Jul 21, 2014 05:30 AM
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(Updated Jul 21, 2014 06:46 AM)
Wise & Otherwise is a book written by Sudha Murthy, the wife of Narayan Murthy. It is published by Penguin Books. There is a revised edition in which there is one extra chapter. The book shows encounters Sudha Murthy has had with people during her travels and her lifetime.
Be it the story of her Mathematics Teacher who was a simpleton and lived a humble life or the sorry state of a old woman who was unfortunately struck with leprosy and did not even have a Saree to drape herself. She was freezing naked in her hut and Sudha ma’am gifted her and many others in that area. What a blow on the face! And many such stories which revolve around simple incidents in our life. And, the lesson sketched from it is worth emulation.
The short stories [each story no longer than 4 pages] will leave you wiser. Tales about experiences sprinkled by her simple narration will leave you waiting for more.The author has done nothing extraordinary with the anecdotes. The experiences itself are so strong that you will feel the power of it as you read it. Sudha ma’am has narrated them in first person and you feel she is sitting right beside you narrating her experiences and the lessons she has learned from it.
One must not take life too seriously but then learning a lesson and imbibing it into your life will certainly make one wiser and empathetic towards others.Having read 25 stories [of the 51] over a month, it took me some time to sit back and ponder on the issues and Sudha ma’am’s experiences. This is part 1 of the review. I will continue my review after I have completed the entire book.
Just like the innocent lady and the dove staring at a landscape on the cover page, Sudha Murthy’s “Wise and Otherwise” makes you look back at life and analyze your growth as a human amidst incongruent environments. It is one such book that has episodes beautifully crafted from reality into words and depicts life the way it is. With no heavy spells of morality or criticism, the author is triumphant in skimming all her distinct experiences without any pretentions.
In this nostalgic drive, Sudha Murthy, through her unadorned and unfussy approach towards writing, makes you feel at home within no time. She delves profoundly into the characters she comes across and leaves it to you to decide between the good and bad in them. Besides inspecting life from various facets, one can’t help but appreciate her honest attempt to extend and pay a tribute to those traditions and methods with which the country has grown.
The author, primarily a teacher, enjoys her interactions with students and is always ears to listen and discuss topics viewed from different perspectives. Some instances like that of a sponsored student returning his unused money as well as the elderly man from the forest, who lends his opinion on education, flummox you with their narrative precision.
The class of a book is decided on its ability to last in one’s hearts beyond the read. Such is it’s connect and native touch that her illustrious depiction is sure to garner appreciation from every person, regardless of their age and backdrop.
“Wise and Otherwise” is like boarding a train with people whom you like and dislike, approve and disapprove. As a passenger, you still journey through various climates and give your best shot to last long. As you look at the last page of the book, your purse is sure to have a wide grin for the money spent on it.
Plot.
Fifty vignettes showcase the myriad shades of human nature A man dumps his aged father in an old-age home after declaring him to be a homeless stranger, a tribal chief in the Sahyadri hills teaches the author that there is humility in receiving too, and a sick woman remembers to thank her benefactor even from her.
Trivia.* Wise & Otherwise has sold over 30, 000 copies.* It has been translated into several other Indian languages.
