Book excerpt: Most medical books written by physicians are meant for the benefit of the medical fraternity: physicians, medical students, nurses or paramedics. This book entitled `Matrudevobhava’ extolling the mother is written by a senior obstetrician of India who has a vast experience both as a skilled clinician and as a popular post-graduate teacher for over 40 years. Through this volume he not only brings out so lucidly the scientific and technical aspects of Obstetrics and Gynaecology as a whole but also enlightens us with lot of his wit and philosophy (with appropriate quotes from Adi Sankara to Shakespeare and Sri Satya Sai Baba) on the social, moral and ethical aspects of the problem of human reproduction. To support some of his observations he cities liberally from the Upanishads the Geeta and the Bible. He makes a strong case that the mother who nourishes, labours, protects and gives her all to her child (sometimes even sacrificing herself in the process) deserves to be treated much better than what she gets in our society today. Though the exhortation ‘Matrudevobhava’ – (taken from the Taittiriya Upanishad) is to respect and treat mother as God – if only perhaps we given her right from birth, love and affection, proper nutrition, and education and the health care she needs in reproductive years and after, to a small extent we may be able to repay the enormous debt we owe her. Dr Anjaneyulu rightly warns that the line of demarcation between physiology and pathology of pregnancy and labour are not clear cut; and accidents (or even tragedies) may be due to the neglect by her family or her physician. Therefore, prenatal care and vigilance during labour is quite essential. His brief essays on sex-determination, sex-education, abortions, family planning, normal and abnormal menstruation, cancer of uterine cervix and menopause are so succinct and educative that the book will be useful both for medical personnel and the lay public. His warning to the profession and the public about the alarming rise in the caesarean section and hysterectomy rates should be heeded and reflected upon. He rightly emphasises that the obstetrician of today should take the responsibility to supervise women’s’ health in the widest sense of the term – from childhood, through adolescence to menopause. In India, over 100,000 mothers die annually due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these deaths are preventable. When ‘Safe-Motherhood’ has become the watch-word with UN Agencies (like WHO, UNICEF) and the Government of India, this book is most timely and educative to promote the cause of women’s health in our country.