When a mother feels cold, she asks the child to wear a sweater. Our concept of poverty is that way. When we do a project and people receive our help, we may think that they are getting benefited, but is this what they really wanted?
— Sudha Murty
Growing up, I dreamt of being economically independent because I always believed women should be so.
I write because I enjoy it and that I can give it to my granddaughter.
One needs determination to bring in changes in the lives of Devadasis. I would approach them wearing pants and t-shirt and without a bindi, they would chase me away. When I narrated the experience to my father, he told me to don traditional wear and dress like them. After bringing in changes in my dressing style, the Devadasis welcomed me.
I will continue to work for people, but not from any political party. What I can do do as a Rajya Sabha member, I can do without being a member too, perhaps even more efficiently.
I am touched by my readers who loved my books. All the stories are true incidents in life. Now I have realised, any amount of imagination will not be as beautiful as the real life.
I like portraying women of character in my books. Women who exhibit loyalty and courage.
Mythology has largely been written by men and focusses on men - on wars and men, who went to war. But, there are women who influence the decisions of men.
If I give someone flowers, what will they really do with it. If I take food, the person could be diabetic... But books are a source of knowledge, I have great thirst for knowledge.
For me, the test of a good office is how clean its toilets are.
It was March 1974, I was in my MTech final year when I came across a notice which stated - Telco requires bright, young engineers at a salary of Rs 1,500. This was big money at that time. But that notice followed with a line that said lady students need not apply. I was agitated!
Social entrepreneurs come from different backgrounds and are by and large, starved of capital. Such socialpreneurs must have extraordinary passion to follow their dreams.
With one or two children at home, I feel that parents concentrate too much on them and hence children lose touch with reality. They get whatever they desire and fail to understand that in real life you may or may not get what you wish for.
When I don't have any story in my mind, I am busy doing foundation work.
I rarely eat outside.
I find joy in giving donations.
I will not buck to pressure of delivering to publishers.
I am an engineer and not a trained social worker.
For someone who wants to write a story, they should go on thinking about the story. When it comes up to a level, where it has reached your neck that's when you should go about writing it.
I like to write and that's why I write. I don't think about how much the book will sell.
The criteria for writing mythological books are different. Because the results are known, the end is known. Somebody has created that limit and you have to play within that limit.
All that I can say is people who represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha should speak our language and represent our interests. How can your neighbour safeguard your interests when he cannot even speak your language or understand your difficulties. So, it is better to have our own people.
I don't write for fame or money, I simply want to share my experiences.
I learned reading and writing from my mother.
We can spend Rs 5,000 for a meal at the Taj and thousands on all kinds of shopping, but we're always stingy about books. We always think of borrowing. Why? Writers can use some support. If you have space and money, you should buy your own books.
My grandfather and mother were school teachers, so there was always some discussion around books.
Availability of water is critical for sanitation projects. Without water, toilets can't be kept clean. Places where there is no drinking water, water for toilets becomes complicated.
All innovators face challenges and seldom enjoy family support.
Writing is an art, just like any other creative exercise - painting a picture, singing a song or dancing. It is an expression of your feelings.
From fiction, you do not get to learn much because it is only imagination. Whereas, from non-fiction, people can understand and learn from the realities it covers.
For a child everything is wonderful, be it going to a fair or visting a temple with parents. This happiness and enthusiasm needs to reflect in my writing.
I came from a middle-class family. My father was a professor in a medical college, and my mother was a schoolteacher. We led a good life but we did not have much money.
I started writing when I was in school. I wrote essays and in my teen years I used to write sorrowful sad stories and poems as you do at the age.
When you are chiselling a sculpture, it won't happen in one day, it happens over a period of time. It's the same way that my personality has changed over the past 15 years. I am not the same person I used to be and my life experiences are what have made me.
If you are determined in your life, it is only the mindset that counts which is more important than questions like if I can do or cannot do.
What I have to write, the story, it is always going on in my mind. What incidences I can add in the story - it is a continuous process.
I would arrive in college at 8:30 A. M. and go back home at noon to go to the toilet. Then I would return again.
Mythology is part of our heritage, part of our identity at times because anywhere in India you will find the name of Rama or Krishna in one or the other form.
I don't want to be identified with any political party.
I don't write with a complex style, I cannot.
In my case, both my grandmothers made a huge impact on my early childhood days. But, as I grew older, people rarely made an impact or influenced me.
My library is segregated into philosophy, history, general reading, travel, my own books... and only three cookbooks.
My ad-hoc empirical formula is that wherever you grow a lot of rice, there is a lot of art developing as well. My theory goes on to say that after having a nice meal of rice, one feels lethargic and don't think of work. When you don't think of work, you think of art.
My first exposure to sanitation issues occurred when I got admission into an engineering college. They probably didn't want to admit me and informed me that there was no ladies toilet in the college. I was adamant and pursued my studies in engineering in that very college.
Be unreasonable, follow your passion.
Though most of my titles are translated into about 7 to 8 languages, I feel that translations, to some extent, can lose the flavour of the colloquial words used otherwise in the regional narrative.
Class does not mean huge possession of money. Mother Teresa was a classy woman. So is Manjula Bhargava, a great mathematician of Indian origin. The concept that you automatically gain class by acquiring money is an outdated thought process.
Writing for children is the toughest thing.
For every job you require a kind of mindset. To be a teacher one should be knowledgeable. To be a software engineer you should know computer data system analysis, computer language etc. So, my mindset is not aligned with politics.
My novels are always in Kannada because I express myself better in Kannada.
