Book Retrospect - The Wise and Otherwise by Sudha Murthy

(Book retrospect) 

Sudha Murthy - The Wise and Otherwise

Meet Sudha Murthy - The human being - through this book which is a collection of episodes from her life.

This book is a simple read. There is no hidden agenda of preaching moral/social values. In fact, Mrs Murthy herself emphsises in more than couple of places here, that these stories are only her personal opinion - view of life, and should not be treated as exhortation for an ideal society. Don't read it critically, read it to reflect and not compare.

The book encloses varied non-fiction episodes that depict the numerous shades of human temperament. The tone of the book is such that, it feels like an ongoing conversation on a park bench on a pleasant evening between the author and the reader. It is the reflection of the present-day society, the various aspects of which the author came across while engaging in her philanthropic work. Sometimes a comparison of old times with the new ones, and sometimes the apathy of the people. The plight of the rural and downcast.

The earnestness in the thought process not only lets one think of Sudha Murthy as a friendly neighbour, a friend or a mother at times, a teacher, but also above all a human being with emotions and a drive for selfless service.

What I felt was that the only thing she wishes for us to take home from the book is the consciousness of that undermined humanitarian emotion that every human possesses and the realization of the ripples that a self-effacing deed can produce.

In one of the pages she says," Keep your feet firmly on the ground and work around you. It is better to light a single candle than to remain in darkness."

Through this single book itself, you would feel like you know the author at a personal level, as a human being, and all this only through general everyday conversation. And as she wrote about someone in the book "May his tribe increase", we pray, Sudha Murthy- the wonderful inspirational personality that you are - may your tribe increase!