For the award-winning author, philanthropist and Padma Shri Sudha Murthy the mantra is “what next? Murthy was in Delhi to release her latest book, The Upside-Down King, collection of tales of the two most popular avatars of Vishnu— Ram and Krishna, and their lineage. Her story titled Coconut Burfi had many in splits. “I made it there only, that one,” she laughs. Ask her how she comes up with so many interesting stories, and the author of more than 15 books says, “As a writer, I absorb circumstances, and I also read a lot. Because I am also a mother, grandmother, and teacher, I know the mindset of children.”
“The ‘teacher’ quality in me helps me interact with them very well. Children require affection. That’s very important. My work also gives me opportunities to interact with so many people and that helps me write characters.”
Writing, however, started during childhood. “My mother was a school teacher. At home also, it was like a school (laughs),” she says, and illustrates by saying, “We were four siblings. [When we] would go to see caves of Badami, my mother would say ‘What did you see? You should write about it.’ I was a very naughty kid, who’d say ‘I’d write tomorrow’. Then. she would say, ‘okay! I’ll serve dinner tomorrow (smiles). So, I started writing... Wherever I’d go or see anything, I’d come back and write.” She says philanthropy and writing, both are equally “important and fulfilling” for her.