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