“Writing Has Given Me a Sense of Purpose: Sudha Murthy on the Launch of Her New Children’s Book Grandpa Bag of Stories

“After my tenure ends as a Rajya Sabha member I will write about my experiences. It’s just the beginning of my career. When I retire at the end of my term I will write and share my Rajya Sabha tales in a book form.” Stated by MP, author, and philanthropist Sudha Murthy during her launch of the 300th book for children titled “Grandpa’s Bag of Stories” in the city on Sunday. The book was unveiled by author, columnist, and actor Twinkle Khanna. It has 19 stories for children and is published by Puffin, an imprint of Penguin. Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and Biocon Ltd. executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw were also present at the book release function.

In an interaction with writer Twinkle Khanna, Sudha said, “I was a little scared when I first published my Kannada book 40 years ago as I was an engineer turned writer. But today when I look back on my journey of writing I feel that writing has given me a sense of purpose, acceptance, inclusion, rapport, and a connection with people’s hearts.” She further said that she would like to experiment with writing some unusual yet simpler shlokas as her next project.

Authored 46 books which have been translated into 23 languages and written in six different genres, Sudha praised the children of Kerala and West Bengal for being good readers and providing significant feedback for her books. She said children’s book writing is a lengthy process that needs the narrative to be cautiously clarified. Talking about the title of her new book, Sudha said, “In my book, the grandpa is Narayan Murthi who has no stories to share with children. But I do have. So, in my voice, I told Narayana Murthi’s stories in this new book,” she added.