Joker In The Pack

-By Ritesh Sharma, Neeraj Pahlajani
My Rating-****

Finally, the star count (read four stars) is up and how! Anyway, I read this book about two months back and believe it or not, unlike most slow paced novels, this one's got things happening as you keep turning pages. Ritesh & Neeraj, both IIM grads have kept the story simple yet stylish. It's a first person narrative with the character named Shekhar Verma as the protagonist. So, we have Shekhar, a middle class student who grows up in the post liberalization era...spends his childhood playing gully cricket and a host of other games, watching Doordarshan (no prizes for guessing...Doordarshan was more like a Hobson's choice in those times!), not exactly serious about academics...yet manages to come through with flying colours in all his major exams. Speaking of exams, ever wondered about the curiosity levels of our relatives, even distant relatives, neighbours and the like when it comes to our academics? It's their favourite topic right and we hate that, don't we?! Needless to say, statements like "How are studies going?", "Science & Maths are tough right?", "Board exams are high pressure!" don't come as a surprise. And the authors, by calling these folks as "Extras", have veritably shown the presence of these people in almost everyone's lives. The above dialogues feature in the book along with this customary one-liner, as the authors call it.."Is ek saal mehnat kar lo, life ban jaayegi!" I'm sure we all have heard that like a zillion times haha!!

Moving on, Shekhar talks about his journey from an average college in Delhi to the glorious IIM-B...life, for him, is a roller coaster ride thereafter...the story's got everything from hostels, mess, seniors to GPAs, GDs, PIs, internships, day zeros n day ones of placement drives etc etc. He describes the gruelling schedules, late nights, parties that become part of his life. In the bargain, he also makes some real friends. In the end, he lands up working for one of the most coveted companies...saying, at 22, Shekhar Verma had finally arrived.

In short, the book is a perfect melange of satire, fun, apprehensions, love, heartbreak, pain, anxiety, triumph. Also, the humour is very much intact across the book...so you end up enjoying every bit of it. Definitely, worth reading :)

A New Religion? H+

-By Edward de Bono
My Rating-**

Now this one's the third review in a row with a two star rating...not that I can help! Either I'm hard to please or I have been picking not-so-right books/ movies haha! Anyway, so this book talks about a new religion altogether called H+ (aitch plus) which signifies human, happiness, humour, help, hope and health. According to the author, our happiness primarily lies in our achievements and our achievements are based on our actions. That's the reason why de Bono stresses on our actions. I really liked the first half of the book...saving my comments on the second half for the last paragraph :D

Here's a listing of some incredibly beautiful lines from the book:-

• Happiness is not just the absence of pain and suffering
• Humour is a key lubricant of life
• If you are capable of being healthy, it seems careless not to try to be healthy. So, a concern for health is a basic to H+ as a concern for happiness.

Thought- provoking! He also mentions that humour allows us to switch perceptions and see things in a different way...that kinda helps you figure out what the book is all about. Fair enough...however; the second half of the book takes a different turn and the author introduces "pons" (short for "positive sins")...something positive that we should do on a daily basis which I quite agree with but this is all that makes up the second half...and things like you can form groups and discuss your pons and stuff like that...in an ideal situation that's possible but situations are far from ideal na...besides, why form groups for pons in the first place?! I'm not saying this particular part would not find any takers.....just that I got bored while reading it. Surprisingly, in spite of that, it's worth a read!

Dabawalas

-By Shrinivas Pandit

My Rating-**

A catchy title appeals to us very easily and that's exactly what happened to me while browsing the shelves of my office library when I caught sight of "Dabawalas"...it's a daunting task for me to read really big fat thick books but this book was anything but that and I knew I was taking this book home! So here's the review:-

Shrinivas Pandit, through his account with Raghunath Medge (R) & Ganganath Talekar (G) who are at the helm of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association, gives you some insights about how the dabawalas operate. The conversation with the folks is quite engaging but only to some extent I would say...it drags later. It's an inspiring story, no doubt but somehow I feel that the book could have been more informative and elaborate about the business. Having said that, what needs a special mention is that there's a "take-aways" section at the end of each chapter subdivided into two categories-Current Practice & Current Opportunities. This essentially puts forth the underlying concepts of business, gathered from the conversations with R & G.

But as I said earlier, the author has been very economical with the nitty gritties of the business model. The book basically talks about values needed for doing business and in case you are looking for the operational details of the business, you are in for a disappointment. Workaround? Well, a simple google search on dabawalas would do you a world of good. Click here!

Marley & Me

~Starring Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston
My Rating - **

So here's a movie based on John Grogan's Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog . Don't know about the book but the movie is anything but interesting. Anyway, here's the story if I may call it that...

John (Owen Wilson) & Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) Grogan, golden-fleeced journalists, adopt a yellow Lab that John names Marley. Marley happens to be so obnoxious that he earns the moniker of the world's worst dog. Right from the start of the movie, Marley causes mayhem wherever he goes. He's got the habit of ruining whatever he sets his eyes on...the sofa, carpet, answering machine etc etc...the list goes on. John thinks of enrolling him in a training school but the whole idea of training school goes haywire when Marley proves to the trainer and the spectators alike that he's just indocile! The scene where the poor trainer has to bear the brunt is funny!
As days pass by, Mrs. Grogan delivers a baby....fast forward...baby no.2...again fast forward and finally baby no.3...she quits her job (thanks to the chaos and stress due to 3 babies n a Marley)...add to it a tiff between John and Jenny which is quite obvious given the circumstances... Jenny gets so upset that she asks John to abandon Marley. John takes Marley to his friend's place only to realize that life without Marley is incomplete. Even Jenny feels the same. That brings Marley back into their lives.
All's well until Marley is found to be suffering from a stomach ailment to which he succumbs later. And that's the end of the movie :O :O :O

Honestly, I kept searching for a story while watching the movie...pet lovers might be able to relate to the movie in a better way but hey, what about people like us? The start is good but then clearly, the movie drags...In short, you wouldn't lose a thing if you don't watch this movie...n I guess that's indicative of how the movie is!!