God Save The Dork - Review

Author: Sidin Vadukut

Publisher: Penguin India

Price: 199/-

My Rating: 4/5

'God Save The Dork' is a sequel to Dork:The Incredible Adventures Of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese

After the voicemail scandal in the first part, Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese, the protagonist, was promoted in Dufresne. The story of this book was set up in London where Robin was in the Dufresne's team working for their client, Lederman.

This is a hilarious account of how Robin strives to deliver his best in every situation thinking-on-his-feet but ends up doing something stupid. The satires on consultancy field and humour on office culture are continued even in this book like in the previous one.

Robin’s attempts to get the attention of a beautiful chinky intern, difficulties in helping Sugandh (who cannot even prepare his own biodata) to get a job, Raveena Tandon madness, experience with British museums, jealousy on his college mate Rahul Gupta who is now VP of Dufresne, out-of-box thinking to maintain the relation between Dufresne and Lederman, humiliation because of the microphones, his demanding girl friend, office scandal in the end...Oh wait I forgot to mention about ‘Project Mohanlal’ – ROFL...ultimate mallu comedy.

With Sidin's unique style of writing, this book is witty right from the page one. There is also an element of suspense as the story proceeds. The ending is far better than the previous book.

I don’t want this Dork series to end with just three books. Waiting for the next one.

Overall a rib-tickling work, as expected. 

About the Author: Sidin Vadukut is an engineer from NIT Trichy and graduate from IIMA. Currently a columnist and editor with the business newspaper MINT and also a cricket columnist for www.cricinfo.com

You can order your copy on flipkart here for 129/-  and on infibeam for 119/- here

I’m not twenty four...I’ve been nineteen for five years - Review

Author: Sachin Garg

Publisher: Grapevine India

Pages:223 

Price: 100/-

My Rating: 3/5

   The story is about Saumya Kapoor, from Delhi, who is just out of her MBA. She gets an offer from a steel company and in the last minute she comes to know that her posting is in Toranagalu, a small village in Karnataka. She couldn’t imagine her life without shopping malls and short skirts in that village that too with Amit (her college mate whom she hates for various reasons). But as she did not have another option she accepts it and lands in Toranagalu.

   In Toranagalu, she meets Malappa, another new joinee in the plant. He is an interesting guy and Saumya was attracted to him. She gets posted in Safety section of the company where she is required to handle tough jobs. Just when you are about to think that a love story was coming up between Saumya and Malappa, some unexpected incidents in the plant make Saumya’s life more tragic than she imagined.

    At the time when Saumya was in a dilemma whether she could handle the pressure, her relation with Shubhrodeep develops. Saumya met Shubro during her initial days in Toranagalu, in a trip with Amit and Malappa to nearby place. Shubro moves on from place to place for every three months, that is his life style. For three months he stays in Toranagalu in the steel plant with Saumya’s help.

   Saumya likes Shubro but doesn’t reveal it as she fears he may reject her and move on to another place following his move-on theory.

   The rest of story is about how the character Shubro unfolds, Can Saumya handle her job after the disturbing incidents? Did she express her love to Shubro? Will Shubro stay back for Saumya? What is the reason behind his life style?

If you are wondering what happened to Malappa…well, that is another twist in the tale!!   

    The way the book started with the author meeting Saumya in a journey and Saumya telling her story to him reminds me of the CB style. This story will be refreshing for those who got bored with the routine college love stories. The story isn’t predictable...it is gripping till the end. The writing style is good…made this an easy to read. The discussions between Saumya and her friend Varthika are entertaining.

    The thing which attracted me to this book other than the legs on the cover page is that Sachin Garg wrote the story from a girl’s perspective. But unfortunately he is not completely successful in portraying a girl before reader. The emotions of a girl are surely missing.  

   More than Saumya, it is the character Shubro that I liked a lot, author did a good job in developing this character. The way author handled Malappa’s character is a bit disappointing. It would have been better if Malappa has more scope in the story. 

    Overall, a decent work by Sachin. 

About the Author: Sachin is an Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) and did his MBA from MDI, Gurgaon. Apart from books, he has a keen interest in strength training activities and travelling. In 2011, he quit his day job to start his own venture in print media.

  

 This review is a part of Book review program at  Blogadda.

A Roller Coaster Ride-When an IITian Met A Bitsian Girl - Review

Author: Saumil Shrivastava

The story starts at IITB where the protagonist Maddy, who is from the same college, meets a girl who came to their cult-fest ‘mood indigo’. That relation ends in tragedy in a couple of days. Next, it is about his encounter with Pooja, whom he met on Orkut. She agrees to be his girlfriend leaving her boyfriend because of Maddy’s IIT brand (that is what she says). Maddy gets a job so he shifts to Gurgoan, where he meets his flat mates - Harsha, Kundan and Dhananjay. The relation with Pooja becomes a distance relation.

    In office he meets Divya, who is a bitsian. Divya becomes Maddy’s best friend. Whenever there is a fight between Maddy and Pooja, Divya sorts it out. As the story proceeds Maddy doubts whether Divya loves him. And he is confused whether he should go after Pooja(with whom he is having problems) leaving Divya( who loves him a lot).. After one incident he realizes Divya is the right one. From there the relation with Divya begins. The rest of the story is about how this relation turns out to be. Will their relation end on a happy note? Or will it be a disaster like his previous experiences? How did the relation of Maddy with his flat mates changes during all this?

    Though this one is quite predictable till the end, the ending justifies the title “roller coaster ride”. I liked the way author portrayed Maddy’s relation with his flat mates.

    As the story advances Maddy inspires to be an entrepreneur. But this point did not show any impact on the story line. There are some characters which come and go without adding anything to the story.

The writing style is fine. This is like real life incidents packed into a single story.

Just-ok type. Not a must read.

Life Doesn't Give You A Second Chance Always

Like in the ‘road not taken’ even in our lives many times we face the dilemma of choosing the right path. Right now even I am in a similar situation. There are many who suggest to follow your heart but that is easier said than done.

I went to bangalore few days back for an interview. While I was going I had a conversation with a person sitting next to me in the bus. Though I forgot his name I cannot forget what he said..

I have already seen the movie which was being played in the bus. So that did not interest me. The person sitting next to me was doing something on his laptop which I did not observe initially. He was preparing slides for a presentation about an entrepreneur school and from the first slide of the presentation I came to know that the name of the initiative is ‘Samskruthi’. He was adding slides related to “skills required for an entrepreneur” “the plan to develop those skills in the individuals” etc…

The word ‘entrepreneur’ injected some interest in me to know who he was. So I initiated the conversation with “Sir..what is this samskruthi about?” He replied that it was a social organization and ‘entrepreneur school’ was an initiative to educate the youth who did not have the privilege for better education facilities and develop them into confident I-can-do-anything type.

Then when I asked him about how he is planning to do that exactly, he described the works that they will delegate to the students and how those works will boost their individuality and also he was expecting at least 50% of those who graduated from that place will establish similar schools and help in grooming more underprivileged youth. This way he thinks his idea will be expanded. He was going to Bangalore to present the idea for fund raising. He said he believes in transforming anyone into a better person under right conditions.

Though I did not understand completely how he was going to transform not-so-well educated guys into confident entrepreneurs. I liked his intention to make a difference in their lives without expecting anything in return.

He wanted to start something like this for 30 years and finally he thought it is now or never so raised funds and it will be starting in nxt year October. He was going to quit the job he was doing all these years just for the sake of living and which was not his real passion. 

I am done with all the questions in my basket. Now he started asking me. “Are you from Hyderabad” “Yeah I am from hyd.” “why are you going to bangalore? are you a software engineer there ?” “No.I got an offer from capgemini but did not get my joining date yet.” Then I told him why I was going to Bangalore.

He asked “Oh..why are you going to a business analytics company ?” “I am interested in that field” “are you from cse?” “no chemical engineering.”  “What do you do most of your time?” “I spend most of my time with books. I like reading. Any interesting read is fine.”

“As you read a lot are you interested in writing too??” “Yes. But I doubt whether I can come up with a commendable work.” “Then why don’t you develop your writing skills and enter into journalism/writing a book or something like that?” “Well I have some long term plans like that but currently I am looking for a 9-5 job in the field I like.” He smiled. I did not understand why.

“You are a chemical engineer into a software company looking for an opportunity to know about business management and you are also interested in writing. Right” I could sense what he means.Though I have not said anything he understood the dilemma I am in. I said “Sometimes fate takes you to some places you are not interested in”. “Then what are you doing to get out from those places and go to where you are interested in?” I did not answer. I was just looking at him. “What is that one thing you wanted to do or become?”

It is not easy to answer this question with a clarity.But I tried my best to explain him my goals.

Then he said “Generally people have many goals. Out of which one is what he really wanted to do or become before he dies. But instead of pursuing that goal they go after other because of various reasons like force from parents, for money etc. But I tell you. You can get enough money in all the ways. I don’t know anything about you so I am not deciding anything about you. But what I know is the thing I wanted to tell you will definitely be useful to you on your journey call life” I did not know what to answer. I just said “continue”

Yes I know people who joined in IIT for their parents. Wanted to join IIM to impress the parents of their girlfriends. But what they really wanted to do is totally different.

“Do not post pone that One thing you always wanted to do. Life doesn’t give second chance always. Dying with regrets is only a little bit better than not living at all. I have waited all these years for the right opportunity. But I did not get any. So I quitted my job. Pitched my idea to various people. I was rejected by many. But I found the interested ones and I raised funds. I am very near to start the One thing I always wanted to do. It may take years to see the fruits of this idea. But as many people say the happiness is not in the destination but in the journey to reach it. I will not get crores with my idea but surely I will make a difference. The kind of difference I wanted to make in the lives of many. You will never get the right opportunity. You have to create it. If you did not find the way…make it.”

“Life is an adventure. Explore it. Know what you wanted to do. When you don’t know about something all you have to do is to learn about it.”

I don’t know why. But I wanted to end the discussion. But he is determined to shower his wisdom so that it will help me somewhere in my life. So I did not disturb him.

“Your destiny is shaped by your decisions and actions. Don’t let environment decide what you will be. Sometimes however hard you try you may not get what you wanted. But never turn back. Try harder. Stay committed. Perseverance is the secret behind any successful person. Life is like a roller coaster ride. Even if you think you are in the most fucked up situation of your life. Do not panic. Because things can only get better from that point!!”

 “You don’t have to take the road not taken always. Take the path which you wanted to. That will make a difference. You will spend most of your time on the career you choose. If you compromise in that your life will be a torture.”

He was silent after for sometime. It was already around 2 am so he said "Good Night" and disappeared under his blanket. He was about to begin the journey which he was dreaming for 30 years. It was not just what he said, what is more contagious was his strong will to make a difference.

The same words when you hear in different situations will have a different impact on you. I already know whatever he said but at that moment they had an impact on me. I was thinking about the one thing I wanted to do. And am I really working hard on it ?? Are you working on your most important thing ??

Be Eco Friendly

Almost everyone says that they are concerned about environment but you know how many of us do things that are really eco friendly !!.

Today when I met my friend Vishwanadh I came to know that he started an e-commerce business. I asked him the details and he explained that it was about selling eco-friendly-crackers and right now people from Hyderabad and Bangalore can buy on his site.

I thought he was selling crackers with a great theme ‘eco friendly’ so that he can earn lots of profits. He showed his site http://www.ecofriendlydiwali.com/index.php. He was offering high discounts and it was also mentioned on the site that 50% profits will be given to Project Green Hands for planting trees. I couldn’t guess how much profit he will make after offering such discounts and the 50% charity. This made me curious to know whether he was hiding anything.

“So vissu are you really donating the money?” I asked

“Ofcourse I am.” he replied.

Then I thought he was doing some gimmick in the discounts tpart. So I asked “Are you really offering the high discounts like mentioned on your site? “

“If you find any of the items I am selling at a lower price than mine I will give them to u for free. I am offering the discounts as I said.”

“Man then this business will leave u nothing. Almost negligible profits right ? ”

“How can u expect high profits when I am also donating 50% to planting trees.”

“Then why are you into this business and can you explain how do want to do something ecofriendly by selling crackers ?”

“Finally some sensible question. I did not start this business for profits. I wanted to control the pollution during the Diwali time. I am against the use of crackers. I tried asking many people to stop using crackers and tried to explain the pollution because of them. But that did not yield good result. I thought about the next best thing I could do to curb the pollution if I cannot stop people from using crackers. So I came up with this idea to promote the use of ecofriendly crackers. Doing something ecofriendly was my main intention so I decided to donate 50% of the profits to project green hands. It is an organization which is active in many countries and has thousands of volunteers. This way I can contribute to them as well as promote it. If you don’t want to buy crackers but only want to make contribution to project green hands, you can always do it directly on their site. http://www.projectgreenhands.org/ I would be more than happy if you stop using crackers and donate money to planting trees directly.”


Now I understood the reason for operating on low profit margin.

I asked him “How ecofriendly crackers are different from normal ones? ” 

“Ecofriendly crackers emit more light and less sound. They are below decibel limit. Overall pollution from these is very less compared to the crackers which we generally buy” he said.

“So what you are saying is to buy crackers from your site which are eco friendly by which we can also contribute to planting trees as well as reduce pollution during Diwali.“

“To be specific..I suggest you not to buy crackers at all. But in case you think crackers are compulsory then please go for eco friendly crackers. If you buy ecofriendly crackers from my site I can guaranty you that you will get maximum discount and high quality and you can in a way contribute to planting trees. I will contribute the money to project green hands in your name not mine.”

I thought about the advantages of buying from his site...  

• Firstly I can buy something which is of high quality at a very low price and it will be delivered to my home. Thus I can avoid going to the market and buying something which may not be of good quality but is surely priced high.
•  By using eco-friendly-crackers I can reduce my contribution to the pollution.
•  I am also contributing to project green hands this way.

Well I think it would be foolishness not to use eco-friendly-crackers after knowing about it, if at all you HAVE to use crackers during Diwali.  

When one wanted to make a difference, small contributions should be made by other people who think what he is doing is right.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now !!