Book Review

Book Name: The Day I stopped drinking milk

About the author

Sudha Murthy was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in North Karnataka. She is a prolific writer in English and
Kannada and she has written novels, technical books, travelogues as well as a collection of short
stories and non-fiction pieces.

Her books as been translated into all major Indian languages and have sold over 4 lakh copies
around the country. She was the receipient of R.K. Narayan Award for Literature and a Padma Shri in
2006. She was also awarded the Attimabbe award from the government of Karnataka for hr in
excellance in Karnataka literarture in the year 2011.

About the book

This book is a collection of short stories featuring life stories of people she has encountered over the
years. With full of heartwarming experiences from the author, she walks the roads of rural and
urban India and aspires to become the voice that many never had. She confronts the issues of child
marriage and gender inequality in the workplace through eloquently written tales. She weaves the
everyday life of men and women in India into short stories and each story has a unique takeaway
you’ll never forget.

Book review

We people living in cities may not be able to guess that a basic commodity like milk could be a luxury
to many living in remote parts of our country. Sudha Murty, the author of this book was shocked to
learn that during one of her visits, and decides to stop drinking milk thereon. That is the reason
behind the title of this book. 4 chpater I liked the most

Chapter 1: Bombay to Bangalore

 Boarding the Udyan Express at Gulbarga railway station

 Sat at second-class compartment
 North part of Karnataka was called Hyderabad Karnataka where nizams ruled this area
 People are fighting for their existence because of poor land in Gubarga and want to survive
in the city. Not giving her a seat to sit next to Sudha
 TC was calm to the sudden stress and and rush from the crowd for ticket and berth
 There was a girl hiding below her berth. Aged 13-14 years
 No care for others in the train except Sudha Murthy
 Sudha took the initiative by paying the ticket for her and not let alone in the night at Wadi
junction
 Always listen to your heart and not be influenced from others.
 Name is Chitra. Father is coolie, lost her mother. Father remarried and had two sons with
stepmother. Few months ago, father died
 No support from home, so she ran away
  Sympathy and affection towards Chitra and asked her to get into the car
 Thus Chitra was Sudha’s responsibility (Mother to Chitra)
 Took to her friends’s shelter homes
 Societal status and gender inequality
 Sponsored her expense to high school
 Want her to be economically independent
 Got a job and came to her office with a sari and box of sweets (Respect) and spending her
entire salary for everyone at shelter
 Bigger responsibility to find a boy for her
 Got a transfer to USA and Sudha went to USA for Kannada Koota
 Her stay at hotel was already paid by Chitra
 She found her biy and took her blessings
 She asked why you pay my hotel bill,
 Sudha was a step in her ladder to success. If you care for them today, you will be repaid
much more than before.

Chapter 2: Rahman’s Avva (Mother)

 Rahman was an employee in BPO.

 Is a perfectionist, as he always completes his assignments perfectly
 Worked in the foundation in the weekends and was kind to children in the orphanage by
spending his own money
 He and Sudha re from the same district of North Karnataka so her invited her to come to his
house.
 A nice compliment to Rahman by saying every boy gives a good compliment to her mother
 Also praised her wife as well
 Went to Rahman’s house in Bannerghatta Road near the zoo.
 Felt confused after meeting her mother and sister because they look different from Rahman
 Rahman shared his story to Sudha because she has helped different religions without bias.
 Statement: We cant choose the community or religion that we are born into-so we shiuld
never that our community is our identity
 One Hindu family looked after a ten-acre land in Bombay which was owned by Srikant Deasi
 Due to large field size, they requested for another family to stay with them and help on field.
They found a Muslim family. The husband has a good bond but not the wife because of their
nature
 Husband asked her to adjust with her and stop fighting for unnecessary things
 Kaku means aunt. Usha joins the Muslim family for henna
 Fatima Bi was pregnant and she gave birth to a son and died.
 Enjoy your life when you have people around you cuz you will regret in the future
 Kashubai motherly instinct helped baby stop crying
 Looked after little Rahman and took care of him
 When Rahman was 10, his father was ill and died of tuberculosis
 She was very conscious about Rahman religion
 When Rahman graduated, she told him to visit Mecca to pray for his parents
 He touched her feet and saod that she is my Mecca
 And the end while eating, she saw the pictures of Mecca and Krishna side by side saying that
religion has no boundaries towards unity
Chapter 5: Changing India

 25 April 1979, first time she went to USA

 Landed at Logan airport, with more light and still some snow in the ground
 Had a stopover in Paris due to less frequency for direct flights
 She came to USA because her husband was working for Data general Computer and his stay
is 8 months. He been here for one month
 Immigration gavea sterned faced in the beginning and ended with a disbelief
 Sense of discrimination was noticed as she was requested for many documentations for her
to stamp the approval
 He also gave a disvelief on the clothing she wore in the airport. He classified the Indian as
Japanese or African class
 Gave bad remarks on her bindi and said from his perception which he saw from the
documentary that in Idia, they burn the widows and they are only two class of people:
maharajas and beggars
 She counter replied by sayig that the tradition is long time banned and there is no division of
class
 She also faced the same problem from custom counter when she bought some masalas from
home
 She tends explains the importance of India by giving reference to the Indus civilization, by
continuing the practices and other hings created by Indians
 Outsider perceived as a poverty stricken country and a land of beggars
 She is confident the next generation are well travelled, tech savy and hardworking which has
revolunized the change in the frequency of flights
 She shares another experience of her visiting Bogota, the capital of Columbia to deliver a
talk on ‘Lessons in Life’ and then went to Miami, USA in 2009
 The immigration officer gave a positive feeling to her by appreciating the national dress she
wore
 He appreciated the United States and gave her six-month visa as she was planning to stay for
3 days as she has some work with Standford university.
 The popularity of Indian food and music can be seen as he tells and sings as she walks from
immigration to customs and to exit
 The eyes of the West towards of India. The image of India is slowing changing
 Due to immigrants from India, who came here for wealth and have successfully connected
with the West to enhance the image of India

Chapter 16: Miserable Success

 Sudha Murthy was a teacher and Vishnu was her student in her first batch
 Had a close relationship with him than other students in the subsequent batches
 A lot of arguments on multiple issues. Important that having relationships, compassion and
peace of mind is more important than achievements, awards and money
 He argued back but she liked her openness
 He completed his degree and got a job in Microsoft in Seattle and he would take over her
role as a substitute
  Asked him to be teacher than a going for a job. Sudha said that a teacher is not respected for
salary but they are respected for his or her knowledge
 As she became old, Vishnu wanted to meet her and he appeared different in features and
had no trace of enthusiasm on seeing her.
 Left Microsoft 3 years. Met after 15 years
 He told that he set up a company in Singapore and is a profitable one
 He came because he had a problem, he felling sad in life like as thogh something is missing.
 Sudhe asked whether he consulted a doctor, he said that a compassionate heart is important
to enjoy life. Told to things which made him lose weight.
 Sarcastic idea from counsellor to go to Somalia to take him to orphanages, HIV camps to get
him emotion, but no outcome
 He asked the same to Sudha as well
 He feels that life is competitive and stay away from people who are useful to him
 Wife is always busy with the carpet business and have to time to talk to daughter and
husband even though the business is at home
 Wife considers him a database for contacts insteading of being a compassionate and caring
partner
 So he came to her for support. Sudha said compassion can never be taught, sold and bought.
It is developed in the beginning. Show compassion to others now in this short journey.
 Vishnu agreed and decided to take his daughter and work with poor people on regular basis
to create a bond. This will make a better being and make him feel worthy at the end.

Why the book is called like this?

 Sudha Murthy was working in a remote village in Odisha and was building a school for
children there
 Was amazed by the beautiful mountain and a lake which gives greenery view everywhere
 Had a transalator who know both Oriya and English. It was raining heavily there
 Owner of the hut welcomed her and gave a mat to sit.
 It’s an Indian tradition to comfort the guest by offering something no matter how poor you
are.
 She knows all languages but she understand Oriya to some great extent
 Wife was reluctant to offer milk because she was saving this for this babay and was asking
the owner to give something else
 Took half of milk, add water and boiled it. She felt ashamed as she is snatching the share of
the small baby
 For the baby sake, she told the translator that she fasts on Wednesday and she wants water
only.
 Translator was shocked a s she drank milk in the morning. She counterrd by saying she fasts
on Wednesday for Buddha