Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2025

Books: Stories Short and Sweet, by Ruskin Bond

'Stories Short and Sweet' is a wonderful collection of 12 short stories by Ruskin Bond, set in the hilly small towns of India. The book captures various facets of life, including humor, nostalgia, love, friendship, trust, and betrayal, often through the lens of childhood experiences.

Here are the chapters (stories) included in the collection:

1. Those Three Bears 

2. The Coral Tree

3. He Who Rides A Tiger

4. The Thief’s Story

5. When the Trees Walked 

6. A Bouquet of Love

7. The White Pigeon

8. Pret in the House

9. The Overcoat

10. The Tunnel

11. The Snake Charmer's Daughter

12. The Wild Fruit

I loved the stories, "The Coral Tree", "The Thief’s Story", and "A Bouquet of Love " a lot. “The Coral Tree” tells the story of a young man leaving his grand father’s house in India for England permanently, and touches the emotional aspect of parting with a place. Reading the story, it strongly feels like we are the boy and an urge to make the boy not leave. "The Thief’s Story" is a touching story of a thief who tries to steal from his own friend, and the associated dilemma. “A Bouquet of Love” tells the story of an elderly woman living a solitary life in a cottage on a hill station and how once harsh weather takes her life.

Each story is crafted with Ruskin Bond’s signature warmth and gentle humor, making it a delightful read for all ages.

- Rahul


Monday, July 21, 2025

Books: Fooled by Randomness : The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets; by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

As the title indicates, this book is about the significance of randomness in our life. Published in 2001, this book was a precursor to his more famous work, "The Black Swan," further developing many of the ideas introduced here. 

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a former options trader, argues that our brains are not wired to comprehend the true nature of probability and the impact of rare, high-impact events. We tend to attribute success to skill and hard work, while conveniently overlooking the immense influence of luck and unforeseen random occurrences. Conversely, failures are often attributed to external factors rather than a misunderstanding of risk.

The book has a few areas of improvements in my opinion: I feel there is a slight confusion in the book about its target audience, since the book addresses a diverse set of contexts: a mix of philosophy, psychology, stock market trading, and history. The length of the book also ‘feels’; and I think 1/3 to 1/2 of the book can be easily trimmed to make it more effective for readers. Also, during the first half of the book, the writer’s tongue in cheek style of writing creates a distraction for the readers; especially since the subject is a grave one. This improves as we get towards the latter part of the book near its end, which is most enlightening. 

Here are some of the important points from the book:

- Our brains aren't wired to grasp true probability or the immense impact of rare, high-consequence events.

- Much perceived "skill" is actually luck disguised as deterministic outcomes. 

- It is not wise to rely on inductive reasoning – drawing general conclusions from specific observations – especially in complex and unpredictable systems. Empirical data can be misleading because it only represents what has happened, not what could happen or will happen.

- We only see the single realized path of events, overlooking countless "alternate histories" that could've occurred.

- Hindsight Bias: Believing we "knew it all along."

- Confirmation Bias: Seeking only information that confirms our beliefs.

- Narrative Fallacy: Creating false cause-and-effect stories for random events.

- Overconfidence: Overestimating our abilities and predictions.

- Halo Effect: Our overall impression of a person (e.g., successful) influences our perception of their specific traits, making us attribute their success to admirable qualities, even if those qualities were not truly the cause.

- Survivorship bias: We focus only on successes, ignoring the numerous failures.

- The "Turkey Problem": Past patterns don't guarantee future consistency, especially with extreme events.

- Silent evidence: The unseen data of failures that distort our understanding of success.

- Embrace Stoicism to accept what's beyond our control and maintain rationality amidst uncertainty.

- Rahul 


Friday, July 18, 2025

Books: The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness: By Morgan Housel

 

I had been reading about this book and its author Morgan Housel for quite some time. Finally, I got chance to finish this book. I highly recommend it to all.

During my MBA, I had come across a subject called “behavioral finance” for the first time. It was enlightening to study and it all made sense. This book is the second such education I underwent.

The most important part I want to highlight about this book is that the author appears very honest in it. Honesty is often an underrated trait in the world of writing. Along with age, I have been observing and appreciating it more and more. Near the end of the book, the author has also included a chapter where he describes his own personal investment style. He mentions that he mainly invests in low-cost index funds, no risky investments, does not take debt, lives frugal lifestyle, saves lot of his income for the rainy days, and it clearly seems that he practices what he advocates. It was very touching.

There are about 20 chapters in this book and all contain timeless wisdom related to life in general and wealth in particular. Since I read a lot, I had come across a few of those lessons earlier form other sources, but most of the book came as a great read and a great realization.

It is really nice to come across such an honest book and this author who seems so genuine. Hats off to Morgan and as I mentioned in the beginning, I highly recommend this book to one and all.

- Rahul Tiwary

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Valentine's Day 2025: Five Love Quotes from Sawla Sitara by Anumita Sharma

Love is around the corner, as they say, since Valentine's Day has come. While you get prepared for the ‘V-day’, here are some interesting ‘love quotes’ from recently launched ‘Sawla Sitara’, a Hindi romance-novel by author Anumita Sharma. You can read more about the book on my blog here

Amazing ‘Love Quotes’ from Anumita Sharma in Sawla Sitara (2025):

***

“अगर दुःख एक साथ नहीं झेला तो प्यार का क्या मतलब है?” - अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

“केवल प्रेम ही संचित दर्द से मुक्ति दे सकता है।” - अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

“प्यार लेना नहीं बल्कि देना है। अंत में प्यार के बदले हमेशा प्यार मिलता है।” - अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

“क्या यह अजीब नहीं है कि हम सभी, जो जीवन के इस सागर में बह रहे हैं, यह मानते हैं कि हम भविष्य में तट पर पहुँच जायेंगे?” - अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

“लेकिन क्या सभी लड़कियाँ दुष्ट प्रभावों से आकर्षित नहीं होतीं?” - अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

Let us know how do you like these quotes? And if you find these interesting, search for the book on popular online book selling sites like Amazon and Padhega India, and get your own copy now! 

- Rahul   

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Book Review: साँवला सितारा (लेखिका - अनुमिता शर्मा)

 


'साँवला सितारा' हाल ही में प्रकाशित एक 'रोमांटिक उपन्यास' है जिसे अनुमिता शर्मा ने लिखा है। यह हिंदी उपन्यास अंजुमन प्रकाशन द्वारा पाठकों के लिए उपलब्ध कराया गया है और ऑनलाइन पोर्टल्स पर पसंद किया जा रहा है। एक बेहद सुन्दर कवर के साथ प्रकाशित यह पुस्तक 'जेन-ज़ी' को खासकर अपील करती है और 'वैलेंटाइन डे' के उपलक्ष में अत्यधिक प्रासंगिक है।

अगर आपने लेखिका अनुमिता शर्मा की अन्य पुस्तकें पढ़ी हैं तो आप उनके पूर्णतावादी (पर्फेक्शनलिस्ट), कल्पनाशील (इमैजिनेटिव), अनूठे (यूनिक) और सशक्त (पावरफुल) लेखन से परिचित होंगे। वे वर्त्तमान समय के उन महानतम लेखकों में शामिल हैं जिन्हे समाज अभी भी जानने की प्रक्रिया में है और जिनकी प्रतिभा को उचित पहचान मिलना शेष है। उनकी रचनाएँ वास्तविकता और अलौकिकता की सीमाओं से परे, भावनाओं और प्रेक्षणों के एक अद्भुत संसार का सृजन करती हैं। लेखिका भाषा पर सटीक पकड़ और अपनी एक अनूठी अवलोकन शक्ति के सहारे लिखी हुई रचनाओं से पाठकों को निरंतर आश्चर्यचकित करती हैं।

'साँवला सितारा' विषयवस्तु में एक 'रोमांटिक उपन्यास' ही है और आजकल युवावर्ग में लोकप्रिय हो रहे मास-सेलिंग रोमांटिक नोवेल्स के दौर में, जहाँ अधिकांशतः अंग्रेजी नोवेल्स का बोलबाला है, अपनी पहचान बनाने योग्य है।

मैं लेखिका की अवलोकन शक्ति का बहुत बड़ा प्रशंसक हूँ और यहाँ इस उपन्यास से चुने हुए अपने पसंदीदा कुछ उद्धरण पेश कर रहा हूँ।

***

"उसने लाल पगड़ी और क्रीम कलर की शेरवानी पहनी थी, मगर उसके ज़र्द चेहरे पर अजीबोगरीब भाव थे, जैसे वह उस उन्मादित सैलाब के हर कोने से किसी आपदा की उम्मीद कर रहा हो, लेकिन अगर वह किसी तरह अपने स्थान पर चिपका रहा, तो वह खतरनाक समय बीत जायेगा।" - अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

"यही फ़र्क़ है शादी करने और प्यार करने में।" मैंने अजीब सी आवाज में कहा, जो मेरी अपनी नहीं थी, और मेरी आखों में आँसू आ गये। अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

"सूरज गोधूलि की चाँद की तरह लग रहा था। दूर आसमान से पक्षियों और मवेशियों की आवाजें आ रही थीं। बादलों के मध्य से निकलता सर्दी का शांतिपूर्ण प्रकाश मेरे साथ चल रहा था। मैं जंगली फूलों, पौधों, घास और मेरे कपड़ों में उलझे कोहरे के इत्र को सूंघ सकती थी।" अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

"हाँ", मैंने निराश होकर उत्तर दिया। बाहर का फलता-फूलता अँधेरा भीतर फैल गया और अंदर की बेसुरी धुन में मिल गया। कटलरी का शोर, संगीत के बीच का ठहराव, सन्नाटे को भरने की असफल कोशिश कर रहे थे। इस दौरान मैंने हैरानी से उसके मक्खन जैसे सफ़ेद और चमकदार चेहरे को बारी-बारी से पिघलते और लौटते देखा। वह चेहरा किसी मरे हुए आदमी जैसा था।

"देर हो रही है। मुझे जाना है। मैंने बिल दे दिया है।" और वह उठकर चला गया। ऐसे ही।

उसका उग्र व्यक्तित्व आँधी की तरह निकल गया। मुझे लगा जैसे उसने मुझे शारीरिक चोट पहुँचायी हो। अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

"मैंने एक टिश्यू उठाया और अपने होठों पर ऐसे फिराया, जैसे कि मैं उन शब्दों को मिटा सकती हूँ, जो मैं बोलने वाली थी।" अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

"वह ऐसा व्यक्ति लगता जो हर चीज से ख़फ़ा था। मैंने सोचा, उसके पास एक मौलिकता थी।" अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

"समय-समय पर वह मुझे हैरान कर देता था जैसे कि वह एक रहस्य को सुलझाने की कोशिश कर रहा था या मैं कोई समझ से बाहर चुड़ैल थी और उसे नहीं पता था कि मेरे बारे में क्या करना है।" अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

"चोट बारह इंच गहरी होनी चाहिए।" अनुमिता शर्मा, साँवला सितारा

***

यदि आप रोमांटिक उपन्यास शैली को पसंद करते हैं तो आप 'साँवला सितारा' जरूर पढ़ें।

- राहुल

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Recent Reading List


Book: ‘The Business School’ by Robert Kiyosaki


‘The Business School’ by Robert Kiyosaki is a book written to promote and sell network marketing business - pyramid scheme businesses where you acquire another customer who acquires another and the chain goes on, each member in the chain earning a little commission while trying to make some ROI on the initial investment done. I am not much of a fan of the network marketing business. Although the book started by trying to address the concerns of people like me, at the end of it I was still unconvinced. So I shall leave it at that.

Book: ‘Fools Die’ by Mario Puzo


‘Fools Die’ is a novel by legendary Mario Puzo revolving around the business of casinos and gambling. The story is by and large set a Las Vegas in USA. Apart from gambling this novel also touches publishing and the film industry. 

After reading many of his novels I have observed that each of his novels is a commentary on some business area or the other. In this respect Mario Puzo has created a niche for himself. 

I loved the way the story started – by introducing four friends each a different than the others. But afterwards the story moved into a lot of things and connection was broken. 

Main characters in the novel are John Merlyn, Cully Cross, and Jordan Hamley and the initial portion tells their gambling plays at the legendary Hotel Xanadu. One night Jordan kills himself in his room and then the story takes a turn. 

In the later parts of the book several other characters die in different fashion. 

This book is relatively new as it was published in 1978. 

After reading most of his books I can say that this is the weakest of all others. I had to turn pages in ‘fast forward’ mode later on in the book. 

The author has tried to get into too much of technicalities of the business of gambling as well as of show business in later sections; forgetting that not all may be equally interested. 

But like all other classics, this one is also a Mario Puzo classic and hence I recommend it to all of his fans.

Book: ‘The Last Don’ by Mario Puzo




'The Last Don' is one of the masterpieces from the brilliant novelist Mario Puzo. I found this one equally chilling like The Godfather. 

After reading almost all of Mario Puzo novels I have observed that each of his novels is in the backdrop of some profession or the other. In this novel the author brings to us the background of movie industry. Along with that it also touches casinos (in Las Vegas) and of course the mafia. 

The story starts with Don Domenico Clericuzio who is a mafia boss now in old age planning legitimacy for his family. Then story gets into life story of his grandnephew Cross or full name Croccifixio. 

There are several parallel side-stories going on, a lot of which I did not find too interesting, but the central story is amazing one and really brilliant. 

A warning: the novel, like other mafia stories from Puzo involves violence. Chilling ones to be specific and hence you should read it only if you like reading crime or mafia stories. 

This novel is also the basis of Mini-series on Television. 

Book: ‘Omerta’ by Mario Puzo




This is a mafia story and competes with The Godfather in brilliance as per my opinion. 


Book: ‘The Forth K’ by Mario Puzo




"K" stands for Kennedy and this is a story based on presidency race of a Kennedy and the tragedies involved. A very different line of story from other books of Mario Puzo, but as brilliant as it could get. 


- Rahul

Sunday, March 22, 2015

‘The Black Swan’: By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

‘The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable’ is an astonishing book! It makes the readers question everything they have been taking for granted all along; and puts faith back in some of the things they had been ignoring out of no reason. I had heard about the book many times but got the chance to read it recently. (I found the book in the library; started reading it; found it brilliant; then bought it for my own home-library).

So what is a Black Swan? According to the author Taleb, a Black Swan has three attributes:

1. It is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility.
2. It carries an extreme impact.
3. In spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.

The book does a wonderful job to sensitize us on the subject. 

In the initial portions of the book there are more references to history; a subject I am infatuated with. To make it more interesting, the portions of history the author wants to recall had something to do with religions. And these portions have come out so well!

For example, in the initial pages, where author describes history of Lebanon, I could not avoid wondering a bit about our own country's history, complacency of our majority and where our anarchy and pseudo-secularism could lead to. Check it out:

Lebanon was incorporated after the fall of the Ottoman Empire (like India was after the British). It was a Christian majority nation with Muslims being next (like India being Hindu majority). Author writes, "In a classical case of static thinking, nobody took into account the differentials in birthrate between the communities and it was assumed that a slight Christian majority would remain permanent" (exactly like in India). Author continues, "So in addition to being called a "paradise", the place was also said to be a miraculous crossroads of what are superficially tagged "Eastern" and "Western" cultures." (exactly what we are proud of in India). Then he writes about the student protests that started happening where protesters wore 'different' clothes. In author's words, "It is one thing to be cosmetically defiant of authority by wearing unconventional clothes - what social scientists and economists call "cheap signalling"..." (the anna topi clad anarchists in India who dress to seek attention). Perhaps it was just the beginning. Next something really serious happened, in author's words, "The Lebanese "paradise" suddenly evaporated... after close to thirteen centuries of remarkable ethnic coexistence (in India we pretend as if only we had it)... a fierce civil war began between Christians and Moslems, including the Palestinian refugees who took the Moslem side." (any surprises?) "The conflict lasted more than a decade and a half". Then author tells that "exodus of Christians" accelerated; and in his words, "number of cultured people dropped below some critical level." Nassim says, "Suddenly the place became vacuum. Brain drain is hard to reverse, and some of the old refinement may be lost forever."

This is so much food for thought... If you know the history of India and the history of Jammu & Kashmir in particular, you would not remain without getting touched by the above.

In another portion, author is trying to drive in the idea that some events are so unpredictable and he gives examples of rise of some religions. It seems even the events that are happening today in front of our eyes, we don't know how serious or far-reaching those can become in future. In Taleb's words: 

"Who predicted the rise of Christianity as a dominant religion in the Mediterranean basin, and later in the Western world? The Roman chroniclers of that period did not even take note of the new religion - historians of Christianity are baffled by the absence of contemporary mentions. Apparently, few of the big guns took the ideas of a seemingly heretical Jew seriously enough to think that he would leave traces for posterity. We only have a single contemporary reference to Jesus of Nazareth—in The Jewish Wars of Josephus—which itself may have been added later by a devout copyist. How about the competing religion that emerged seven centuries later; who forecast that a collection of horsemen would spread their empire and Islamic law from the Indian subcontinent to Spain in just a few years? Even more than the rise of Christianity, it was the spread of Islam (the third edition, so to speak) that carried full unpredictability; many historians looking at the record have been taken aback by the swiftness of the change."

Reading these portions it is tempting to think that the book has more of such portions; that this book is more about history and society than about economics; but alas. The later portions are as dry as sand of the deserts and do not maintain the initial ‘tempo’ (on history).

Later parts of the book discuss world of economics, finance and politics, mostly brushed with author’s skepticism. I would say that the later parts are also brilliant but too over stretched, exaggerated and reflect author’s excessive infatuations with his own ideas which he drives and drills into readers’ minds just too much. It would rather be better if he just wrote his ideas than trying to drill those repeatedly as if he gets sadistic pleasures out of the experiences. I am particularly troubled by the disdain and insults he hurls at fellow authors, famous economists and scientists who are respected for their work. The author takes each of the selected scientists' and the economists' works in isolation, as if those were meant to be sufficient and exclusive; and misses the point that individually and separately even though their ideas and discoveries could be refuted; as a “collection” and in their own “positions” those were invaluable contributions towards historical evolution of science and scientific discoveries. For example, can we laugh at the person who invented the 'wheel' first because of the fact that the wheel in itself is rather useless; since no one can sit over it forget about travelling on it. Wheel’s purpose is served, as a means of transportation, only if it is fixed in a bicycle, motorbike or a car, all the three happened subsequently and consequently by building upon their past ideas and knowledge. But if the inventor of bicycle tried to avoid using a wheel just in order to be thoroughly novel, creative and ‘original’, would we get the bicycle at all? But the brilliant author Taleb, as if drunk in the fame he got and the potential fame he expected to get, ignores sensibilities and does not try to put things in right perspective in order to appreciate their values. And hence, he goes after one scientist to another; one economist to another; trying to shoot everyone down by finding faults or incompleteness in their ideas or contributions, and a reader like me feels exasperated and exhausted. Therefore, by the time I reached the “forth quadrant” of the book, I was a tired man.

I wanted to pick up some of the portions where the author has become too caustic and un-enjoyable, but having gone through those once while reading the pages, I think it is not a good idea. But I think I should pick at least a few to elaborate my point:

Let us take the portion where the author says the following under the heading “Redundancy as Insurance”:

Look at the human body. We have two eyes, two lungs, two kidneys, even two brains (with the possible exception of corporate executives) – and each has more capacity than needed in ordinary circumstances. So redundancy equals insurance, and the apparent inefficiencies are associated with the costs of maintaining these spare parts and the energy needed to keep them around in spite of their idleness.

Using the above “observation from nature” as a “proof”, the author recommends “keeping some money under the carpet”, i.e. idle, which essentially means to recommend the “safety stock” mindset. So the author would like manufacturing companies to keep lots of inventories – because who knows what happens in future? Now use the same logic to the present date Crude Oil prices fluctuations – what would have happened if you had bought crude oil at the rate of 150 USD per barrel, when the prices crashed to 50 USD per barrel in no time? Won’t such a company go “bankrupt” too? But it seems the author is so infatuated with his ideas which he sees preventing potential bankruptcies that he does not consider the ‘180 degree problem’ (my term).

At another place, Taleb says that government should ban complex financial schemes because no one actually understands those. I think it is a very simplistic view. Even though it is true that most small investors don’t understand all the terms and conditions and don’t read scheme related documents; but the regulators normally do; or large institutional investors do; and if both of these don't then the 'competitors' definitely do; and if the schemes are too complex, people are worldly wise enough anyway not to fell prey to the sales pitch. But to devoid this world of creativity and new ideas; and force everyone to make a Hobson’s choice to choose investing between either a Fixed Deposit and Recurring Deposit, just because these two are “simple enough for all to understand” is a naive position.

Similarly, the author stretches the Fractal Geometry of Nature too much; in the below portion:

Consider that the great Galileo, otherwise a debunker of falsehoods, wrote the following:

The great book of Nature lies ever open before our eyes and the true philosophy is written in it. . . . But we cannot read it unless we have first learned the language and the characters in which it is written. . . . It is written in mathematical language and the characters are triangles, circles and other geometric figures.

Was Galileo legally blind? Even the great Galileo, with all his alleged independence of mind, was not capable of taking a clean look at Mother Nature. I am confident that he had windows in his house and that he ventured outside from time to time: he should have known that triangles are not easily found in nature. We are so easily brainwashed. We are either blind, or illiterate, or both. That nature's geometry is not Euclid's was so obvious, and nobody, almost nobody, saw it.

Then the author goes on to explain “Fractality” which means in author’s words, “The veins in leaves look like branches; branches look like trees; rocks look like small mountains. There is no qualitative change when an object changes size.

To doubt Galileo’s eye sight is easy but if we use some brain to evaluate the above 'Fractality' concept, what conclusion we come at? I think it is too simplistic to say that “leaves look like branches” and “rocks look like small mountains”.

There are plenty of plants and trees in which leaves don't look like branches at all. 



The author at one place while rejecting Gauss says, "You need one single observation to reject the Gaussian, but millions of observations will not fully confirm the validity of its application." Then why can't we apply the same principle to "reject" this 'Fractality concept' too? 

Similarly not all rocks look like mountains; only a few do?



I shall repeat author's argument: "You need one single observation to reject XYZ, but millions of observations will not fully confirm the validity of its application."

And what is wrong in calling the elevation of these mountains as being “triangular”; as Galileo would have?


What is wrong in calling the sun's 2-D shape “circular”; as Galileo would have?


Another portion where the author seems to be adamant at trying to prove apparently wrong things right is when he tries to justify or “scientify”  the Islamic tradition of “fasting and feasting” during some religious occasions. He justifies erratic over-eating and extreme fasting cycles and says it leads to low blood pressure and better health. Of course he says that the general notion that regular and moderate eating is good does not have empirical evidence. I don’t know why he says that because I have read so many research-based articles where experts advise not to do fasting followed by over-stuffing which has very logically severe repercussions on the health. Some fasting is good for health but not feasting just after fasting for long - as the author claims. As I said before, it seems the author gets too much self-infatuated and thinks that he could justify anything and everything as per his whims or wishes. 


The book has many portions which author has marked with warnings such as “this chapter is too technical, can be avoided by…” But having thirst for more, I went through all such chapters also; and later on I realized that I should have listened to the author. When it comes to economics and debunking common business wisdom, Taleb is brilliant.


Overall, this has been a fascinating read and I recommend this book to all.

© Rahul

Friday, August 5, 2011

Book Club in my Company

Being an IT company gives it many advantages. The prime one is in how the company can use technology to enhance the experience of all its stakeholders including its employees. I have the privilege of being part of an IT organization which is one of the highly respected companies of the world. Recently I noticed a small peg in its scheme of things. I noticed that we have a portal called “Book Club”, which is DC (Development Center)-specific. On this online portal which can be accessed from inside the company, employees can list the books (title, author, category, comment/review), along with the ‘availability’. The books should be the ones which they want to lend to their fellow colleagues. I just listed my two books there through a very user-friendly interface. My email ID is now displayed alone with my books. If anyone visits the portal, scans through the books and is interested in reading the book I own, one can simply email me saying so and I would bring the book to lend it to him/her. One will have to return it back to me in proper condition (there are rules to safeguard the owners), within two weeks.

Another great feature is that even books from languages other than English are allowed to be listed there. As are the religious books too – all under proper categories that helps the search feature. I now plan to list some very enlightening Hindi books on our portal.

Over two thousand books are listed there, which are all posted by employees of my DC (location). Using a simple menu, we can change the status (availability) of the books, or can even delete the books from the menu if we no longer want to lend to others. I really appreciate the fact that how this use of a simple technology (in designing this portal) has contributed a lot to make something which is so positive and benefiting!

I wish more and more companies work on these lines. One, we shall have people helping each other rather than looking outside for help, and second, with easily available books we shall make a better learned society.

- Rahul