BOOK REVIEW

Name: Gargi Parkhe & Maitri Vikram Singh

Class: FYBA – B
Semester- I
Roll number – 1346 & 1368
Project type: Book Review
Book Name- Three Thousand Stitches. By Sudha Murthy

Sudha Murthy is a prolific Indian author, born in 1950 in Shiggaon, north

Karnataka. She did her M.tech in computer science, and now is the
chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, an exceptional writer in English and
Kannada , she has written novels, technical books, travelogues an collections
of short stories and non-fictional pieces and 4 books for children.
Her books have been translated into all the major languages. Sudha Murthy
was the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for literature and the Padma Shri
in 2006.
The book, ‘Three Thousand Stitches’ is much like its title – a couple of events
of the same canvas (read Sudha Murthy’s life), each adding some value to the
canvas that it has helped weave and in the end, giving a texture that is fine and
coarse, in parts.

Snippets from the journey traversed by her, is scattered across 11 stories,

each having a message or two to give. The titular story, which is also the
opening one, is about the lives of devadasis, or sex workers as they ended up
being called by, in northern belt of Karnataka, who became the first subject of
work for the young Sudha who had embarked on the journey to complete her
motto to contribute to the society
Young girls were initially dedicated to the worship and service of a deity or a
temple in good faith, but eventually, the word devadasi became synonymous
 with sex worker. Some were born into the life, while others were ‘sacrificed’ to
the temples by their parents due to various reasons, or simply because they
caught a hair infection like the ringworm of the scalp, assumed to be indicative
that the girl was destined to be a 'devadasi'.
The Devdasi community has undergone a major change due to her valuable
contribution and dedicated attitude towards them, Sudha has been a constant
support to them throughout the highlights of their journey and their
achievements.
Towards the end of the first story the author quotes a Sanskrit shloka her
grandfather had taught her when she was six: ‘ O God, I don’t need a kingdom
nor do I desire to be an emperor. I don’t want rebirth or the golden vessels or
heaven. I don’t need anything from you. O Lord, if you want to give me
something, then give me a soft heart and hard hands, so that I can wipe the
tears of others. ‘

In ‘How to beat the boys’, the author narrated story of her engineering college,
where she was the only girl and how she tackled this situation and later this
experience helped her in many ways. The experience encouraged and
motivated her to follow this attitude throughout her life..

‘Food for thought’ is a story, where the author went to her friend’s place for
lunch. Her father is a botanist and further, she gets to know the origin of
various vegetables and fruits and how they come to India.

Three handful of water’ narrates the writer’s early introduction to the place
Kashi and how it is important to visit Kashi. The place gave her undying
memories of her grandmother , she fondly called Avva, she carried with her
the priceless treasures of her Avva’s life in a small Kumkum Box, it carried all
her belongings, her ornaments and the Kumkum that she would adorn herself
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with during festivals. Kashi is a very holy city and it is often said one can feel
their ancestral lineages here, people go there to achieve a sense of spiritual
peace and well being, oftentimes it is said that one can wash their sins in the

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 river Ganges in Kashi, but with the changing times Kashi has become a more
commercialized city with devotion falling prey to money making

‘Cattle class’ story is featured in many news reports. In this story, the author is
travelling to a city and flies from the business class, however being such a
simple, humble and down to earth person she would always prefer dressing in
a sari, she encountered two women who dressed in western attires and called
her as cattle class on the airport just because of her simple attire, they
assumed her to be a poor person who could not afford a business class ticket.
However, the story takes a twist when Sudha is in her office and the same two
women she encountered on the flight come to meet her to request her for a
grant. She then while narrating the experience to her secretary teaches the
two women a lesson. The story shows how a person should always be humble
to his roots and never judge others on superficial appearances

‘A life unwritten’ set in 1943 depicts a story of the writer’s father Dr. R.H.
Kulkarni, a doctor who was fondly called RH. He was on duty in the remote
area where he was forced to deliver a child of an 16 year old unmarried girl,
the doctor was forcefully called, but he was not a gynaecologist, but with
whatever remembrance of a few deliveries he had assisted in medical school
he delivered the child safely. Years later, this girl meets him and a convention
and urges him to come home to meet her mother who has been waiting for
such a long time to meet him and on reaching he finds out that she has
become a doctor and has her own diagnostics which has been named after
Sudha’s father, R.H. Diagnostics. This story is absolutely heartwarming

In ‘No place like home’ the author had gone for a seminar in the Middle East
meets some women who are the housemaids there and they all are going
through with the struggles of life, slavery is very prominent in the east where
young women from lesser known countries are lured into the trap of
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employment by offering them a promising handsome salary and to take care

of their families back at home. These women fall into the trap and get

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 misguided and mistreated in their working conditions, they are often abused
and harassed , the story depicts the experiences of such women, after hearing
out all their stories Sudha realizes that even if they flee from their workplaces
they don’t have enough money to go back home, so she promises them that
the organization would fund their expenses of a one way ticket back home for
all the women who come to the shelter

‘A powerful ambassador’ says a story about Bollywood and how it famous

across the globe. Growing up sudha had an immense love for movies but due
to a conservative family she had to make do watching religious movies, once
she mustered up the courage to go watch a rajesh khanna film and since then
there was no turning back! When she left for her hostel she was introduced to
the new world of movies where she could watch them all day without any
judgements, she was blessed with many theatres nearby and would often
watch one or even two movies a day! Once it so happened her friends decided
to give her a merry bet on her love for movies and told her if she watched one
movie a day at the end of the year they would give her 100 rupees and she
agreed! Thus grew her love for movies !

‘Rasleela and the swimming pool’ is the story where the author narrates
mythological stories to her grandchildren who listen with rapt attention ,
mythological stories have been passed down by the generations and are often
heard when their grandparents recite it to them, however as the generations
change one can see the differences and a more westernized approach in their
thinking, one such example has been shown in the story, Sudha’s
grandchildren have a completely hilarious interpretation of mythological
stories told by sudha to them which leaves her completely speechless!

Next story is ‘A day in Infosys foundation’. Sudha’s old friend who grew up
with her in her hometown Hubli complains to her that she is very busy and
she doesn’t have time for her close friend. On this, the author invited her to be
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with her the whole day and see her schedule and the workings of her office so
she would be clear as to why is she so busy and cannot take out spare time. It

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 also highlights the different scopes of work of the Infosys foundation and how
they manage to reply to all the requests for grants and fundings

‘I can’t we can’ is the story where the author came to know about the
impressive organization of ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’. She attended their
meetings and totally loved their determination to reform their habit.

Writing style:

The language is simple and understandable ,the narration is smooth.

Theheartwarming story, of her humiliation, her ouster and ultimately, her
acceptance among these oppressed and violated women, is one of the
highpoints of this collection. Equally numbing is the instance she recollects
from her father’s young days as a doctor, whose one deed of duty and
kindness, returns with life-altering interest many years hence. The full circle
of life, and its latent gifts, comes to fore with these two lovely stories.
While in another of the stories, Sudha takes a road down the memory lane,
fondly remembering the testing, albeit enriching days, of her engineering
college where she was the only female student of her batch, in yet another, she
fast forwards to the present day where she is appalled and amused, in equal
parts, by a fellow traveller at the Heathrow Airport.

The stories are mostly warm and simple; and in turn, trigger slivers of thought
as she broaches the issues of alcoholism, conservatism, exploitation and
discrimination. From being a little girl to being a grandmother, from being a
naiveté to a professional achiever, she chronicles her trials and travails, and
offers advice, sometimes way too bluntly and sometimes, in garbs of
conversation. One is likely to learn something new, like the origin of
indigenous vegetables, and frown at her firm assumptions, especially in
relation to long-standing traditions and religious tenets. The writing, though,
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aids the reading and the unvarnished prose tempted me to finish this book in
one go. A good read, with plenty to chew and some humor to ease the
occasional tension.

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