The Corporation that Changed the World - Nick Robins

Well… I didn’t really finish this book, because I carelessly forgot it in a flight I took from Mumbai to Bangalore… but I had read around 80% of the book so am in a position to comment about the book.

The reason I bought this book is to read up into the history of East India Company and their stance with respect to India. The history books in the school dwelt on the Maratha era and then passed on to the 1857 mutiny and there on to the Independence struggle with only a cursory mention about the impact of the East India Company on the nation from a economic and a political perspective. The only thing that was communicated was the atrocities committed on the Indians under the rule of East India Company and then the British Raj. What this book offers is a proper blend of the rise of East India Company, their functioning, their political and social impact not just in India but globally, and their eventual demise.

The good thing is that the author has managed to keep out any bias while presenting the historical facts. He maintains the business book feel while discussing the operations of East India Company as he compares their functioning, the organizational structure, the capital raising mechanisms and the rampant malpractices of the Company with the modern day organization.

The book gives sufficient detail for a person like me who wants to read on the subject more out of curiosity and for high level information. The writing is entertaining and is not boring in a text book way. It does not mince words about the cruelty that the Britishers subjected the Indians to and how methodically they ruined the entire country’s economy. This is the first business book that sparked my patriotic fury. And it did well to remind me of the struggle that India as a nation has been through to be free from the clutches of the foreign power. All the post-independence rhetoric, however clichéd, strikes true. We as Indians, have struggled for long. It’s about time we did not get carried away with the rampant westernization and rose to the riches of the pre-East-India era, where while there were inter-ruler wars, the per-capita income for the common man, was much higher. It’s high time we stopped being a poor nation.

The Dragon and The Elephant - David Smith

It’s interesting to note that the author chooses to represent China and India with a dragon and an elephant respectively. Size, power and perhaps fury captured well by the representative creatures. The book after all, is about the Chinese and Indian economies, their fall from their glorious history to very recent, but endemic, poverty, and their rising impact in the global economy in the more recent times.

Most books on economics, especially the ones about countries at a specific point in time tend to have a very short shelf life. They are applicable only for a few years after which they are published. This is especially true in the more dynamic times of today. But this particular book would make for a good read well into the future for its historical perspective. It provides a very good sneak-peek into the history of Chinese and Indian Economies and its journey for over 2000 years, the last 50 years or so being obviously more detailed.

The book then goes about discussing the impact of the two giants on the world economy. Overall, this section provides some useful details to the more generic knowledge an average Joe might have. Indeed, the author cites just the right number of examples and facts and figures too convey his point. He could easily have been carried away, but he doesn’t wander away from the theme of the book.

Lastly the book takes a predictive tone as the author states the ten ways in which China and India will impact the world. The author is careful not to over-state things, and is neither overly optimistic nor an alarmist in his visions of China, India and the world in 2050.

As a reader, you will appreciate that the author doesn’t patronize anything about either of the two countries and neither does he take a pro-western or a pro-globalization or pro-anything stance through the book. The book is very simply and completely about what the title suggests. The book serves a very good purpose in giving the people who are getting increasingly aware of the China and India, and maybe would also help to shatter some myths and stereotypes about the countries. After all, they are more than just about the dragons and elephants.

Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat

Finally… I managed to read up this best seller. I read the book only because everyone around me had read it. And I was beginning to get bored of the scornful glance people would give me, when I said that I hadn’t read this book. My claims of being an avid book reader were looked upon at with doubt. I never thought I would do anything for mere social acceptance, but here I am, a lesser me who relented to the peer pressure.

At the back of my mind, I did believe that the book would be pretty decent if not outright fantabulous. After all, Five Point Someone seemed to be the favourite book of everyone around me. I had this friend in my MBA course who had come to the first lecture, reeling under the after effects of last-night’s alcohol, or perhaps the early morning peg, and had narrated the whole story to me while I haplessly tried concentrate on what was being taught. And through the slurring of my dear friend, and my own doubly divided concentration all I managed to gather was that the book was about the exploits of a guy at IIT. Of the lecture, I didn’t understand anything.

So I bought the book, and I started having my doubts from the very first page…

Thematically, Chetan Bhagat was spot on. Book about college life, couldn’t miss the mark. Where most Indian writers are too busy exploring philosophical, emotional and intellectual topics for their books, Chetan Bhagat chose a mass topic. And simply that made the book a hit. And let’s give merit where it’s due. The tales of bad students in great institutions, and that too, not child molestors or drug addicts bad, simply less than the torch-bearers-of-brilliance bad, is a tale which a lot of people can relate to. Because behind those select few, mostly disliked top rankers in all colleges, there are a hundred students who are not top rankers, and therefore looked down upon. And all of them, who have not lived up to their parent’s expectations, or have seen the toppers getting extra perks from teachers, etc. etc. can relate to the book and the three protagonists.

But that’s where the charm of the book ends for me. For some, in fact everyone I know, that charm carries them through, and makes the book enjoyable. But I find the writing too sloppy. Chetan Bhagat was probably trying to be colloquial and cool with his contemporary writing style. But that does not mean that you have to use “like” three times in a sentence. If he reads “The Game” by Neil Strauss, he will get a sample of what he was probably trying to achieve, writing style wise.

Characters are extremely clichéd. In fact the whole book is one big blob of clichés and stereotypes. In a group of three, there is one good looking guy and one fat guy. The heroine’s dad is a strict ringmaster. The invariable happy ending. Guy meets cute girl when she bangs into him in a car. The last one actually made me go… “What bs!”

Characters have not been built too well either. But then, I guess we can make some concessions for Chetan Bhagat considering it is his first book. Maybe he will get better. We will wait and see.
Overall, the book is not very enjoyable. At best, it’s a light, quick read, which you can run through and forget. Last heard, they were going to make a movie out of it. Now, the college theme might not have been explored that much in books, but it’s been done to death in movies. I say, leave it off the celluloid guys!!

I Dare - Biography of Kiran Bedi

The most important woman in India according to a magazine, high achiever in this male dominated jungle of a planet, and the person who transformed Tihar Jail: that was the extent about my knowledge about Kiran Bedi, a woman a lot of other women and girls tout as their role model. So, I thought the biography would be a good place to read up about her. After all, she was a cop. And therefore her life was bound to be a lot more interesting than an IT professional. Plus, the book advertised itself by claiming to be the best biography of an Indian. And though I couldn’t recall any other significant biographies from India, I was fairly certain that even considering the lack of competition the book, if not good, wouldn’t be too bad.

To that end, I was right. The book was not bad. And yeah, Kiran Bedi’s life has been quite “happening”, as the hippies might have said. First woman IPS officer, now that’s quite an achievement isn’t it. Something I would have been proud as a parent, a teacher, a friend, a neighbour, or even as her building watchman. Truly, it is so convenient to generalize that this or that is not a girl’s domain. Disproving that requires tremendous dedication, and conviction to battle the cynicism, the doubts, and even ridicule. To say that Kiran Bedi did battle all of that to have a phenomenally respectful career as an IPS officer is to say a lot. Hats off Miss Kiran Bedi!

But then, as a biography this book seriously lacks in quality. Not that I have read many non-business biographies, but I am sure the writing could have been way better. It reads like someone is literally penning down the things as they happened in Kiran Bedi’s life chronologically without giving a thought to the aesthetics of writing. It fails to play with the readers’ emotions, to cause them to flare at the bureaucracy in the Indian System, or cringe at the simply inhuman crimes against the people jailed at Tihar, or simply feel sad for the people who wait for years to even get a sentence and spend time in prison as undertrials. There are some feeble attempts here and there to do that. But they are too far and few in between to praise the quality of writing. Two things could have happened. One, maybe the creative freedom of the author was curtailed, and he was told about the things to write. Or, the writer found that her name would not be mentioned on the cover page and got seriously ticked off by that to put effort into the book. (The book that I have does not have the author name on the cover. The picture of the revised edition I have put up here, does mention the name! Atleast they revised that!) I have a feeling it is the first. Probably Kiran Bedi herself micro-managed the book too much for it to be a piece of literature. And the book at places seems to be a vent to give justification, or to complain against the injustice against her. And the book does seem quite self laudatory for it to be an honest biography.
Final word… yes the book is a worthy read for the sheer personality of Kiran Bedi. Writing pulchritude be damned. The life story of Kiran Bedi keeps you riveted, and the pages keep turning. And you do feel glad that you have such an officer in the system.

It Happened in India - Kishore Biyani

Finally a business book from India! And no, it did not come from the Tata’s or Birla’s or Ambani’s. It has come from the reasonably unlikely quarters of Biyanis. Actually it is just one Biyani that is famous yet: Kishore Biyani, the first generation business man who has given retail in India the shape it is in. Sure we don’t know how are Pantaloons and Big Bazars and other ventures of Kishore Biyani going to shape up in the wake of Reliance Retail and foreign players. And neither did Kishore Biyani set up the first mall in the country. But he could still be heralded as the Father of Indian Retail simply because he has, as Malcolm Gladwell would say, “Tipped” the retail industry in India. He has taken malls from the domain of the elitist to the masses. And even though the business of Kishore Biyani is minuscule compared to Walmart or Tatas, he has achieved a tremendous amount, enough to warrant an autobiography of his business life.

And true to his style, this book by Kishore Biyani was meant for the masses. It was released in paperback, and priced at Rs. 99. Which is the least I have paid for a business book ever!

However, a good business man, and a thriving business operation, does not necessarily a good business book make! That is exactly what has happened here. The book oversimplifies the whole business a bit too much for the reader to grasp the complexities of the business environment, that too, in a sector which is otherwise dominated by the unorganized players. The best business books tend to chart the journey of everyone involved, capturing sufficient detail to convey the challenges of the business without over doing it which would bore the reader. It’s a fine line to tread. And this book is on the simpler side of the line. It misses that investigative journalistic touch and the business details. Perhaps if an independent author had written a book instead of Kishore Biyani himself, assisted by a writer, he might have done a better job.

Having said that, the book does give glimpses of the Indian Retail scenario. And even the brief insights are quite a delight to read. The growth of the business itself, and the thoughts of Kishore Biyani at every juncture and inflection point for his company are quite well narrated. The anecdotes and comments by people who have worked with Kishore Biyani… umm… well there are too many of them and most are generic praises that anyone could shower on anyone. But then, some of them highlight specific facets of Kishore Biyani’s business style and acumen, and they cover up for all the other write-ups which are plain flattery.
The book is not really written for the B-school audiences. It is meant to fire up that entrepreneurial spark in the people who are looking for a hero to emulate. And yes, Kishore Biyani is a source of bucketfuls of inspiration for such young guns. This book will be more than vindicated if it manages to produce even a single Kishore Biyani in this country of over 1 billion people.