Originally a Kannada novel,
Dollar Bahu is one of the many short stories by author Sudha Murty, wife of the acclaimed Infosys chairman Narayana Murty.
Dollar Bahu (or Dollar Sose, as its orginially titled in Kannada), is a
story about dreams, aspirations, cultures and the simple
life. Chandru, an NRI residing in America, is the ambitious
son of the immensely materialistic Gauramma, who is so wowed by the magic powers of the dollar that she fails to see the adverse effect it is having on her other son Girish, his wife Vinuta and the rest of the
family. A typical middle class story of how life of a south indian family changes once the son goes to America is told in a language that is simple and easy to breeze through.
Although a decently
good story, considering it was later made into a television series aired on Zee TV, it seemed a little bit of a drag towards the end where the mother finally realizes the old cliche of ''All is not what it seems'' and hopes to right all the wrongs.
Good read for someone desperately seeking something to do on one of those 4 hour flights or the train journey from say Mumbai to Goa.
Definitely not for someone who believes America is the true heaven on earth.
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