The Old Man and His God | Sudha Murty | Book Review

Old Man and His God is a collection of snapshots of the varied facets of human nature

SUBJECT: 3.5/5
THEME: 3.5/5
WRITING STYLE: 4/5
RELEVANCE: 3.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5

Sudha Murty does not need introductions. After years of hard work, she has successfully established herself as a force to be reckoned with.

She is also one of India’s most famous and industrious philanthropists working in the key areas of development where it is most required.

She is also a celebrated writer who has authored many fictions as well as non-fiction works.

In The Old Man and His God, she reflects upon various instances, chance meetings and experiences which she came across during the course of her life.

And just as the blurb claims, the book is a mixed bag of stories collected from a lifetime of experiences which delves upon the various facets of human nature and in a way provides a true reflection to the souls of people of India.

Though there are many instances which are inspiring and eye-catching, certain ones do leave a mark on the minds of the reader.

One such chapter which most fascinated me was the one in which Murty writes about an incident which happened when she was on a trip to a holy monastery in Tibet.

A very old woman came to her and kept on thanking her devotedly, Murty couldn’t imagine why the woman would want to thank her until her grandson told Murty that her grandmother was pleased that she has finally met an Indian, offspring of the land which offered shelter and hopes to their revered leader Dalai Lama.

Since she hailed from such a holy country, she deserved her thanks.

Though there were many such anecdotes and instances, this one truly touched my soul. I also liked the chapter which documents her husband Narayan Murty’s tryst with life in the communist countries and how after that his views on communism changed forever.

Each incident is covered by a single chapter and most of the chapters talk about experiences which she had while working as a philanthropist. The incidents touched upon various facets of human emotions – love, care, friendship, selflessness, greed, hunger, poverty, devotion, jealousy etc.

The writing style is good and keeps the reader engaged. The brevity of the chapters also helps in retaining the attention span and makes the chapters much more interesting.

However, succinctness of the chapters does not in any way take away the underlying message which the author so beautifully brings out through her extraordinary writing.

All in all, The Old Man and His God is an excellent read and a very good travelling companion (especially when you are in desperate need of one!). I thus recommend this book to all my readers and rate it three and a half out of five stars.