"Destiny's Child" by Raghu Palat & Pushpa Palat: My Review

10/15/22 • 8 min

This book tells the absorbing story of a remarkable lady, Parukutty Neithyaramma, set in the kingdom of Cochin in the South of India in the first part of the 20th century. She was the Consort to the reigning King - Raja Rama Varma XVI- whom she had married when she was just 14. He was then the Heir Apparent and aged 31 at that time. He was struck by her strong personality and character. Over the years, Parukutty demonstrated an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, an inquisitiveness to learn and understand the finer points of statecraft and she remained fiercely possessive. Raja Rama Varma XI reigned for 18 years till his death in 1932. During these years, the British ruled most of India directly and had a strong influence on the courts of the princely states. How Parukutty broke many social barriers, thought far ahead of her times, and countered the moves of the British is covered in this book. She espoused the nationalist movement but stepped down from the limelight when she ceased to be the Ruler’s Consort following the demise of her husband, The authors - Raghu and Pushpa Palat-are prolific writers. They use their ability to describe minute detail to great advantage in telling an interesting story of people, places, and palaces.

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"1962: The War That Wasn't" by Shiv Kunal Verma. A review.

The Indo-China Conflict in the winter of 1962 thrashed many reputations and left a deep scar on millions of Indians including me. There have been many books written over the decades on the infamous events of those tumultuous days. Shiv Kunal Verma's " 1962: The War That Wasn't" is, in my opinion, the most objective of the lot.

It is, I feel, a "must read" for students of military history and politics. After all, isn't it often said that those who don't learn from history are likely to make the same mistakes all over again? Today's world and India's circumstances are vastly different from our position in 1962, but it is worth remembering how expensive mistakes can result in loss of life, considerable hardship to the men defending our borders, and an irreparable harm to reputations built over years!

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"How TCS Built An Industry For India" by R. Gopalakrishnan & Tulsi Jayakumar : A Review.

This book is about TCS- one of India's greatest success stories in the world of business. It is the first in a series to be called The Shapers of Business Institutions building on the authors’ theme that Shapers of Institutions are institution builders in the true sense of the term. They are several notches above the conventional leaders of organisations. The book lays considerable emphasis on the role of Shapers in organisational building, instilling values, and shaping careers of employees in them for the long term sustainability and growth of the institution.

The Shapers discussed are Mr F C Kohli and Mr S Ramadorai of TCS who between them ran the organisation for 40 years. Today all of us know TCS as a giant- with revenues of $25 billion, operating in 150 locations in 46 countries with over 600,000 employees world wide. The book traces the journey of this institution since it began in a very small scale as a division of Tata Sons in 1969.