How I Taught My Grandmother to Read: And Other Stories

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Her books have been translated into all the major Indian languages and have sold over three lakh copies around the country. After completing the book,I again wanted to revise all the lessons taught in the story-as I always do with other books-and Trust me Its double the fun reading the book twice. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. These stories make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, they instil in us a sense of responsibility and commitment toward the people in our society.

This was my first book by the author and I highly recommend it to people who want to start reading her. In the pages of these books, she recounts her meetings with some famous and some not so famous people, who taught her great valuable lessons. Instead of undermining the person and demeaning him, by naming him publicly, a pseudonym could have been used.

One of the simple pleasures of the author s grandmother was listening to her granddaughter narrate the story of Kashi Yatre, a lady who sacrificed her life s savings to help out the needy, appearing in the weekly magazine Karmaveera. She has been awarded the Raja-Lakshmi Award, and the Padma Shri award for her contribution in the spheres of social work, charity and philanthropy. Baffling at first, the experience of living and coming through this strange request changed the child s mind forever. They contain moral values and real-life experiences blended by Sudha Murty to form a great short story collection. The book is more than a story, as it carries a motivational facet and probably the valuable teachings of life.

The book is not a great book, but will always be close to my heart for the various small stories that touched upon the humane aspects. The account of how her mother's advice to save money came in handy when she wanted to help her husband start a software company, and the heart-warming tale of the promise she made-and fulfilled-to her grandfather, to ensure that her little village library would always be well supplied with books. In ‘A lesson in Ingratitude’, what she conveyed was a fair point, but I completely disagree with the way that point was put across.The book teaches valuable lessons about courage of conviction and executing things that you feel you ought to do from within. It has the stories of helpful strangers as well as the strangers who betrayed many people; incidences about trust, realizing dreams, perseverance, honesty and hard-work. Sudha Murty being an author, teacher and a social worker comes across with many people with different way of thinking and unique mindsets. A very delicate and beautifully written book, you feel how honest and truthful it is, and that it comes from the heart of the author.