 Two good books from Sudha Murthy
Book reading becomes a passion even if one were remotely interested in them when one lives in Germany. The few friends, due to the lack of common language, and limited television viewing, due to the same reason, makes one pore into books to bide away time.Two books have touched our lives more intimately than others do. They are books written by the famed Sudha Murthy, wife of the founder of Infosys, N R Narayana Murthy. The names of the books are 'The old man and his God' and 'How I taught my grandmother to read and other stories'.
Both contain simple, real life incidents that have taken place in the life of Sudha Murthy. To coin them as soul satisfying stories would be the appropriate way to describe them. Each story is told so lucidly and simply that they reach your soul immediately. They are like the stories that our grandparents and elders used to tell us and teaches us that good does rule over evil ultimately. That the wife of the founder of such an internationally renowned company tells these stories shows her faith in these values and reiterates our faith in them.
In days gone by, perhaps one would gift children with Amarchitra Kathas or Gulliver’s Travels, but now we can make this gift to our children. The first story in 'How I taught my grandmother to read', is a story about how Sudha Murthy teaches her grandmother to read and how interested the old lady is in learning. There are also funny incidents narrated in the books like how Sudha Murthy visited one of the toilets that they had built for public utiltity service and how she overheard the people standing there talking about her.
All in all they are simply 200 pages of delightful reading well worth a summer afternoon or an evening after a hard day’s work. They are like saffron with their mild flavour and leave a smooth flavour. Do get these books and keep them as your family heirloom.
Kanakadhara Subramanian
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