This is the autobiography of the author of the Moore market best seller, "101 ways to pretend to be BUSY!". The author, Siddaarth S. Kounder, has humourously explained his long and tiring journey from Kodumudi, a small village near the remote town of Erode, to the K-o-o-k-l-e-p-l-e-x, just another multiplex in the city of California.The book starts right from his childhood days where he vividly explains his high moral habits in simple ways. One such example of his cleanliness is cleanly seen when he proudly confesses that he never brushed his teeth till the age of 10! Thanks to the publishers for not printing any photo of the same!!
Being an over studious child, the author had never spent time on school grounds it seems. But then, his bookish nature had helped him gain more knowledge about the earth and the people's mindset which is far more necessary these days. He had the good habit of remembering what he studied for long it seems. But again, his explanation of his correlation of Economics 'maximum-utility theory' with human free will sounds horrible.
The author could have avoided his usual PJ's atleast in this book. Though it might sound hillarious for him, it sounds more amateurish at times. For instance, while speaking about his childhood days at Kodumudi, he narrates how the villagers used to call him in a seemingly funny way. In verbatim, "Being the youngest in my family, whenever I go round the village for playing, the villagers used to call me, "Chinna gownder, chinna gownder!". I feel myself to be someone like Gaptun Vijaykanth and would be blushing on hearing them call me so".
The college life seemed to have changed the author's life style to its entirety. Right from brushing daily and taking bath atleast once a week, he had to change all his long held practice and habits. The author says he attained enlightenment under the neem tree in front of his department. He claims that he never studied for exams after attaining enlightenment. He goes further to say that he used to sleep till 8 o clock in the morning on an exam day before an exam that starts at 8.30 a.m. He preached his engineering principles to his fellow disciples (some 20 in number) in an very pathetic room that could hold only 2. He also says he gave philosophical speeches to a selected few while in college though they weren't patiently listened and followed.
Even after getting selected for a company named after a Roman goddess, the author didn't join it. He chose to work as a conductor for few days where he compares himself with the wellknown demi-god in South India. His tireless working earned him a job in a company that still searches for the past 10 years for lost things in the web. The author humorously quotes, "...those were the days when I used to change my jobs much faster than I changed my jeans!". Proving himself to be a good translator, he became a tourist guide in that company. Able to speak and write 8 languages (English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Spanish, French and a bit of Tamil), he became the chief tourist guide of the company within few months. He was sent to the biggest multiplex at California to learn few more languages and to transfer his knowledge on various languages to his fellow tourist guides outside the multiplex there. There ends his long and tiring journey from Kodumudi to K-o-o-k-l-e-p-l-e-x.
From conductor to tourist guide, the author had switched to many different professions in his life. His perseverance, hard work and the urge to stay in the race and win it had always proved him successful all through his life. The author concludes saying, few years down the lane he would start his own missionary and would start preaching his disciples on philosophy and human psychology. Beware!!
The author moves into a sad mood while speaking about girls, the reason of which is not so clear. Though being surrounded by many girls right from childhood days, Cupid, becoming jealous of the author for the same reason, has avoided throwing arrows at the author.
Colophon:
The animal used is an orangutan. Though this kind of monkey is among the most intelligent groups of monkey, it also seems to be the most starving kind too. The orangutan has no relation with this book anyways.
Plus and Minus:
- I'm trying to find a plus, right from when I took the book in hand. Seems like I need to read it atleast a couple of times to find something interesting or impressive!
- As far as the negatives, the book is priced more than the price of an Apple iPhone!
Trivia:
- It is said that there had been severe conflicts between the author and the publisher over the animal to be used for colophon. The author seems to have suggested a horse, while the publishers were seemed to be keen on a bear. As a compromise, they both ended up with an orangutan. The reason for choosing this animal is not known. The author feels shy to disclose the reason behind choosing this.
- Sources report that the first book of this author was bought by only one person at the Moore Market. It has been found that the person is a close friend of the author, and was compelled to buy that book! This clearly reveals that the #1 stands for the number of copies sold and not the rank of the book!!
