Penguin Annual Lecture- Ms Sudha Murthy speaks

The Penguin Annual Lecture, hosted by Penguin Random House India, was started in 2007 as an initiative to bring leading writers, artists, thinkers and key personalities in India and across the world in direct contact with audiences and admirers in India.

This year being the 13th, presented award-winning author, Ms Sudha Murthy, popular writer, philanthropist and a teacher. The Padma Shri awardee, who writes in both English and Kannada, has been able to set up over 60,000 libraries across Karnataka to encourage a shared love for reading.

On the evening of 11 December, 2019, School librarian, Ms Tarannum Athar, represented our School on the occasion at the Imperial Hotel in Connaught Place.

Upon reaching, the guests were ushered into a big hall where the lecture was planned. Ms Murthy entered the hall with her husband Mr Narayan Murthy at the apppointed time. The audience comprising writers, journalists, politicians, teachers and librarians waited eagerly for the lecture to begin. Ms Pallavi Narayan, host of the evening along with Ms Niti Kumar, senior Vice President, Penguin Publishers welcomed everyone. Ms Kumar gave a short description of the publishing house and mentioned how the forum had been used in the past for those who were passionate about reading and learning.

After a short Ms Murty started her lecture, Storytelling and Social Change. She said that storytelling was an enchanting experience and that all of us were storytellers in one way or another. She pointed out that teaching was a profession where stories can become a medium of teaching- learning. She jocukarly added how her students used to wait desperately for the last fifteen minutes of her lecture as that was the time shed reserve for narrating real life stories! Recalling 12 November 2000 as the day when she seriously took to writing, Ms Murthy opined that one can easily learn the art of writing as it involves the ability to put together various images in ones imagination. She suggested that one should read more real stories as fiction tends to have certain limitations.

Mr Shashi Tharoor joined the session and asked questions of the speaker. The session was primarily based on social change as she is known for her charitable work. According to her, to build bonds we need to spend time with people. She remarked that parents being the first teachers and essentially role models for their children, they must make it a point to spend quality time with them. She spoke of the value of a woman in society.

Mahashweta, Gently falls the Bakula, The Mother I Never Knew, are some of her works of fiction inspired by real women. Ms Murthy emphasised that, apart from getting educated, women should also be economically sound. This economic independence alone will grant her a position in the family. Ms Murthy cited deep human empathy as the most important quality in a person. She mentioned that her stories were based on the extraordinary people whom she had the privilege to either know, work or travel with.

The last ten minutes were left for a question answer session which got extended to half an hour. The session got over by 8 pm when Ms Murthy sat down to sign copies of her books.