Crisp Reviews of Books On My Nightstand

I am quite sure that every Indian is aware of the story of the Ramayana that had been told to us innumerable times since we are young kids. Diwali, the festival of lights, is based on the theme of same story i.e. the victory of Rama over Ravana claiming victory of good over evil. The enthralling story of Rama, the incarnation of God, who slew Ravana, the evil demon of darkness, is an epic story heard by every child in an Indian family. But have you ever wondered that there would have been another version of story, from the voice of the vanquished that remained lost in silence for so long? What if Ravana and his people had a different story to tell? The story of the Ravanayana, a tale of the vanquished Asura people, a story that has been cherished by the oppressed outcastes of India for 3000 years. Anand Neelakantan has gave a way to the voice of Ravana, who has been vilified and whose death is celebrated year after year in every corner of India. Time has come to he

“Stay Hungry, stay foolish”, the famous quote from the speech by Steve Jobs at Stanford University Commencement 2002, has a lot deeper meaning than it may sound. The message behind the quote was to always be hungry to learn more and to keep an open mind to know more. Rashmi Bansal has caught the same spirit in 25 IIM Ahmedabad graduates who chose to trade path of their own making. They are from different backgrounds, different beliefs in life and different industries they made a mark in. But they all had one thing in common: they believed in the power of their dreams. As a personal experience, it feels a lot safer to start working for someone else when you are recently graduated from MBA College than to start your own venture. Entrepreneurship needs a strong passion for your dream and a firm belief that you will reach your dream, no matter what. Rashmi Bansal has done a great job in capturing these awe inspiring, motivating, sometimes unbelievable yet simple stories of th

There is a quote in Srimad Bhagavad-Gita in Sanskrit which says “Jatasya Maranam Dhruvam”. It literally means that the star called Dhruv which rise in night has to set but the implied meaning of the saying is “That which is born shall die”. We know that our life is not eternal and there is an end for our life too, but we don’t want to think about our end or even the journey called life. We keep ourselves too busy in our goals and fight so hard to reach those goals that we forget to give time to the most important things in life.  Here is a story by Mitch Albom where he shares the lessons of life he learnt from his long-lost professor. In his last days, Professor Morrie, or what he would like to be called ‘Coach’, would act as a mentor for the writer and answer the questions which were bothering writer from long time. The questions which our generation doesn’t want to think about, may be because we are too scared to know the answer. The writer and his professor takes us thro