When you bring together a bunch of celebrities to write letters to their daughters that you intend to sell for public consumption, it is for sure a ‘novel’ idea. Sudha Menon’s book Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents to Their Daughters claims to be letters from parents to their daughters but one can’t help but sense a contrived effort to sell the public a modern-day version of the Nehru-Indira letters. With one eye on the public, the celebrities pour their hearts out in the book with advice on life, career and family to their daughters. The tone of the book remains inspirational throughout, at times preachy and after a while repetitive, but there is ample information about the celebrities to keep you hooked.
What better insider info than the horse’s mouth?
The book brings together the current crème de la crème of the corporate world starting with a foreword by Biocon Chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. As you turn the pages, you will meet Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani, low-cost airline pioneer Capt Gopinath and whoever else Menon could convince to write a note on their ‘private’ lives. ‘Author’ Menon’s role in the book does not go beyond introducing the reader to the parents. However, there is much to take away from the book. The lives of the rich and famous continue to fascinate us and their journey to the top, even more so. There is much to learn from their thoughts, actions and convictions. While stories of those born with the proverbial silver spoon might limit the readers’ role to that of a bystander watching all the action go by, the rags-to-riches story is what the readers will relate to the most. Either way, if you are looking for inspiration, there is plenty to be found.
The letters are well-drafted, nostalgic and end in sound advice. Each one’s love for their daughters shines throughout and if you are a woman reading the letters, you can’t help but feel the advice is meant for you. The letters might as well be for all the daughters of India. The notes worthy of the most admiration and high on the inspiration quotient are those of Narayana Murthy and Capt Gopinath. One never really tires of reading about their journey or what they have to say.
It is especially heart-warming when Murthy tells his daughter Akshata that her arrival in his life “transformed me in ways that I could never have thought possible” and that “I felt a need to deal with every human being more sensitively and courteously. After all, some day you would grow up and understand the world around you, and I didn’t want you ever to think that I had done anything even remotely wrong”. Or, when he tells her that she is the only person he is scared of and who can rein him in! Also touching is Capt Gopinath’s - the socially sensitive entrepreneur that he is, gives career advice to his daughter, “Make sure that the work must be one that enlarges the well-being of the community around you.” Their words stay with you long after you have turned the last page.