Love Story by Erich Segal is a little masterpiece, and yet standing like a giant in the genre of ‘romantic novels.’ The book is actually based on the screenplay the author wrote and the movie was produced by Paramount Pictures.

Critics, however, severely pronounced the book as banal and not qualifying to be called as literature. The judges for the National Book Award threatened to resign unless “Love Story” was withdrawn from nomination.(source)

To hell with the critics. The book became a number one best seller among the general public and is widely read even today.

I wanted to read this book from a long time and never got the interest to buy, as I always had a couple of other books waiting to be read. A couple of days back when I was watching the titles of a Telugu movie, the director credits this book as the inspiration for the movie. I decided I should give this book a try.

Coming to my thoughts on the book, I think this is really a good book. For first, it wont take more than a couple of hours to finish with an average reading speed. And it really is worth the time spent reading it.

A love story of a Harvard student, whose last-name spoke more than his first-name, and a working-class girl. They fall in love and the guy leaves the fortune he was supposed to inherit from his father, to marry the girl.

Overall, I really liked the book and the signature line of the novel was so well written:

Love means never having to say you’re sorry.

The opening line is so intriguing that it’s hard to put it down after reading it.

What can you say about a 25-year-old girl who died?

Read this book if you have a couple of hours of free time to kill. Trust me, you wont be disappointed. But let me warn, this story has a sad ending.

PS: I had no plans of writing about this book here. But, today, after finishing the book I immediately checked in google to know more about the author, Erich Segal. I realized he died on Jan 17th. Exactly, a day before my book was delivered. That prompted me to write a couple of lines about the book here. And I hope you liked reading it.

Chetan Bhagat released the new book on Oct 8th, titled, 2 States: the story of my marriage. It’s a story of inter-state marriage in India. Love story of  a Punjabi guy Krish, and a Tamil Brahmin girl Ananya. Marriage of paranthas and idlis, paneer and coconut. Chetan, in his own style, dedicates this book to his in-laws. In the disclaimer, he says, though the book is inspired by his own family and experiences, he requests the book must be seen as a work of fiction.

The initial pages of the book are set up in IIM-Ahmedabad. Krish and Ananya meet in the canteen for the first time and eventually over a few days of combined study, fall in love. Life is great for them until their families meet each other. It takes sometime before they realize that they may not be able to convince their families to support their marriage. The twist in the tale is, they want to marry with their parents’ consent rather than choosing the easy way of eloping. Inter-caste marriages are still a taboo in India and let alone an inter-state marriage of a Punjabi and a Tam Brahmin.

The meeting of two families on the convocation day at the college, sets the drama into motion. Rest of the story is about how youngistan fights oldistan to get the approval for marriage. The boy tries to get acceptance from the girl’s family and the girl tires to get acceptance from the boy’s family while both of them are trying to get acceptance from their respective families. I am not going to reveal everything here as I don’t want to be a suspense spoiler.To ease the nerves of those who involve too much into stories, let me say that it has a happy ending. In fact, how can it be made into a bollywood movie if it has a sad ending.

The cultural differences of north-indian families and south-indian families are portrayed very well in a funny way.

Humor is one of the best things in this book. Loaded with some really good similes and metaphors.

If you are a Chetan Bhagat’s fan, you will enjoy this book more than his previous book, Three mistakes of my life.

For those who are not fans of Chetan’s books, or haven’t read his books yet, I would say, you pickup this book if you want to kill a boring afternoon with  ‘a quick read’.

If you are a fan of literary fiction and classics, if you read more of Tharoors, Seths, Roys, and Ghoshs, I would say it is better you stay away from this book.

Coming to me, I am not a great fan of Chetan’s books. I enjoy reading his books as they are very easy to read. Yes, I do admire what he has achieved: success, fame, and of course money, with his books. I like his diction and his subtle observations and the way he weaves them in to the stories. I think, the best from him is yet to come. For me, the best till now is no doubt his first book, Five point someone.

To end, I am sure this book is going to be made into a movie. Unlike his previous books being made into bollywood films, this story best suits for south-indian  movies. Chetan, any of the Telugu movie producers already approached you?

By the way, do you want to write like Chetan Bhagat?

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
3. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
5. Joker in the Pack by Ritesh Sharma and Neeraj Pahlajani
6. Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
7. Elements of Writing Fiction – Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
8. Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide by Gotham Writer’s Workshop
9. Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

Here is the list of books I am currently reading:

1. The English Teacher by RK Narayan
2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

This is a really good read for people involved in start-ups or who want to start on their own. Learn from the stories of 25 successful entrepreneurs. People profiled in this book range from many businesses – Internet, Education, Pharma, IT, Non-Profit, Microfinance and few other domains as well.

Every story is presented it in its own chapter and you can pickup whichever you want to read. Every chapter ends with few paragraphs of advice for young entrepreneurs from the person profiled in that chapter. This is what I liked the most in the book – quick words of wisdom for budding entrepreneurs from these successful entrepreneurs.

Book is organized into three parts.

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.

From the back cover of the book:

‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ is the story of 25 such IIM Ahmedabad graduates who chose the rough road of entrepreneurship. They are diverse in age, in outlook and the industries they made a mark in. But they have one thing in common: they believed in their dreams. This book seeks to inspire young graduates to look beyond placements and salaries. To believe in their dreams.

With an amazing price as low as 125 Rupees, its worth the investment – both the money and time you spend reading.

Anyone with an interest to start something on their own will find this book very inspiring. There is less business jargon, rather book is full of simple words of wisdom and lessons these people have learned while building their businesses. Read it and get inspired!

Protagonist of the novel Balram Halwai alias The White Tiger tells his story to the Premier of China over a series of letters written to him ahead of his visit to India.

Born in a village in the dark heart of India, Balram Halwai is a son of a rickshaw puller. He will be forced to move out of school by his family and to work in a teashop. While cleaning the tables and crushing the coal he nurses a dream to escape out of the dark. He learns to drive a car and his chance to escape from the village comes when a landlord hires him as a chauffeur.

In the capital of India, Delhi, he struggles to be a loyal servant and at the same time his desire to better himself and find a way out of darkness. His boss is Mr. Ashok, who returns from America to venture in new India. Assisting his boss, Balram starts re-educating himself in the heart of Delhi. He learns a new morality at the heart of new India and begins to see how the Tiger might escape his cage. Finally he kills his master and escapes to Bangalore with the money to become a successful entrepreneur.

Balram is not only a driver but a cook, a cleaner and a servant and whatever his owner wants him to be. This is the case in India. A driver is a servant doing any stuff his boss orders. While saving his boss Ashok’s wife from an accident case where she kills a girl at midnight, Balram will be forced to take the crime on himself and go imprisoned. But fortunately for him, a corrupt policeman friend of his boss saves him without registering the accident case.

From the cover page of the book:

The White Tiger is a tale of two Indias. Balram’s journey from the darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether unforgettable.

Read about the real India on these 321 pages of the book. How the politics work, how taxes are not paid by bribing the officials and many things that happen in the dark. Though it sometimes sounds a negative or cynical portrayal of India, for someone who is a servant for himself will agree with every sentence written in this novel. India as seen from a poor man dreaming to break the cage and join the rich.

I don’t need to rate this book as it is already a prestigious award winner. Read this book to know how Balram actually escaped the cage and became Ashok Sharma the respected entrepreneur in Bangalore.

Subroto Bagchi was born in Patnagarh, Orissa on May 1957. He is an entrepreneur and a celebrated author. Written two best selling books, lectured at management schools and industry platforms the world over and been featured on PBS, CNBC and BBC World.

The book is divided into three parts. First part of the book is about the early years of the author. Describes about his childhood days and his family. In part two of the book you will explore the making of a young professional. Part three is about his life in forties and the founding of MindTree. A detailed account is given about his work with Wipro and its growth from a small firm to what it is today.

Bagchi’s father was a low-level government bureaucrat who moved the family often from one small village to the next in the tribal areas of the state of Orissa. So all his childhood days were spent in the village India. The homes had no electricity, running water and all the living comforts now we have. Detailed accounts are given about his schooling, college days and all childhood memories that everyone wants to cherish.

Bagchi started his professional life as a lower division clerk on 1 November 1976 in the secretariat building in Bhubneswar. He takes you through his professional journey from this very first job that he took up and eventually how he co-founded MindTree in 1999 with a diverse group of 10 people.

The book is full of personal anecdotes and simple words of wisdom. If you are wondering about the title, “Go Kiss the World” are the last words of his blind mother and the author says they became the guiding principle of his life.

This book is a good read for everyone. Especially for the young professionals and entrepreneurs, author has a lot to share. The essential message of the book, Bagchi says, is that “ordinary people can do extraordinary things.”

The book takes the reader through Kishoreji’s journey of building a great retail business in India from scratch. Author recounts on how he started as an ordinary cloth seller in Mumbai and eventually how he established the giant retail business spread over a few hundred cities in India serving millions of Indian consumers.

The unique and interesting point I liked about this book is: Kishoreji’s friends, relatives and employees of the company share their experiences about being associated with Kishoreji and give the reader a deep insight into Kishoreji’s personal and as well entrepreneurial abilities.

Kishoreji takes the reader through his childhood days, college life and finally how he had left the usual way of doing family business and started his own journey on a road called entrepreneurship, which most of the young Indians now are aspiring to travel.

Doing something that opposes the established system of beliefs is not an easy task. An entire chapter titled ‘Defying the Odds’ is dedicated to how he started Pantaloon Shoppe amidst very testing and difficult times.

He talks about building emotional connect with consumers. He emphasizes on how he brought Indianness to the business and how he studied Indian consumers with passion. He confided that even till today he visits some of his stores and observes the consumers to understand their needs and their thoughts.

KB emphasizes on relationships throughout the book: relationships with customers, employees, share holders and most importantly family and friends. He also emphasizes on building trust and the importance of mutual trust in relationships.

Kishoreji has even shared about his failed businesses. KB explained about how he tried to enter into movie making in the bollywood but could not produce a huge success there. In a whole chapter dedicated to his bollywood stint, he shared his learnings from this failed attempt of movie-making.

Its an inspiring story every budding entrepreneur should read. The book has something for everyone. If you are aspiring for a career in retail you have a lot to read from a man who built everything from nothing. If you are a casual book reader, even then you have a lot to appreciate and learn.

Finally, it costs only 99 rupees! Go and get a copy for you and I assure you that the time and money you spent is worth the effort.

Here are few inspiring lines I am reproducing from the book with all the due credit given to the authors.

I based everything on one philosophy ‘Rewrite Rules. Retain Values’. Chase your dreams but don’t compromise on your belief system.

Entrepreneurship is about thinking big, believing in your own ability and going ahead with huge risks even if you are aware that some of the ventures may not be successful. It’s also about making decisions, leadership, and about making your colleagues believe in you dream.

When one is young and tries to rewrite rules, he is called ‘mad.’ But when he is finally successful, because he dared to risk it, he is called a ‘maverick.’

By the time one manages to get out of the control of one’s family, one loses his zeal and becomes complacent with what has already been created.

Clinton clearly explains how each of us with the given resources and abilities can make the world a better place to live. Primarily Clinton talks about giving:

1. Money
2. Time
3. Things
4. Skills

Each of the chapters has many inspiring stories of individuals and organizations who are trying to change the world by giving. One can find the stories of men and women who traded in their corporate careers, and the fulfillment they now experience through giving.

Though the book is full of statistics and frequent references to Clinton Foundation, at the end, it really inspires the reader to consider giving something to make the world a better place to live. With the help of real life accounts of many individuals, the book clearly explains – irrespective of income, available time, skills and where one lives – how one can take part of the initiatives and take new initiatives to make this planet earth a more better place.

I have taken three stories from the book and explained in short about the people and their giving. Hope these stories will give you an idea about what is covered in the book and inspire you to read the book.

• McKenzie Steiner organized a beach cleanup with her friends in California at the age of six. When Clinton asked her why she did, she said “Sometimes animals die from people littering in the ocean….I felt better for helping animals and people coming to the beach to swim.” At the very age of six McKenzie Steiner found a way to give her time for a good cause. Children often dream things which we adults think are impossible our of various reasons.
• Dr. Paul Farmer, who grew up in poverty and for the most of his childhood, lived in the family bus in Florida trailer park, even before getting a degree from Harvard Medical School, he vowed to devote his life to give high quality medical care to the poor. He is one of the founders of Partners in Health organization which provides health care for the poor. This story will demonstrate the incredible impact of one person with a fine mind, boundless energy and a passion for justice.
• The story of an eighty-seven-year-old black woman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is one of the most inspiring stories in the book. Oseola McCarty was a local washer woman who gave $1,50,000 to the The University of Southern Mississippi to endow a scholarship fund for African-American students in financial need. For more than seventy five years she eked out for a living washing and ironing other people’s clothes. She dropped out of school in the sixth grade and never returned.

There are many more stories to inspire you and to show you that one need not be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet to change the world. Each of us can make those little changes that will help others to live more happily. ‘Giving’ is all about having a more kinder heart and understanding the difficulties of others and sharing one’s fortunes to bring happiness into others’ lives.

Will giving make you happier? If you have already given any of the offerings – time, money, things, skills – you obviously know that it will indeed make a person more happier than possessing any material things.

Overall, I found the book to be an inspiring read. Though the book is full of statistics and initiatives of Clinton Foundation itself, its worth the time spent reading this book. You finish the book with a positive feeling that finally the world is changing and becoming a more better place to live. Most importantly you will start considering how you take part in changing the world in your own little ways.

John Wood was Microsoft’s Director of Business Development for the Greater China region when he decided to say good bye to the corporate world and enter the world of non-profits by helping the poor children in the developing world to give the lifelong gift of education. The core belief of ‘Room to Read’ is, ‘world change starts with educated children‘.

The defining moment of John Wood’s life had happened when he was trekking in Nepal on a vacation to escape from the work. One day, Wood met Pasupathi, resource person for that province and responsible for providing facilities in the schools of that province. Along with Pasupathi, Wood visited a school, which is supposed to be the biggest school in that area. He could not believe his eyes and was moved by the way school had been operating. He was confronted by the harsh reality that there were no books in the library that a child can read and the class rooms were accommodating more children than they actually can. After interacting with the school headmaster and teachers, he promised them that he would return with books and help the school build a better library. Then the headmaster of the school said, ‘Perhaps, sir, you will someday come back with books.‘ In the book, he shares that these words had really changed the course of his life forever.

An year later, John Wood did exactly what he promised the headmaster and the teachers of that school. With the help of his friends and family, he was able to collect a large number of books and went to Nepal to distribute the books. But, Wood felt the task was not finished. There were literally hundreds of schools with not enough books and few communities did not have schools in the neighborhood and children had to walk for few kilometers to reach a nearby school. He thought, there was something more that he can do to address this issue throughout Nepal.

The following year John left Microsoft and established a non-profit to send books to Nepal. You should read the book to know how this small project to help build a library in rural Nepal school has now become a world famous organization with operations in nine countries in Asia and Africa. Ever since it’s inception, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 1.3 million children by: constructing schools, establishing libraries, publishing local language titles for children books, girl scholarships and establishing computer labs.

‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World‘ is one of those few books which everyone will like to read. No matter where you live and what is your work, you are going to remember this book for a lifetime. The story is so inspiring and uplifting that you will start considering doing something to make the world a better place to live. Most of us have taken the education for granted, but that is not the case in the developing world where standard education is a dream for millions of children, and that dream will only come true when people like John Wood dedicate their entire lives to make that dream become a reality. Keep a box of tissues handy. Few of the lines are so moving that I was brought to tears while reading.

I finish this review by asking you to go and buy the book and share the story with your friends and ask them to read. I am very sure that you are going to like this book and every second is worth spent reading this book.

Videos you might be interested to watch:

• Room To Read – Leaving Microsoft To Change the World
• John Wood speaking at The Power Within

• Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children – By John Wood
• Banker to the Poor: The Autobiography of Muhammad Yunus
• How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition – By David Bornstein

• The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny – By Robin Sharma
• Who Will Cry When You Die? Life Lessons from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari – By Robin Sharma
• Megaliving - By Robin Sharma
• Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons In Life (Quick Reads) – By Richard Branson
• The Secret Teachings of the Vedas - By Stephen Knapp
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
• The Power of Your Subconscious Mind – By Joseph Murphey