May 07, 2012 05:37 PM
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I started reading the book with great enthusiasm hoping to learn something different about the Indian author and their take on life. To the great extent the book interested me to read but after flipping a few of the pages, I realized that it is mostly a one sided stories that deals with social problems which most of us ignore in our day – to-day life.
About The Book - 'Wise And Otherwise - A Salute To Life' is a book written by Indian author Sudha Murthy. Who is an IT professional turned Writer. Her language is simple and easy to understand. First published in 2002, the book has sold over 30,000 copies in English and has been translated into all the major Indian languages. This revised new edition is sure to charm many more readers and encourage them to explore their inner selves and the world around us with new eyes. One can go on and on reading the stories without much of the difficulties. It is the compulsion of 51 short stories which basically deals with the society and the problems faced by the middle class and lower middle class families.
Talking about the positive aspect of the book, there are few stories which really touches your heart like a middle age man dumps his aged father in an old-age home, a tribal chief in the Sahyadri hills teaches the author that there is humility in receiving too, a sick woman remembers to thank her benefactor even from her deathbed and a student who shows his gratitude to the author after receiving help from her in his bad time.
Dealing with the household problems related to women, crisis and trouble from the in-laws are the only things which are highlighted in the book. The author basically tried to tell the things only from the women’s point of view, which I believe most of the time are not true in the real life, like husband supporting his mother then of his wife and a doctor who forgets the help which he received from the author and treats her like any other patient are the few stories that portray the negative side of a man in the book.
On the whole - 'Wise And Otherwise - A Salute To Life' is a fair one time read in gap which brings many of us face to face with some of the Indian middle class and lower middle class problems.
Star Rating: 1.5 / 5