Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0

“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” is a very catchy phrase, which was first used by Steve Jobs in his speech for the convocation of students at Stanford University, however, title apart, the book has nothing to do with Apple or Steve Jobs. On the other hand, this book is an amalgamation of entrepreneurial achievements of 25 alumni of IIM-Ahmedabad. The book has been published by Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIM-Ahmedabad in 8 languages, and it topped the as the #1 Best-Seller in India Today’s “Non-Fiction” category.

As per Rashmi Bansal, the Entrepreneurs in the book, and by extrapolating this logic, even elsewhere can be broadly classified into 3 categories.

THE BELIEVERS:
People who knew entrepreneurship was the Chosen Path. They took the plunge straight after their MBA or after working barely a couple of years. And they persevered until they made it big!

THE OPPORTUNISTS:
These entrepreneurs did not plan to take this path but when opportunity knocked they seized it. Their stories go to show that you don't have to be 'born with it', you can develop an entrepreneurial bent of mind at any age.

THE ALTERNATE VISION:
These individuals are using entrepreneurship to create social impact. Or as a platform which allows them creative expression.

The Praises (Positives)
The language used in the book is very lucid and straightforward. Also the book comprises of short interviews of each of the chosen-25, which is followed by their advice to the aspiring entrepreneurs. This “pearls of advices” are a concise version of what they have learnt in their years of hard work and struggle, and hence very inspiring to both the prospective and the struggling entrepreneurs.

The other wonderful thing that has been taken care of here is that the entrepreneurs are chosen from different aspects of the business world, unlike the so-called technocrats who have had a huge share of the limelight, thanks to the IT Revolution. Except the “software-related” success stories, the book also covers the conventional fields of hotel management, pharmacy, polymer-related water tanks and the sugar industry. However, the thing that touched my heart was the fact that the book also covers the Social-Responsibility aspect of the Entrepreneurship and covers Educational institutes and Financial Institutes which help the rural development among others.

In reading the real-life experiences of the interviewees, you will be able to relate to your dreams, your aspirations and even some of the experiences, which you have already undergone, are undergoing, or will undergo in the future, if you take the bold step in direction of entrepreneurship. To be really honest, reading all these stories, not only rekindled the entrepreneur in me (after all, most Gujatratis want to own their own business), but it also aroused a feeling of nostalgia for all the Business-related case-studies we used to work on during our college days. I guess, this book can be a starting point for the B-School students, when they want to look into case-studies, however, they would need to do more research on their own.


The Brick-Bats (Negatives)
The book also has some short-comings, which can turn people off from reading it. Since all the people featured in this book are from IIM-A, it seems more like an Alumni-Achievement Report, and hence people cannot directly relate to it. Also, the main thing that turned me off was the fact that most of the people considered did their MBA from IIM-A in 1970s and 1980s, when getting into the institute was much easier with a lot lesser competition and once they got a job, the job profiles they got as freshers were a lot higher than where any of the average people with a similar education history, which directly stops us from correlating their stories with the current market situation.

Moreover, about 15 of the stories have the same “abstract”, where the interviewee's story goes like this, my parents were ignorant or passive, I took CAT, made it to IIM-A, toiled at an MNC for a few years, got a great idea, worked on my new idea, and here I am, owner of a multi-million dollar organization. It almost seems like reading the same story over and over again. On a personal note, I felt that there could have been some more optimizations w.r.t. the people selected for the book. There is no mention of people like Chetan Bhagat (who is also an author) and Harsha Bhogle, who too are IIM-A Alumni, who left their MNC jobs to follow their hearts’ passion.

Another thing I found amiss here is that the level of research done for the entrepreneurs mentioned in the book is pretty less as compared to what is expected. Barring a few exceptions, the stories are missing the people around the interviewees, i.e. their families and friends who supported them in the ups and downs of their journey. The book also misses explaining some terms, and some business models in detail, which lead the readers to a state of not being able to completely grasp the stories. Also the English version book has places, where suddenly in the middle of a line; the author mentions some thoughts in Hindi, which break the flow of language.


Final Verdict:
All said and done, irrespective of the shortcomings with language, depth or any other criticisms, “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” still manages to convey the ideas crisply in few pages and that's the essence of the book.

At just Rs 125 for a new copy, the book is cheaper than having a lunch/dinner at most of the Restaurants. However, even if you skip a meal to buy this book, since the book is bound to imbibe some wisdom into you, you won’t be able to “Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish”.

2 States – The Story Of My Marriage

Overall Rating: 7.0/10.0

I finally managed to get down reading and now reviewing “2 States” the latest novel penned by Chetan Bhagat. This is a book about the “love-life” and the marriage of a Punjabi boy and a Tamilian girl, who met each other at IIM-A. Of course, as per Chetan Bhagat, this book is a work of fiction, but the fact that it is inspired from his life can be gauged from the fact that his wife is also from Tamil Nadu and they met at IIM-A. The witty part however, is the fact that this piece of literature is dedicated to Chetan Bhagat’s “in-laws”.

The Story

Like all his previous books, this book too is supposed to be a book with a “Happy Ending”. The lead characters Krish Malhotra (a Punjabi Boy) and Ananya Swaminathan (a Tamilian Girl), who meet as classmates in IIM-Ahmedabad and the end result comes from the title itself, i.e. the boy marries the girl.

The storyline of their meeting and falling in love moves very fast indeed. The boy and the girl have a rendezvous on the first page in the first chapter itself, they become friends by the second chapter, kiss by chapter 6 and sex by chapter 7. The real story starts when their parents meet for the first time during their convocation, jolting them out of their dream-world and the things start going sour. So, in a book which has 63 Chapters, the “I love you” happens in the first 1/9th part if you may, and that is when the reality mentioned in the starting of the book makes sense.

Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.

Needless to say, there is the typical Chetan Bhagat style of writing where the lead characters are rebels and try to break the rules of their society. The book seems to be a “continuation” of Five-Point-Someone with “Hari”, now in light as “Krish”. There are references to having an affair with Professor’s daughter during his undergraduation at IIT-Delhi. Moreover, there is also a mention during Krish’s interview with CitiBank regarding a missed semester, during his undergraduate studies, which Krish corrects as calling it “Research Semester”.

The book depicts Ananya, who is a Tamil-Brahmin eating non-veg and boozing, which is against her social culture. In a very light fashion, Chetan Bhagat also shows the fact how some of the students take up careers without their actual interest just for the sake of money. It also shows the Indian mentality on topics like pre-marital sex, nuances of regions and religions and the social stigma of inter-caste marriages.

The book is based on a concept that has been covered countless times in innumerable Bollywood movies (it reminded me of Dil-Wale-Dulhaniya-Le-Jayenge). The funny and yet heartening was the fact that when Krish proposed later in the book, asking Ananya’s hand-in-marriage, he proposed to the entire Swaminathan family and bought rings for all of them. On the whole, it is a sweet story, where the kids though madly in love, don’t just elope together and respect the feelings of their family members; and yet, they also don’t their parents influence their choice of their life-partner.


Final Verdict:

To quote something that I figured out over time, Chetan Bhagat’s books always have something to do with numbers in the title. I even found a similar discovery from someone else on the Internet.

Five-Point Someone
One Night @ The Call Centre
Three Mistakes of My Life
Two States

Nevertheless, the book doesn’t meet the expectations to make it reach a “Four” out of 5 on the rating, so probably, his next title needs to have a “Four” to complete his set of 1-5. It’s not a literary classic and not reading the book won’t make you feel as if you are missing something. However, with its witty jokes, though sometimes regional, the book never turns boring, if you pick it up to read. To summarize, since the book just costs Rs. 95, which is lesser than a single movie ticket in the Multiplex, it is well-worth the money.

The Lost Symbol - A Sneak Peak

Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0

I finally managed to get down reading and now reviewing Dan Brown’s Latest Book “The Lost Symbol”. The problem with writing a critique on this Latest Best-seller, which sold more than one million copies on 16th September, i.e. the day of its launch and also reaching the #1 position on Amazon.com sales, is that there needs to be a lot of care taken to ensure that the review is useful, and yet doesn’t reveal the slightest things about the plot. However, I am trying to take care to ensure, I have no spoilers here, which may spoil the fun of the blog-readers, who haven’t had their share of reading this book as yet.

Like all of Dan’s novels, even the Last Symbol, has hidden groups, shady enclaves and hidden secrets, which unfold at each and every turn. The story moves with our dear Prof. Robert Langdon (who is now 3 books old), moving in yet-another quest, which challenges his in-depth knowledge of ancient societies and symbols.

The story this time is about the “circles-inside-circles” in the Free-Masons society, which is hiding some secret, which yields un-imaginable power to the person, who can solve the mystery and reach the conclusion. However, as with his other books, Dan Brown, includes some facts of history, which are probably also mixed with some of his creative fantasies, which creates a fusion, the readers would find completely invigorating. One major difference here is that, the story happens right there, in the heart of Washington D.C., the Capital of United States, and yet, we find the reading as fascinating as it would have been Venice.

One point I’d really like to mention here is that, in this book, the role of the villain here is very well managed. You may find the villain early, and may not get the shock-value, like in the older books, because you know Dan Brown, but the actions are so villainous and kind of brutal, that you feel like dumping the villain in front of an Express train and see him getting trampled. This very fact is a definition of a villainous job well-done.

Why I liked this book?

The Lost Symbol is a page-turning thriller – but the main reason why I loved this book lies in the fact that unlike his other books, in this book, there is a revelation. The book kind of reveals the importance and opens the readers to the thoughts of “tolerance” towards other people, their customs and religions, and also makes the readers ponder about the existence of “the Supreme Element - God”.

This is done, in a self-realization, when Langdon tries to defend the Free Masons society, whose customs are first shown kind of satanic and a cult, till Langdon gives explanations and forces the readers to not be judgmental since, all customs will look the same way unless properly explained and looked at a bias.

What I did not like in this book?

One major drawback that turned me down was the constant self-denial the character of Robert Langdon had for the happenings around him. He keeps trying to fight out everything stating, it cannot be real and that all this is just a myth. I had hoped that the character would have matured to believe anything, especially after what happened to him in the earlier books (Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons), where he found truth, which was even stranger than fiction.

Final Verdict:

I guess, here I need to answer the question most readers will probably be posing. “Is this book better than Da Vinci Code?”

Well, in my humble opinion, the answer is “Yes, the book is better than Da Vinci Code”. However, my personal favorite still remains Angels and Demons. Yet I believe, Dan Brown has done excellent work in this book (barring Grammatical mistakes). Some of the points he puts really makes us have self-realizations, while others make us have thrills. Take a copy and read the first chapter, I won’t ask you to read more. And while enjoying this “dessert for the brain”, don’t forget to have your meals for the body.

Atlas Shrugged - A Review

Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0
Value for Money: 7.0/10.0

Writing a review about a 900+ page book and also not revealing anything about the plot is a daunting task. The fact that it is Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” does not make this task any easier. The Atlas Shrugged too, just like the FountainHead is much more than the pages that make the book. It almost comprises a mode of life and a figment of an imaginary society, remnants of which are visible in various examples in the real world.

The Atlas Shrugged has a plot which though is completely woven into economy and finances, yet is not a typical debate of capitalism versus socialism. The story is about the creative people who drive the others, bearing the burden of their fellowmen, just like Atlas stands, bearing the burden of the Earth. The name itself signifies that Atlas Shrugged and hence the plot revolves around a dramatic story of a society which is suddenly devoid of its driver, the innovators and the chaos that would follow. Ideally, I would like to remain non-political, but the story moves very closely to the various political aspects like equality of opportunity and financial aid among people of even the weaker sections of the society. Now I fundamentally believe that though equality is good, completely forced equality is harmful. I read in a book somewhere, that if all the sand of Mount Blanc (the highest mountain of France) is spread in entire France, the entire France will only rise by 6 inches. Similar to this thought is the fact that if everyone is a millionaire, what is a million’s worth anymore. The book echoes this ideology when it says, if everyone is paid equally; why would one work hard? This concept is shown so strongly, that saying you like this book in itself is a political statement.

Moving more clearly to the plot, it is the story of an ambitious and dynamic woman, who wishes to head the Biggest Railway Locomotive Empire which was created by her father. At every point of her life, she faces challenges, because the society is not mature enough to understand that a woman would run the railways. Her, not-so-competent brother makes an absolute fool of himself and the organization with his limited array of thoughts, narrow mindset, inability to understand any of what’s going on coupled with his intent to find profit in others, creating an oddly evil character.

Though the story does not show any visibility at first, as the book moves on, we realize that the Government keeps preaching various policies for giving “equal benefits to all” at the cost of making the ones with higher capability to take an extra load to “help” their not-so-privileged brothers. What follows these regulations is that the men of industry, the greatest people that the society needs to fix things, are disappearing. For the heroine above, just went she needs them the most, they drop everything they are doing, abandon their factories and their businesses and disappear.

The story also has a highly-successful person, who character confuses the reader unless read and followed very carefully. Various twists and turns of the tale make him look like a rich brat or a wonderful strategist. The tale also encompasses another hero, a person with all the self-motivation and power to actually fuel the story and the society in the tale for years with his metallurgical innovations. The at times brotherly and at times rivalry relations of the above mentioned characters is also a thing that holds the readers in awe. The series of suspense leads to another mystery being solved which change the entire course of the story for the better or the worse.

The story-line, like the Fountainhead is slow and at times difficult to comprehend. The sheer size of the book (looks almost like a dictionary) is enough to discourage people from taking it up. The lack of sense behind the Financial policies that the Government and Leaders enforced on the characters in the book was a definite turn-off for me. I could not really digest the fact that people who have spent their lives making financial policies can overlook such a fundamental aspect. But then, looking at the real world made me realize that votes are actually the thing that drives such initiatives.

The entire book is a tussle between “the Innovators” and “the Looters”. It sets a very high standard of what is right and correct in the world today, though it is a bit heartless and cold. It ultimately boils down to the same aspects as the FountainHead: high self-esteem and selfless altruism. The book has a lot of pages with discussions and speeches which are way-beyond the book itself. Looking at them over and over again, not only make for a great reading, but that reading will also give you more insight on life.


Final Verdict:

This is one book, which only people who can handle long speeches and have time to invest will be able to truly enjoy. For the lovers of the book, the reality, taken with a pinch of salt is that most people I know, shrugged the book, before the Atlas shrug. In fact, one thing I have observed in these novels is that people believe in the childish ways in Rand’s books because they typically have no children and hence they can strive for the idealism. The high standards set by the characters are far from reality and the utter heartlessness is also not the idyllic way of life. All in all, it is a book that keeps shifting between Utopia and Perfection.


The Correlations of the Real World with this book:

On hindsight, I feel that presently we are almost living the Atlas Shrugged. The current Financial Crisis is an ideal situation of this very concept where the American Government tried to provide housing to the “common man”, even with sub-prime credits. The thought that those people would be able to “earn” those houses was in itself far-fetched. Now that mortgage defaults are skyrocketing, the government is working on mortgage bailout plans for needy borrowers who can't afford the homes they bought. Similarly in India, we have loans of farmers written off at the time of elections and reservations in even the most Premier organizations for the vote-banks of politicians. Such policies ruin the lives of hard-working people whose tax money is used to salvage the so-called victims of the crisis. But slowly we are seeing the truth now; the looters' philosophy has failed. The global economic crisis is a result of the doomed culture of consumption over production. Would we see the beginning of an "Atlas Shrugged" scenario with the election of the Third World Socialist Obama and a majority Democrat Congress or will Obama prove something otherwise? And if that “income redistribution” happens, would we see the inventors, industrialists, entrepreneurs and skilled workers revolt against the injustice or simply drop out and disappear once their patience runs out?

Only time will tell...

The Fountainhead - A Review

Overall Rating: 8.5/10.0
Value for Money: 8.0/10.0

Writing a review on The Fountainhead is a real tough ask and I have made a real effort in reducing the review to less than a page, because frankly writing about it would make a book in itself. Moreover I have a feeling that trying to explain anything else might reveal the plot.

Frankly speaking, The Fountainhead is one of those books which when you read, you find is so slow and depressing that you would want to throw it into the trash can, but however strong the urge, you will not be able to do so because that would mean putting it down without knowing what happened next. I personally think it is much more than a novel, yes, it is known that The Fountainhead is based on Ayn Rand’s “Theory of Objectivism”, but in simpler words, The Fountainhead is the paperback edition of the quest of a human mind. It is essentially a whole new representation of life.

It is the story of a genius architect, who refuses to give up his stand under the pressure of the world. It starts with his expulsion from School of Architecture, just because he calls a spade and spade and refuses to copy mistakes that others accept as a part of life. The plot continues with a friend and classmate of his, who copies his ideas and makes it big in life. This friend is a typical character who partly lives in all of us and it is that part of us that accepts decisions of our lives which are made by others, like what to study, where to work and how to lead a life. The dependence of this character on his mother and then the society for support, rather than following his own dreams is depicted beautifully.

The story also continues with various characters, each with their avid personalities and goals of life. There is his lover, whose way of showing love is difficult to comprehend, who tries to inflict troubles in his life rather than help him out for her satisfaction. It also includes various plots and sub-plots wherein he meets friends and foes in a rich publisher and a real-life Guru, and the story revolves around these characters, who sometimes pave way for him and on other times, block his progress.

The storyline seems to be very slow, at times difficult to comprehend and follow. A lot of people I know, left the book midway saying it was too tough, though I never felt it that way. But what is definitely true is that reading this book needs a lot of patience, because the storyline is not exactly a simple novel-type flow. Yet all said and done, even though the protagonist’s way of seeing and showing us the truth might take us by shock, it still does not fail in meeting the mark. What the book also shows is that, rather than being a sheep and losing your individuality for false happiness, be a lion and take charge of your life even if life seems less greener in the beginning.

The entire novel is a story of humanity's struggle against individuality and the true meaning of ego. All in all, though The Fountainhead reveals the secret of life, it does not reveal the Key to Happiness in life, because quite frankly, there is none. But it does show another way of life, a new philosophy, which is quite different from the one that the society teaches us. A way of life called “Selfish Altruism”, i.e. to live fully and utterly for one’s self without any sense of guilt. It is about not sacrificing others for one's own self, but sacrifices one's own self for himself and his own creations. It is about the philosophy of an individual who lives for no one but himself, one who does not require the social attitudes of those around him. The ultimate state egoism as Ayn Rand puts it, the purest way to live.

There are some sets of pages in the book which have certain discussions, each line of which is a lesson for a lifetime. Sit with a pencil and mark them for re-reading. Looking at them over and over again, not only make for a great reading, but that reading will also give you more insight on life.

Final Verdict:
I would suggest this book to anyone who is interested in getting a more humanistic view of life. A book on an architect's life seems a strange way to convey the fundamentals of life, but if you look at the metaphorical meaning that Ayn Rand wants to convey and that the entire book is based around architecture, which is merely a metaphor for the construction of life and different ideals, things do fall into place, and the bricks and blocks do add up and make the building.

A must read if you believe in yourself and a must read if you don’t. But don’t read it with the aim of understanding it from first page itself. It is a way of life and the knowledge that the book has to offer will take time to be grasped.

The Three Mistakes Of My Life - A Review

Overall Rating: 7.0/10.0

Value for Money: 9.0/10.0

The first impression that you read 'The 3 Mistakes of My Life' is that it is a more general 'Five Point Someone', where the three main characters are not the part of a limited lot in an IIT but are three normal mortals trying to rise and come up as entrepreneurs in the city that praises business like none other – Ahmedabad.

The only other noticeable difference is that '3 mistakes' is will be better marketed because it is now associated with a known Chetan Bhagat and hence it will probably be more discussed and popularized. I believe Chetan Bhagat’s fans will not be disappointed, because of the lucid language and straight story where everyone can relate to some or the other character. The small joys and the big frustrations of growing up (which are pretty much common across India). More so, for people like me who have grown up in Ahmedabad, the whole story stirs up wonderful remembrances and events which make the story seem more real.

- The ambience of Gujarat and Ahmedabad are shown superbly and the few lines which rock the cradle of memories are:
1. Gujarat is the only state in India where people tend to respect you more if you are in business than if you are in service.
2. 'Gujarat is a dry state… People here get drunk on food'.
These are obvious facts and anyone even slightly associated with Gujarat would know how true this is!

The story revolves around 3 friends,

· Govind, a poor boy, who is driven by the desire to be a successful businessman, and grow beyond boundaries of imagination. But he is to an extent a realist as well and more of a normal boy with ambitions.
· Ishaan or 'Ish', he is the typical Indian who eats, drinks and even breathes cricket. He is a guy who has failed at living up to his passion, but he works with Govind to stay close to the thing he loves most in the world: cricket. He is also a very passionate guy and shows the true spirit of love and friendship. His selflessness is also worth a mention.
· Omi is the third of the three musketeers and probably the dumbest of the lot. He enjoys life with his friends and helped them with his “contacts” in the initial days of business.

So in their own way all three contribute to the success of the business! The book revolves around the state of Gujarat in early 21st Century, covering the gory earthquake, the Godhra Train burn and the bloody riots that followed.

The storyline has a lot of climax with addition of Ali, a young guy, who is an excellent cricketer, Vidya, who is Ish’s sister and Omi’s Mama (maternal uncle), who is dipped into politics of the state. As with his other books, '3 Mistakes' captures a reality where young people are constantly trying to make ends meet, and so instead of lavish spending, love to celebrate small things like Indian victories in cricket over a Thali joint and enjoy a lot of special moments on the building terrace or gardens rather than posh restaurants.

The story also contains a bit of religious theories and there is a time when any confused person would think the same way as Govind did when he met a charismatic Hindu leader who was provoking people in the name of religion, and the spirit of true Hindutva and Govind says: "I was both attracted to him and repelled by him. He had charisma and lunacy at the same time".

The book is definitely a good read but there are a few goof ups and a few areas where improvements could have come.

Though there are several factual goof-ups in the book itself, I think the 3 mistakes that the author made, which were a slight turn off when I was reading the book were:

1. Though he has done well, Chetan Bhagat could not take this book far away from the storyline of Five-point someone and somehow, the characters could be associated with the ones in that book.
2. Sex, boozing and friendship with a scintillating end. These things could have been managed better and the message that he leaves to the youth is pretty unclear.
3. And, last but not the least, the Gujju term for Ahmedabad residents is not Ambavadis but Amdavadis. This hurts slightly because I am proud to be one!

But glitches apart, at just Rs 95, this book is well-worth its money.