Book: Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life)

Book: Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life) – Sudha Murthy MAMI (as we call Narayana Murthy as MAMA)

Published by East West Books Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad.

Is there any relation with the book title with book publisher? Wise or other wise published by east west publishers. Think!

This book I have read in State Library, Hyderabad. In those days, MAMI was writing columns in newspapers every week and I was a regular reader of those columns. I came to know few things about Sudha Murthy Father, about her son and also about how marriage proposals are decided and how they are rated.

Below are the extracts/notes I have taken from that book.

· There is a grace in accepting also.

· Had our lives become so busy that grief had become proportionate to the usefulness of the loved one we have lost?

· The youngsters listened without saying a word. And without chewing. (Thiru – we always did the same in the class and now in the boardroom)

· Friendship means faith between the two.

· If you want to be happy, you will learn on your own.

· Education doesn’t mean scoring good marks in exams or getting certificates. (Thiru – I am not in Infosys because of good marks only. No campus selection without good grades. No Infosys campus interviews if you are not from the good engineering college. I am one of those unlucky guys with no campus selection, no good marks….)

· Life is an exam where the syllabus is unknown and question papers are not set. Nor are there model answer papers. There are various types of questions, which can come from any direction, but one should not run away.

· To face difficulties, education and financial independence are just tools, but one must develop confidence throughout life.

· Your best friend is yourself and your worst enemy is also yourself, isn’t it? (Thiru – it depends …situation based. Best friends are few but we have worst enemy always. Teacher in the school, lecturer in college and manager in the office)

· Educated people always comment on others. Their intelligence is spent in criticizing others. They always think that there is foul play in everything. We dream of so many things in life, but we may not be able to achieve it. Achievement is the product of many factors and not of hard work alone. You require the right opportunity, the right people to work and the right time. May be, there is an element of luck too.

· An achiever has to work hard and have faith in his works. So many times, people may work hard but may not achieve much. That does not mean that they are any less than others who are more successful. If I am unable to realize my dream and somebody else does, it is better for me to feel happy for the other person rather than to feel sorry for myself. (Thiru – I suffered from this problem throughout my college life. But the feeling of myself not able to achieve is more than the feeling of happiness for someone success. Only recently I realized how much happy I felt when one of my close college friend achieved success in his life. It was a tremendous feeling altogether. But for everyone I don’t. Many times we feel jealously for those unknown and unrelated people who had the success. May be, the craving for the success is making us to behave like that.)

· The best culture is one in which we rejoice in each other’s glory. We should have a positive attitude. We should be able to admire, rather than feel jealous or resentful of the achievement of others.

· Be fair to others. One may not achieve a lot in real life but being fair to others is a great quality. We must realize that.

· Vision without action is merely a dream, action without vision is merely passing time; but vision and action together can change the world (Thiru – I think this is my MAMA’s saying……)

· Every drop makes an ocean; every grain makes a granary. (Thiru – likewise, every employee makes an company)

· It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. (Thiru – what if u don’t have the candle, what if u have the candle but not the matchbox, what if u have the both, but there is heavy wind and rain, what if u have both, but your manager has told not to light them and more over what if – u have candle, matchbox, no wind or rain, permission, but u r unable to light up the candle)

A good parable or story: by Sudha Murthy

A beggar and the young girl were playing on the road because there was no traffic. They were laughing, clapping and screaming joyously as if they were in paradise. Hunger and rain did not matter. They were totally drenched and totally happy. In envied their zest for life.

That scene has forced me to look at my own life. I realized I had so many comforts, none of which they had. But they had the most important of all assets, one which I lacked. They knew how to be happy with life as it was. I felt ashamed of myself. I even started to make a list of what I had and what I did not have. I found I had more to be grateful for than most people could imagine. That day, I decided to change my attitude towards life using the beggar as my role model. (Thiru – almost same incident happen with me..after 2 0r 3 years into my career, there came a time where there were lot of doubts on job security and it started affecting my professional and personal life. During the same period, I happen to read an excellent article by Mind Tree CEO about a ‘Tomota seller’. [ I will try to blog that column soon…I have the paper cutting somewhere..i need to search it] It was an eye-opener for me and made me realize that there is more in life than just a good career and there are lot more people who look very ordinary to us but are leading life on the edges of danger but are able to enjoy the life as it is. That is what we have to learn…..the art which our school or college education has not given…but definitely life will teach us..but even better if we can learn as soon as possible before life teaches its own lessons. Because life lessons are always painful, which the world calls them as “experiences”.)

Sayings of Sudha Murthy Father:

Tears cannot solve age-old problems. We can only try to reduce them. You cannot change the life of every single person. In your lifetime, if you can rehabilitate at least ten such people, I would be a proud father. Proud that I have given birth to a daughter who could change the lives of ten helpless women.

Everybody should know their own capacity and strength. One should also know one’s own limitations. It is more difficult to recognize our weaknesses than our strength. Don’t aim for the sky. Keep your feet firmly on the ground and work around you. There is so much misery and darkness. Try to light as many candles as possible.

Note – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life)” written by Sudha Murthy. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com