1. Wise and Otherwise : Story 2:
On Human Foibles
Gokhale Education Society’s
S.M.R.K. B.K. A.K. Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Nasik-5.
Ms. Geetanjali Gitay
Assistant Professor
Dept. of English
CC English (LL)
S.Y.B.Com. Sem III
Unit 4
3. • Sudha Murthy : the Writer
• A Young Man
• His Wife and Two and a half year old son
Summary
• Foible means a minor eccentricity or weakness in someone’s behaviour.
• Sudha Murthy used to work as the Chief System Analyst in a company. Her work involved a lot
of travelling for project work even on holidays.
• One particular Friday, when she was looking forward to a long weekend, as she and her sisters
had decided to meet at her grandmother’s house in her native town of Shiggaon. Sunday was a
full moon night and a special moonlight dinner was going to be arranged for them. It was her
favourite family occasion just like people in North Karnataka.
• However , as she was finishing her work in the office , her boss calls her and tells her that she
has to visit a project site urgently in the next two days.
Characters
4. • Sudha Murthy mentions that her work gave her more happiness than anything else. She cancels
her plans.
•Next day, she leaves for the small town where the project is based and reaches there by the
afternoon.
• She is received by a young man who is the client’s representative and he takes her to their office.
They reach the office after a five minute walk. It is a small office and not a modern one but a
neat one. They welcome her by offering cool buttermilk.
• Before beginning her work, she is introduced to a young man who is quite well mannered,
confident and bright. Mrs. Murthy is pleasantly surprised to see good quality of his work. It had
a professional touch.
• Because of his efficient work, Mrs. Murthy finishes her job sooner than expected. She appreciates
him. He requests her to join him for tea at his residence.
•His house is well kept. He introduces Mrs. Murthy to his wife and two and a half year old son.
Summary (cntd)
5. • He speaks with admiration about his wife’s cooking, her beautiful voice, her achievements
during her school days.
• He then calls his son who comes and stands before her with folded arms. He then recites a
rhyme as if trained to do so.
• He further makes the child identify all the letters of alphabet from an old chart hanging on the
wall. This demonstration goes on for half an hour until the child’s mother takes it away to the
kitchen.
• The child’s father expected to hear a compliment about him from Sudha Murthy. She says that
the child seemed very bright for his age. To it, he replies that it is natural as he has trained his
son from infancy. The child was just two and a half year old.
• He further adds that it is also in the heredity and genes and his son had taken after him. She
had an hour for the bus and so she listened to him.
• He tells Sudha Murthy that he had always been a first-ranker in his school and college days.
Summary (cntd)
6. • He tells that he graduated from BVB College of Engineering, Hubli.
• Mrs. Murthy becomes alert as it was her college also. She asks him in which year did he graduate.
He tells in 1972, with the first rank. Sudha Murthy asks whether he secured the gold medal that
year to which he answers a ‘Yes.’
• Sudha Murthy asks him to show his gold medal. He asks her whether she doesn’t believe him and
he had kept it in a bank locker. She asks him in which bank?
•Sudha Murthy then states that she has no interest in his gold medal or any details as she is sure
that medal is not with him. He gets angry and asks how can she be so sure. She tells him that the
college gave away only one gold medal each year and in 1972, it was her who had won that medal.
He is shocked. She asks him that he is bright and good at his job but why does he has to lie?
• The click of the front door shutting behind her is the only reply she gets.
• In this story, we come across the human foible of lying. Many people lie and create a false picture
about themselves, however, if found out, it harms their image ultimately. This is a ‘otherwise’
experience that Sudha Murthy faces and leaves her wiser.
Summary (cntd)
7. Text Content Source :
1 .Wise and Otherwise, Murthy Sudha, Penguine India, New Delhi, Reprint(2006).
