I love those Authors whose books have a connect with me in real life and it makes it even more special when one of them hits a hat-trick of sorts. Like here in the case of "Anecdotes of a White Collared Slave" is Aashish's super hat-trick of books for me which worked like a charm, just like his first two books did. And this book is almost one of those very few books that I have read twice now :) first time I read it when it was being written by him and he was kind enough to share with me a chapter or two at a time and I had to eagerly wait for him to finish another chapter to satiate my hunger for his crackling characters and real life like story, I will totally not believe even if he swears that this isn't a real life story :). And I am going to blackmail him (if possible) to read his next book ONLY if he lets me meet with the lead character of this novel in real life as and when he can or else I am definitely not reading his next book for sure :). Also, going by the title this is indeed a book cut out of my own White Collared Slavery days which are not coming to an end anyways. It took me back in time to my very first job which was a great learning experience as far as office politics, power, rivalry and management lessons are concerned. On top of that I finished this one in flat one day :) as this whole week we worked from home, all thanks to working in a an American Firm, this as well as next week is a little too easy on us lesser mortals for this is Holiday season :). What better way to spend time reading a book in office hours, pretending to work miles away from office politics but about what happens in all our offices day in day out, especially if you work in a cut through IT, KPO or a BPO Unit in today's time.
Aashish Gupta's biographical book is full of some amazing characters that we all come across in our daily lives which can be divided in three groups. First one are those who come and go to office to just pass some time, chit chat a little, flirt a little more, look good and worry not about what goes around in the company. Second types are those who work a lot like slaves, hardly get recognized, are never his or her boss's pet yet organizations need them big time, they get bulled all the time yet when they ask for appraisals, their manager's throw a number in front of them which makes them puke. And the Third types are those smart workers, who do not work their arses off but are a charming personality who could never go wrong and they carry the entire project on their own two shoulders, and they do delivery everything on time exactly as expected and climb the success / corporate ladder in very fast & furious mode yet they do not stick to one company for a very longer duration. All these three characters as carved out by the Author were my favorite but the second one (Atmaramani) was the best man as per me, that character and that name, I am going to take to my grave with me, Unforgettable, hilarious as well as heart touching, he is THE MAN of the book. The book is a roller coaster ride from the word go, starting from the interview of a prospective employee to his coming on board and seeing that the promises made by the company on interview and offer are ful-filled in a most hilarious way is precisely how it happens in real life with all of us and how we take it with a pinch of salt is what this book is all about. The story even covers the benefits provided by companies to make their jobs look more lucrative, one of the most hilarious episode was on the Cab service that company offers to its employees. It actually make me laugh out loud like crazy (totally PG Wodehouse way).
I loved it so much that I wish I could gift a copy of this book to all my colleagues, counterparts and friends who work in similar atmosphere all across the globe. And I will make sure that my close buddies are surely going to read this one to find some of their own colleagues in the book or who knows, we too might as well are one of the characters from the book. if you have read this, do let me know how you liked it and if you haven't read it yet and are on the lookout for a book to have a good laugh, life experience and a terrific message in the end, do give this book a try, it will not fail you for sure.
A word of advice to Author (If at all this passes through his eyes). Dude, fire your editors please (at the earliest), I really wonder why this book was only 144 pages, even if this was 300+ pages like the way it was while you were writing it, I would have asked for more. I am sure you have cut this short some 100 odd pages or more, trust me when I say this, the longer the better as your characters were really amazing, I would have loved them even more with more detailing.
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