is still directed at the son and daughter-in-law.
Sudha, on the other hand, is angry with both the father and son. But I think she does a suitable job - objectively. She is a teacher, she talks like one. Plain, simple well-meaning words.
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| Image Source: Famous Quotes and Sayings |
My Review:
I found there to be an awful lot of stories written about women - both good and bad. It is perhaps my tenacity of the negative that I write hence. Often - and stereotypically so - the women lot draw a bad name when it comes to worldly and interpersonal things.
I found there to be an awful lot of stories written about women - both good and bad. It is perhaps my tenacity of the negative that I write hence. Often - and stereotypically so - the women lot draw a bad name when it comes to worldly and interpersonal things.
In some of these stories, it is interesting to note how a husband gets to lay blame on his 'controlling wife' who did not like her in-laws. Today, with the rise of this notion of 'feminism', the acts of injustice on a woman are flung across billboards and make hot debate agendas.
But it is often noted, as in this book too, that women are more disapproving of other women - a mother-in-law uses her influence on her son and they torture his wife for dowry, a wife uses her influence to get rid of the ailing father.
All that the husband gets to do is hang his head in shame and (with a weak spine) obey. Whose fault is it? I think it is a collective fault. Of course, there are many stories of the legendary fragile male ego, they are bigger blunders over trifling matters.
There is grace in upholding the values imbibed by the cultures of the place. I don't think any place would advocate any of these things we read about. What culture suggests estranging one's parents when they most need you? Or torturing someone for the sake of material greed? But let us not strip the yarn from the weave!
All in all, the stories are short, crisp, and very matter-of-factly written. While the language flows smoothly, some stories do leave you with some heaviness in the heart and a lot more to think about. While it might not leave you wisened, it provides a refreshingly good start.
My rating for this book is 5/5
You can easily get this book from Amazon: Wise and Otherwise
All in all, the stories are short, crisp, and very matter-of-factly written. While the language flows smoothly, some stories do leave you with some heaviness in the heart and a lot more to think about. While it might not leave you wisened, it provides a refreshingly good start.
My rating for this book is 5/5
You can easily get this book from Amazon: Wise and Otherwise
Written By – Prachi Mann
Edited By - Anamika Malik
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