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To darling daughters, lessons for a lifetime
Legacy: Letters From Eminent Parents to their Daughters THE 30 letters that comprised Jawaharlal Nehru's Letters From a Father to His Daughter, were written from prison to educate Indira (Priyadarshani) about history, and civilisation. In this book, celebrity parents write to their daughters not so much about the world outside but their own little world —their journey to the top and the milestones that shaped it. As their struggle, hopes and dreams come vividly alive, the achievers, worldly accomplishments notwithstanding, come across as just Amma, Appa, Mumma and Papa. There is a continuity as they dwell on and pass on their own childhood experiences to their daughters. Sudha Menon's second book, after the earlier Leading Ladies: Women Who Inspire India is as motivating as the earlier one. Despite individual variations, there is an underlying similarity in the letters because the core values that most of them profess and want their progeny to imbibe are time-tested ones. Be it Narayana Murthy or Zia Mody, most icons, cutting across their professions, feel there are no shortcuts to success and no substitute for hard work. A position of privilege is an opportunity to maximise your potential and pay back to society, the daughters are told. It is a measure of the writer's dexterity that the writing does not lapse into moralising and each story stands out definitively, with peaks and troughs.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s foreward, evocative and simply written, is a moving letter to her parents. The celebrities are from diverse spheres — business, industry, arts, finance and sports — making it a truly representative collection. Ajay Piramal, Amit Chandra, Capt Gopinath, Chanda Kochhar, Deep Anand, Ganesh Natarajan, Jatin Das, Kishore Biyani, KV Kamath, Mallika Sarabhai, Narayana Murthy, Pradeep Bhargava, Prakash Padukone, PP Chhabria, Renuka Ramnath
Prakash Padukone writes how he has never believed in whingeing, while Kishore Biyani talks of the courage required to plough a lonely furrow. Life, for most, is different from what they do for a living. There is regret at not spending much time and pride too. Chabbria proudly writes, “I grew up a poor unlettered man and it makes me proud to see you so immersed in a career that has the power to change people's lives.” Readers too can draw lessons to navigate life. Pradeep Bhargava, after an accident, discovered, “We are completely replaceable at our workplaces but there is never a back-up for us at home.” For Narayan Murthy, becoming a father meant a sense of added responsibility. Mallika Sarabhai and Shaheen Mistri use poetry as a means to give the crusader’s call. Each letter makes you smile tenderly or even laugh, cry and marvel at the way these men and women have given so much to life. Jatin Das, the artist, objects to media's intrusive ways and pens down a touching note (a letter is more intimate, he says) to daughter Nandita. The book is a treasure trove, more so in an age of truncated communication and SMSes, hurriedly dashed e-mails and WhatsApp. Straight-from-heart letters capture the warmth and joy of parenting — family rituals, tucking kids in bed, story time, oft-repeated but favourite jokes. Failure to spend more time with the kids or buy that favourite dress are familiar. In a shrinking world of “I, me and myself,” it is motivating to read of how so many people at the top lead fruitful lives and contribute to. One wishes the photographs had been published with each letter, instead of at the end.
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Shaheen Mistri and Zia Mody are the 18 celebrities. In as many chapters, they bond with and reach out to their daughters. An introduction before each letter captures the essence of the writer's life and the drivers of his/her life. 