I picked this up from the little shop at the Chennai Airport today. I normally browse through the book shop to kill time and usually think twice before buying any book. But this time, as soon as I saw this book, I picked it up.
Why?
Because it was only Rs.99. The very same pricing strategy that made Big Bazaar superstores a success. Lower the cost and make it up on volume. If the book had been priced the usual Rs.399, I would have given it the miss.
At the airport, after a cursory glance through the book, I headed straight to the chapter at the middle of the book. I skipped the first few chapters because they are just laudatory statements from Kishore Biyani’s friends. Read about it from Swaroop’s book review which came in quite handy.
It reminded me of the ‘Business Book Readers Club’ that me and a couple of journalist friends started a few years ago. Myself, Sankar – who used to be with Indian Express earlier and Ramnath from Economic Times would choose a business book each to read for the month. We would then meet up on a Sunday at the lawns of Loyola college and read out the synopsis and important learning from the book. By the end of the meeting, each one of us would have had the satisfaction of learning from at least three business books. Quite useful but we let it slide out. Gotto restart this meeting.
If you are interested in business books and want to be part of this small group, please email me at Kiruba at Kiruba.com or call me at 98415 977444.
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This is the book that I got as a gift when I gave a talk to the employees of TCS yesterday. Now, this is exactly the type of book that I would never pick up from a book store…and that’s what makes this book special. Now that I had the book, I began reading it on the way back during the long dusty journey on Old Mahabalipuram Road. I surprised myself by how engrossed I was in the book.
The book explores the two stark sides of India. On one side we are a technology super power enabling global markets yet a major chunk of our own government offices hasn’t seen a computer.
On the way back in the taxi and while reading the book, I looked out the window and saw this particular image which perfectly exemplifies this book. There was this very impressive glass & steel building of Cognizant Technology Services and within a spitting distance was a milkman’s run down cattle shed with a thatched roof. I had to smile at the coincidence.
The book is authored by Edward Luce, a Financial Times journalist who was stationed in India for four years and eventually married an Indian. This book captures his many experiences. It’s fascinating to look at your own country from a foreigner’s perspective.
A fascinating read.
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New Books on my Bookshelf
Note the heading again. I didn’t say, “Books I’m Going to Read”. I normally don’t read the books as soon I buy them. What I do is stock them up in my bookshelf, a sort of my own miniature library. Whenever I get the mood to read or when I’m travelling, I pick up a book I want to read.
About two years ago, I hatched up a plan to buy the books I always wanted to read. I would allocate about Rs.500 every month for the books. Over the months, I’ve built up a decent repository.
This setting up of a mini-library has had a positive impact on my reading. I’ve read many more books in the last year than the years before. Easy accessibility has helped. If I wanted to read, I only have to walk to my hall, rather than going to the library or a book shop.
Oh, libraries never worked out for me. I have this horrible habit of defaulting and the guilt factor keeps adding up. (warning: don’t ever lend me a book).
Figured out, the solution is to own my own library. And I’m happy I latched on to that idea.
As for those four books? No idea when I’ll get to them. But someday, I will.
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Email:Kiruba @ Kiruba.com
Phone :+91-44-42733619
Mobile : 98415 97744
Snail Mail :(Home)
Virugambakkam,
Chennai, INDIA
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