“Dollar Bahu”

“Experience has taught me that honesty is not the mark of any particular class nor is it related to education or wealth….It cannot be taught at any university. In most people, it springs naturally from the heart.” Sudha Murthy fits quite well in these lines written by none other than her only. Honest thoughts ooze out from her tales and this thing arrests readers’ interests in her books. She leaves no stone unturned in making her writings absorbing and also in adding fervour of authenticity and originality which steal the hearts of the people. This prolific writer is praiseworthy whose works are always laden with some or the other social message.
 If ever in life you feel drained of inspiration, pick up her books, read them as they are the slimmest and trimmest source of inspiration especially “Wise & Otherwise”. You will get so wrapped up in Murthy’s books that you would not realise that flies have started hunting your disheveled, tangled hair and hover  over your head. To tidy up yourself (which you didn’t because of the engrossing stuff), you will have to put down the book which would be no cake walk….The statement does not seem to be exaggerated! “Dollar Bahu” – one of Murthy’s attention-grabbing pieces, is a beautifully scripted story of how life gets higgledy-piggledy in the process of reaping money at the cost of relationships; how money (Dollar) rules somebody’s ideas, perspectives and demeanour and creates gaps; how gold is mistaken for copper and copper for gold!
 A good girl with a soft heart, Vinuta, ties knot with Girish, a bank clerk. She adapts herself to the air of the house and as a docile ‘bahu’ takes care of everyone with heart and soul. Gauramma, the typical Indian ‘saas’ reeks of hunger for money and consequently, gives more preference to her elder daughter-in-law, Jamuna, who lives in US with her hubby, Chandru. As a token of financial help, both send Dollars to India and that’s why Jamuna is an apple of Gauramma’s eye. The mother-in-law makes constant comparison between the two ‘bahus’ and this takes toll on Vinuta’s physical and mental health. But time is dear to none and is mightiest of all. The cruel realities of life flash before Girish’s mother one by one whose morale had quake in front of Dollar. It dawned upon her that everything that glitters is not gold.  The story, laid down in Karnataka, specifically doesn’t only paint the scenario in Karnataka, rather it can be implemented to all parts of India. It also eyes the NRIs who leave their homelands to scratch a few Dollars in their hands. They actually transform into “Never Returning Indians”. This is a big problem the country is facing as the brains get drained into some other nation. In fact, this thing often keeps, the children who live on foreign lands, in a fix as which culture to adopt. They oscillate between Indian and western culture.  The story is effective and proves that-“Man alone has a choice between good and evil, and he reaps his rewards according to what he chooses.”