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Thursday 12 September, 2013





After a long hiatus from blogging, I am back promising myself that I will kick start my blogging journey from where I had left off years ago.
I was an avid reader and would consume books regularly in the past but over the years I have gotten so preoccupied that I could not devote time to reading. I am not giving excuses but simply articulating :) Surprisingly the people who never used to read a page have gotten past me in this beautiful hobby and helping me get back on track. It was very funny to see my brother Karthik talk about books  with me when I last visited him :).. but yes that's a good change.. I see the change coming through my husband (very shocking for a person like him who claimed he was allergic to books when I first met him)..I just hope it lasts for him as well.
To start off with, reading this book was a nice way to start off with my lost habits as it was a very light read and one could easily finish this book in a day or two.
As with any Sudha Murthy 's books it has a lot of familiar elements in terms of culture and outset of the characters in the book.The book is entirely set in Karnataka large parts of it in Bangalore and constant descriptions of Jayanagar,JP Nagar,Vijayanagar would make any true blue Bangalorean want to read more :). The story revolves around how the life of a girl from a village called Alladahalli goes through changes during the course of 25 years. The striking contrast of a simple set up of a village life versus the struggles of making a mark for yourself in a big city like Bangalore drives most of the people to make a change in their priorities and principle.How such changes in principles leads to cracks in relationships and how money is termed as a barometer to prosperity and happiness.
Its about Mridula who is a very simple village belly who enjoys her life in her village Aladhalli living with parents who are prominent and respected people of the village,tending to her old neighbors garden,enjoying the simple joys of life like a playing on the swing, talking to people of the village, building relationships.She is a very non judgmental person by nature and values relationships and feeling over wealth. She meets Sanjay a young student of medicine at a wedding, and this chanced encounter leads to friendship and ultimately marriage.Their struggle over the period of time as they settle down in Bangalore. She working as a government teacher supports him through all the difficult times while he is learning the moves of making it big in his profession. He is an honest government doctor, untouched by the worldly money making practices who devotes his work over consultation fees. Over the course of time he realizes how to market himself with the help of his best friend Alex and eventually they set up their private practice that blooms into the best gynecology clinic in Bangalore. And how over the course of time Sanjay changes drastically in his value system which leads to Mridula being hurt and cheated on many levels.
There is nothing sensationally new in the story of this book, but I felt the real hero of the book was Sudha Murthy. She has portrayed finer details of relationship, value system, principles so effortlessly, which is just a proof of the worldly wisdom she has. These are the elements that should not change whether you are in a village or a big city but how circumstances make people to think and act differently is what this book is all about.It talks about how you meet different people in the course of your life, but you could still retain all these elements in tact as long as you realize which relationship is more valuable to you and most importantly never sell your soul to anything in this world. Once you do that then everything is moving down the road.
Again its not a path breaking book but it has a lot of substance as with any of Sudha Murthy's books. Its definitely something that can be a good material for a TV production or a movie as it relates to the Indian masses on many levels.

Thanks dad for passing this book to me after reading it :)