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Welcome to the latest section of Alma Matters “Bookshelf” - a platform where people can share their comments, feelings and thoughts about various books they read. From business and economics to SCI-FI, thriller and comedy…please feel free to contribute to this section by writing to us at alumni_relations@isb.edu
Recommended Readings by Kiran K. Alla
Kiran is from the PGP Class of 2008 and is currently AVP (Central Engineering Services, Non Tariff Income & Technology Initiatives) with BSES Rajdhani Power Limited in New Delhi. Kiran enjoys reading and is an avid blogger.
“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint- Exupery
As a voracious reader, I always preferred large books as these give the author an opportunity to set out on a long journey with twists and turns, allowing you to relate with the main character and live all the twists and turns. My view about small, thin books changed with ‘The Little Prince’.
This is a simple story, unorthodox, takes one a little time to adjust to the intra galaxy/planetary journey without any hi-fi spaceships. The book describes the story of the journey of little Prince – about his planet, his concerns, the six other planets and their inhabitants and his experiences on Earth.
I read this book while I was working with a Learning and Development consultant and this story made a huge impact on me. It brought out the fact that all of us live in different worlds/planets and how stupid we make ourselves by limiting everything in relation to us.
Couple of quotes I liked a lot from the book:
- The flower had once seen a caravan passing.A desert flower with three petals says the following about men:
“Men?” she echoed. “I think there are six or seven of them in existence. I saw them, several years ago. But one never knows where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots, and that makes their life very difficult.”
- Following is a piece from the conversation of the little prince with a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst:
“Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty three minutes in every week.”
“And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?”
And finally when you read about the experiences of the little prince with the King who sees everyone as a subject, the Conceited man who believes everyone is an admirer, the Tippler who is ashamed of drinking and is drinking to forget the same, the Business man busy in counting the matters of consequence and finally the lamplighter busy in lighting and putting off the lamp, you may be able to see the planet that you are living on and what you see others as.
I recalled this book after a long time when I was sitting in a Corp Fin class and CP was at its peak. Everyone was arguing about the ‘poor manager’ and Prof Bhagwan Chowdhry finally got tired and almost shouted – “Why do you see yourself as the Manager, why can’t you be the Shareholder?”
Ability to see things differently from various perspectives is a great thing but finally one needs to unlearn to see things as they are. Happy learning and Happy Journeying.