Gently Falls the Bakula

Having read her non-fictional works like 'The day I stopped drinking milk' and 'Wise and Otherwise', I never thought that Mrs. Sudha Murthy could do the same justice to fiction too!! 'Gently falls the Bakula' proved me wrong. She has put so much thought into the description that the characters just enact it frame by frame in the minds of the readers. The story relates to the most common dilemmas every young and intelligent women experiences.....whether to listen to the mind or heart? How far should the married life take precedence over the career?? How does the ideology of success and approach towards life differ for men and women?? Where to set the limit to sacrifice of staying the candle with a lighted wick for the family?? Does happiness only come with the so-called 'settling down' for a woman?? Should society be the only obligation for staying together in a suffocating relationship?? If happiness lies in chasing dreams, then was it the dream of every housewife-turned young girl to be a good home-maker someday??
The author just chalks down the innermost feelings and struggles of every wife with a busy husband who has no time to spend with her and is left with no choice but to keep thinking that she is being treated as nothing more than a house-keeping executive, a caretaker for the guests and elderly, a babysitter or an unpaid personal assistant. Mrs.Murthy deserves appreciation for voicing the struggle of the highly educated housewives so well.