The day SUDHA MURTHY stopped drinking milk..!!!!

The spirit of social service rings true only when an individual feels he is doing it because he wants to do it not because the other person needs it, says Sudha Murthy, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation.
    Sudha has talked about the emotional challenges she faced while helping people at her Foundation in her fourth book "The day I stopped drinking milk," which is based on personal experiences.
    "There were instances when I felt cheated because my feeling of social service was neither acknowledged or reciprocated by the second party," Sudha told  in an interview.
    "It is with growing age and experience that I realised, I was doing it for myself and not for others. Hence, I found my happiness and satisfaction in it," she adds.
    Her recent book  published by Penguin books is a collection of personal experiences that the author describes as "Life stories from here and there".
    "There have been plenty of experiences that I wished to write about but found them to be somewhat similar to each other. Later I realised that though they are of similar nature but each of them has changed me in a different way," says Sudha.
    Though she claims that the book is not just a collection of her stories but also of people who confided their stories in her and few of them even encouraged her to tell their stories.
    "Most of the people I have written about requested me to change their names and use their problems as case studies" she says adding, "Some like Vishnu and Porado encouraged me to tell their stories so that others should not become like them."
    Sudha who has also penned down bestsellers like "Wise and Otherwise" and "The Old Man and his God, doesn't believe in planning books in advance.
    "Planning things is neither my cup of tea nor my choice. Same applies to books too. I write a book when I think I have got enough experiences to share," said Murthy.
    Asked about the choice of title for this book, Murthy said, "The day I stopped drinking milk is a very sensitive story telling the tale of how we forget what is 'normal' for us falls under the category of 'expensive' or 'unaffordable' for middle or poor class."
    Though the author has written books of multiple genres including technical computer science books, short stories, novels, children's books and books on her life experiences, yet she believes writing about personal experiences is the most challenging.

(This story of mine was also carried by PTI on Sep 10 and was picked  up at different websites and newspapers. The statement is mentioned to avoid any perception of plagiarism)