Books & coffee on a Sunday

What could be worse than being called to work on Sundays? Anyway, moi colleagues had decided to come tardy and I was kind of stranded alone at the office.  Had time to kill, so thought it befitting to kill it at Landmark – the bookstore. Cozy ambience, impeccable service and loads of books to indulge in...It’s tempting enough.

At the bookstore, I chanced upon a few interesting books. One was Suhel Seth’s ‘Get to the Top’. Frankly, I don’t know much about Suhel Seth except that he features every now and then on political and business news channels. The next was Brian Tracy’s ‘Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success’. I have always been a great admirer of Brian Tracy. Read his books many times over. Still keep track of his upcoming books.  I picked up another book by Timothy Ferriss’ ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’.

There were other volumes I would have died to lay my hands on. However, the pre-eminent part of living in Hyderabad is you get almost all the titles in the Sunday market at jaw-dropping prices. This dicey logic refrains me from committing the crime. However, much to the amazement, I found ‘Get to the Top’, got my eyeballs. Picked it up more for the decisive title than for the immaculate look. The moment I started reading the book, though it didn’t seem very subterranean, it had me completely glued in.

Some of the insights Suhel Seth throws around in the book are eye-opening, and insightful. I liked the part where he says “Sometimes you need to call a spade, a spade”. He was in particular referring to an incident with Mr. Subbirami Reddy, a well-known industrialist and politician of Andhra Pradesh. Suhel Seth once criticized him in front of media saying he is a boring person to be with. I believe, in a subsequent meeting, Mr. Subbirami Reddy cornered him saying, “Do you think I am a boring person?”. Suhel Seth without ever denying the fact handled the matter tactfully, saying, “That day I had said lot of unpleasant things to lot of people”. That kind of put the whole thing in the right perspective. Then, Suhel Seth goes on to write, “Having said that, I still think he is a boring person”.  A person who knows Mr. Subbirami Reddy, wouldn’t agree less.

For the middleclass society, the book might seem a little over the top. However, it could be a good learning for the rich or the ubber rich who have nothing better than throwing parties of inconceivable magnitude. Or else why would a middle class person spend so much time distilling who needs to be called; how one needs to stay in the good books of invitees’ wives; on what topics to speak on... Pretty old-fashioned. I ain’t much into hobnobbing with anybody. I hate forceful interactions, leave alone creating such circumstances. I don’t deny that there isn’t a bit of truth in what he says of fraternizing the right individuals who can pull strings for you. But definitely it may not be everybody’s cup of tea.

All said and done, the book proved to be a good read. For the primary reason that it was a light book and I could do it in an hour or two over two cups of coffee.