The book touches upon a very relevant topic especially from the perspective of a modern Indian youth or the modern generation - that of the "MBA Dream". Even today there really seems to be only two major career choices in India. The first being the Civil Services (government sector career) and other being the Management Graduation (private sector career). Every person in any other job aspires to one of these two, if not as a career option but as an education option. The book explores the life of 'Shiva Prakash' as he transforms from being a Techie (Technically qualified professional) working in an IT firm in Bangalore to becoming a Management Graduate in the One year that he spends at ISB (Indian School of Business) and subsequently returning back to his old firm.
The book is highly detailed and sometimes graphic about ISB and the experiences that management graduates generally go through most b-schools. To someone like I, who is a fellow alumnus of ISB (having passed out the year after Shiva), it becomes a riveting nostalgic read, as I get an opportunity to relieve myself of memories of the unforgettable year spent at ISB. But to someone from another b-school or other educational institutions, the book could sound a tad tedious.
In the book, Shiva narrates his own emotions and experiences as he discovers the different facets of working in a group under time pressure, his realizations about his own limitations and also his strengths, his small victories on the football field and elsewhere, his infatuations and the state of suspended helplessness, his expectations from an MBA program and subsequent reality checks, the struggles on the job front post MBA and subsequent compromises and other similar stories. All these and more make this book a riveting read for most MBA graduates, as they will be able to relate to some aspect or the other, as narrated in the book by Shiva.
On the funnier side, Shiva also takes the readers through the lives and idiosyncrasies of his two quad mates (Captain and Ranga), who lead a very atypical life compared to most b-school students - they were very clear about their own priorities (which were quite different from academics), they were relaxed most times (i.e. not in a rat race) and they were self assured about their future, even as they continued to enjoy the journey of their lives through the annals of a b-school.
The book also talks about the inability of the Indian industry's leaders to recognize the value addition that management education can provide to a person and so an inability to utilize that talent appropriately, thus losing a competitive edge to their competitors who are unable to employ management graduates.
All-in-all the book is a decent read and worth giving a flip through. It would also be interesting for those contemplating an MBA program in the near future since the book highlights several shattered expectations from a management program.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
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