Wise And Otherwise: A Salute To Life

I have always been impressed with Sudha Murthy’s writing, rather by Sudha Murthy herself.  Her writing is simple, has a down-to-earth feel and you can so relate to the characters in her work.  As is mentioned in the foreword of one of her books, she writes not with the pen, but with her heart. Her writing strike a chord and touch ur heart.

While I was browsing through flipkart looking for ‘Red Carpet‘, my eyes fell upon one of her books ‘Wise And Otherwise: A Salute To Life‘, which was on my must-read list for a long time and I am not sure how and when it had slipped of my mind 😛 I ordered it immediately and reading through the book, which are real-life incidents penned down beautifully by the author are so refreshing and motivate us to do something in life.  There are 51 vignettes showcasing the different shades of human nature. There are tales about people who leave their parents in a old age home, claiming that they found them by the roadside, to tribals from whom the author takes a lesson or two home and so on.  Tales about strong-willed unwed mothers, a vegetable vendor who is in a hurry to get home as her husband would be waiting for her advice with sowing seeds in their garden … the stories of these successful women cannot not bring a wide grin on ur face 😀

Book: Wise & Otherwise [Non-fiction]

Price: Rs.199/-

This book does drive home the fact [yet again] that life itself is a message and is the best teacher indeed, if we are ready to learn from it. Its a light read and those few hours are totally worth investing!

I had read her books Dollar Bahu [hv even heard this was made into a show on ZeeTV??] and Mahaswetha before.

Dollar Bahu is a tale about two daughters-in-law, one of them the apple of her MIL’s eye, being the wife of her NRI son and the other one – a simple,homely girl who is doing her best to keep her MIL happy, but fails to do so just because her husband does not earn in dollars.  How the MIL realizes that grass is always greener on the other side and that its the heart which matters and not dollars, forms the crux of the story. Its a nice one .. I won’t say gr8, as I found her other books better than this one!

Book: Dollar Bahu [Fiction]

Price: Rs.150/-

Mahaswetha is an out-n-out winner. It is just another simple story of a girl-next-door, Anupama who finds her Prince Charming in a smart and successful Dr. Anand and it appears that life could not have been more beautiful. Things change when Anupama discovers she is suffering from leukoderma and what leaves her in shock is that she does not find support in her ‘doting’ husband. Its about all that she goes through while fighting with her condition and trying to carve a niche for herself at the same time. Its a truly touching tale in which she comes out strong and emerges as a woman of substance. This book has had a positive effect in one case … a boy who had called off his marriage when his fiance was diagnosed with leukoderma after their engagement, read this book and changed his mind. They are now living happily. A must read for sure.

Book: Mahashweta [Fiction]

Price: Rs.150/-

I have also ordered for 2 more of her books  – Gently Falls The Bakula and The Old Man And His God: Discovering The Spirit Of India. Am eagerly waiting for the same. Until then, its time for ‘The Red Carpet’ 8)