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Dollar Bahu
by Sudha Murty
Description:
A story of how money corrupts the way people look at one another and how it can almost tear a family apart Vinuta marries Girish, a bank clerk, and starts living with his family in Bangalore. She adjusts to her new family well, looking after her husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law Gouramma, not taking to heart her mother-in-law’s constant picking.
But when Girish’s elder brother Chandru, who is in the US, decides to get married, Vinuta has to listen to the constant comparisons made between her and Chandru’s wife, the ‘Dollar Bahu’, whose husband earns the valuable dollars that has brought the family its recent affluence. Vinuta slowly loses her peace of mind and health.
Then Gouramma decides to visit her US-based son and daughter-in-law. Once there, she sees how liberating life can be, away from the strict norms that govern Indian middle-class life. But she also begins to understand that mere dollars cannot buy the love and respect that she gets as her due back in India. Does Gouramma forge a new relationship with Vinuta and can Vinuta forgive and forget the past?
About The Author
Sudha Murthy (also spelled Murty; née Kulkarni on 19 August 1950) is an Indian social worker and writer in Kannada and English.
Murthy began her professional career as a computer scientist and engineer. She is the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and a member of public health care initiatives of the Gates Foundation. She has founded several orphanages, participated in rural development efforts, supported the movement to provide all Karnataka government schools with computer and library facilities, and established the ‘The Murty Classical Library of India’ at Harvard University.
Murthy initiated a bold move to introduce computer and library facilities in all schools in Karnataka & taught computer science. She got best teacher award in 1995 from Rotary Club at Banglore. Murthy is best known for her social work and her plethora of stories. Dollar Sose (English: Dollar Daughter-in-Law), a novel originally authored by her in Kannada and later translated into English as Dollar Bahu, was adapted as a televised dramatic series by Zee TV in 2001. Murthy has also acted in Marathi film Pitruroon and Kannada film Prarthana.
Murthy is a prolific fiction author in Kannada and English. She has published several books, mainly through Penguin, that espouse her philosophical views on charity, hospitality and self-realization through fictional narratives. Some of her notable books in Kannada are Dollar Sose, Runa, Kaveri inda Mekaangige, Hakkiya Teradalli, Athirikthe, Guttondu Heluve.
he book How I Taught My Grandmother to Read & Other Stories has been translated into 15 languages including Hindi, Marathi and Assamese. Her latest book is The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk. Other notable books by her are Wise and Otherwise, Old Man and his God,The Magic Drum And Other Favourite Stories and Gently Falls the Bakula. Marathi movie ‘Pitruroon’ is based on a story by Sudha Murthy.
Skryf Review
Dollar Bahu is the story of the Gauramma, her Dollar BahuJamuna and her other simpleton bahu (bahu being daughter-in-law in Hindi) Vinuta. Gauramma is a greedy little mother of three children – Chandru, Girish and Surabhi, living in a small house in Bangalore with her husband Shamanna. Chandru the eldest of her son is settled in America and is married to Jamuna, only daughter of rich parents. Girish the second, is a bank clerk and married to Vinuta, a sweet young woman who works hard day and night and never fails to carry out her household duties and her duties to her mother-in-law. But between Jamuna’s Dollars and Vinuta’s selfless devotion, Gauramma always finds her favour with the Dollar and ignore what is truly priceless – Vinuta’s devotion and selfless love.This is just a simple plot and a simple story delivered beautifully. The book is easy and quick read. It’s a sweetishly dull, predictable, all good vs all bad story.