The boss is not your friend by Vijay Nair

Have you always wondered what kind of an “animal” your boss really was and have racked your brains to find some way to tackle “it” effectively? Have you wondered about the “actual” motives of the organization you work for and how the vision and mission statements flouted so grandly by your organization conceals it’s actual intentions? Well,Vijay Nair’s irreverent,yet funny book “The boss is not your friend (A handbook for Indian Managers to survive all things Organizational) might be right up your alley and help you figure some answers.

Drawing richly from his career and his engagements as a consultant,Vijay peppers the book with anecdotes about the vile nature of not just “the boss” but also the organization. He starts of sagely with the hypothesis that “Corporations are evil” and goes on to stack one amusing anecdote on top of another to strengthen his argument. Some might feel that Vijay’s views are extremely jaded,but when one considers the blatant abuse of trust that a lot CEOs and companies have indulged in recently , one realizes that the book was probably born out of a hankering need to call spade a spade,something management tomes would never do. The book takes huge digs at some of the theories expounded by management books.

The Boss Labelling and Fixing instrument that is presented in the book and helps you find out what type your boss really is a hoot,really.The 6 types of bosses that Vijay outlines subsequently ,makes you actually think of all the mean bosses you’ve had the fortune of working with in the past and nod on as he describes characteristics of one obscene type of boss after another. The author’s tongue and cheek tone makes the book a real page turner. He uses the framework of a few management and socalist theories (like Maslow’s theory,CMM model, Schorsch’s framework of Immaturity )and adapts it the context of bosses ,CEOs and organizational behaviour.

Vijay has also drawn liberally from books and movies to develop his dogmas which he calls “DIGMAS”. It was particularly amusing to read about the parallels he draws between HR managers and Dementors in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books . Much later in the book, he compares The Matrix in the movie Matrix to Organizations. All these references to popular culture, along with his easy narrative style makes the book immensely readable.The book also gives tips and pointers at managing several other “evil” forces in the organization like HR managers, CEOs, team members and outsiders like consultants .

Somewhere at the end of the book, the author writes “ This book was never meant to change your lives. It contains no secrets that can illuminate your path. Neither does it help you pick up silly habits to help you succeed against all odds.Gardens or Gardeners have nothing to do with this book.Maybe all it did for you was tickle your funny bone.I am fine with that.” This according to me summarizes the objective of the book quite lucidly. The subservient techniques Vijay advocates might seem a little neurotic and arrogant to some, but one just has to look at the ground realities to understand that guerrilla warfare is definitely the way to go.If you don’t believe in the philosophy of “eye for an eye”,you might want to read the book just for a few laughs!.

Overall, an engaging book that’s been written well . I can see a lot of young executives relating to the style and the content of the book.

My Rating : 3.5/5

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Bala Takes The Plunge by Melvin Durai

If there was a genre called guy-lit, Melvin Durai’s debut novel Bala Takes the Plunge would easily qualify as one. A few pages into the book and I was guffawing at Melvin’s play of words and funny observations. Rajinikant-lovers will be thrilled to encounter some of his famous dialogues in this clever and extremely witty book.

Balasubramaniam Balasubramaniam aka Bala is a big fan of Rajinikant.His ambition is to become a director and make a movie starring the Superstar. Alas, practical aspects push him to pursue an engineering degree at Thiru Harichandran University of Technology (THIT) in Chennai and get “exported” to the US.THIT!! ha ha ha!.In the US, he becomes Bill Balasubramaniam and the director of a company that produces exercise machines. Well settled in a cushy job in a company that excels in deceiving people with infomercials on their exercise machines, Bala realizes that he needs to move on to the next step in life and … gets a dog, which he names America .I know what you are thinking.Cheeky, right?. Hilarious and crazy is what I thought.

Bala wants to get married as he approaches his big 3-0 and takes the help of “How to find the perfect mate in 30 days or less with no help from your parents in India.” He fancies a white girl who works at a store nearby and is secretly thrilled when she makes polite,but random comments. But before he can take things to the next level, disaster strikes and Bala is left stranded on the highway of love.The rest of the story is about how Bala joins activity groups, matrimonial sites and seeks parental intervention to find his“perfect mate”. Funny stuff ,really!

Melvin takes digs at things as diverse as exercise machine commercials,the staggering amounts of waste that America (not the dog;-))generates,role of American dogs,attitude of Chinese suppliers,people who buy Salman Rushdie books just to appear erudite,functional purpose of butts,matrimonial ads ,the SMS lingo and many more random things. Infact, for the first 60 odd pages,there was barely any dialogue and movement in the story ,with the pages filled with wry,witty observations.The book mentions that part of Melvin’s humour columns have been incorporated into the book. Maybe, a huge chunk of the material drawn from the columns went into the first 70 pages. However, after the 70 pages, the narrative gets fast-paced and breezy.

The book’s strength is its unpretentious-ness and Melvin has done a good job at fleshing out Bala’s character-Bala is as believable as it can get.Melvin’s wit shines through the pages and he peppers the book generously with mini-jokes and one-liners. Some of the situations are thoroughly funny like the one in which Bala stands in the queue outside the Chennai American Embassy to get his H1 stamping done and contemplates the prospect of buying a two rupee Bonda. He imagines the Bonda traveling from hand to hand down the queue finally to him, coated in sweat and other “suspect” fluids. I almost fell out of the chair laughing.

Sample some more goodies from the book..

“Your appa and I walk 6 kilometers a day.He walks five kilometers in the morning and I walk one kilometer in the evening.”

American flags arrive at Walmart from a manufacturer in China bearing 53 stars .When demanded an explanation,the Chinese manufacturer says “We give you a good deal-53 stars for the price of 50.” LOL,seriously !.

Overall, a funny book that loved reading.I’ll rate it 3.5/5 and will recommend it to anyone who loves a good no-holds barred laugh. The book is really slim and can be finished in a few hours.I loved the illustration on the cover.So witty,like the rest of the book !

A big thanks to Melvin for sending me the book to review.Looking forward to his next novel.

About the author : Melvin Durai lives with his three Children and Wife in Winnipeg ,Canada and has written hundreds of humour columns in newspapers and magazines.For more information and to read his columns ,head over to his website www.MelvinDurai.com

Anita and Me- Book review

Book name : Anita and Me
Author: Meera Syal
Genre : Fiction (semi-auto-biographical)
Awards won: 1996 Betty Trask Award ; Shortlisted for Guardian 1996 Fiction Prize
Publisher: Harper Collins ( Flamingo)
My rating : 4/5


Synopsis from Good reads

The prize-winning coming-of-age novel about a young Indian girl in northern England. Winner of the Betty Trask Award and finalist for the Guardian Fiction Award, Anita and Me, which has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, tells the story of Meena, the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the British village of Tollington. With great warmth and humor, Meera Syal bring...moreThe prize-winning coming-of-age novel about a young Indian girl in northern England. Winner of the Betty Trask Award and finalist for the Guardian Fiction Award, Anita and Me, which has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, tells the story of Meena, the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the British village of Tollington. With great warmth and humor, Meera Syal brings to life a quirky, spirited 1960s mining town and creates in her protagonist what the Washington Post calls a "female Huck Finn." The novel follows nine-year-old Meena through a year spiced with pilfered sweets and money, bad words, and compulsive, yet inventive, lies. Anita and Me offers a fresh, sassy look at a childhood caught between two cultures

What I thought of the book :

Oh,I loved this book!. The comparison to "To kill a mockingbird" is not misplaced,but the style of writing is different.Anita and Me ishillarious,irreverant,refreshing and poignant at the same time. This semi-autobiographical book by Meera Syal is about a young immigrant girl growing up in a British mining village in the 60's. Meena (the protagonist) is torn between two cultures: her Punjabi roots and the need to fit into the mainstream Tollington culture. She prefers Fish and Chips to Chappatis ; Christmas to Diwali. The narrative is slow and idyllic ,but is spiced with exceptionally cheeky writing by Meera. Her take on her parent's friends-the uncles and aunties that visit them and her parent's relationship with one another is heart-warming and funny at the same time. The way she describes the neighborhood and her neighbors is chuckle-inducing.

Meena's life changes when Anita walks into her life.Anita is brassy and in-your-face and everything Meena is not.This is precisely what fascinates Meena and she desperately wants to be Anita's friend. Meera expertly paints the relationship between the two girls in not just blacks and whites but in shades of grey. Meena and Anita become the best of friends,despite several undercurrents that run between them and Meena finds herself doing uncharacteristic things like lying and stealing. She knows on some level that Anita is bad influence on her,but continues to toe Anita's line,listening to her whims and fancies.Rest of the story is about what happens between the two girls and other members of their "gang". Meena learns hard lessons in life about love ,friendship ,bereavement and "grows" up in the process.

The narrative is not fast-paced,but it felt like every word in that book was there for a purpose . You can find oodles of witticisms thrown liberally in the book .A must read for anyone who likes witty, coming of age stories. I am so glad i picked this book!. My last book was also a coming of age story (The secret life of bees), which I didn't like too much This book is feisty and spirited,whereas I found secret life of bees needlessly meandering and(a little) boring.

Anyway,pick up this book- you won't be disappointed.

My rating : 4/5