Wise and Otherwise is a beautiful collection of 51 short story by Sudha Murty. She is the founder of the CSR wing of the Infosys, a famous IT company from India. Apart from that, she is a prolific writer and a professor. Her stories are drawn from the vast experience acquired by her lifetime service to the people.
Every story will amaze you as it touches one or other aspects of life, sometimes bringing forward the harsh realities of life. She writes about the ordinary people of India with not so ordinary life. Their stories will touch you and at times may fill your heart with heaviness and leave your mind thought provoked.
Everyone around us is suffering, either mentally (most of us these days) or physically .Its the ability with which they handle the situations, turns out to be a hero, villain, victim or sometimes an unsung hero.
After reading these stories, a thought which came to my mind was that, " The life of an ordinary person is the most extraordinary one, of which, we know nothing about". Obviously, most of their life passes fighting against the odd situations. A poor father arranging dowry for his daughter's marriage. The same father getting harassed by his son and daughter-in-law in some other story. A girl was tortured and murdered, the story airs that she lost her life due to stove-fire. Everyone knows the truth but ignores. The one who faces is the one who suffers, people around you will just show their sympathy and walk-off most of the time.
However, there were some inspirational stories as well, a thought provoking, i must say. One of the story that really amazed me was "Bonded by Blisleri". Often natural calamities like earthquakes are very destructive and are reason of pain and misery. I had never heard that somebodies life changed in a positive way just because of an earthquake.(You may have heard but I, never.. never..). After reading the story, i was awestruck by the fact that how such a destructive natural calamity turns out to be a boon in someone's life.
Some stories also dealt with the principles of success and failure. Success may have many fathers but failure has none. Hard work is important but its the confidence which is one of the greatest asset which one must acquire.
With her stories, Sudha Murty has touched almost every section of daily life. At times, I just wondered how was she able to manage all her works. Managing official works, social works, her teaching obviously and then pocketed out some time for writing as well. Well, i am no one to judge but she is doing her work passionately and is a source of inspiration for today's generation.
image: Sudha Murty
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I would that say that, a string of 51 stories may sound too many for some but you will find a glimpse of real, untouched life in her stories. You will have a wonderful opportunity to learn some values and read some experiences. These things are pure gold because no one teaches them.
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