Joker in the pack - an irreverant view of life at IIM's

[suyash]

This book has been penned down by two authors, Neeraj Pahlajani (IIM Bangalore 2004-06) and Ritesh Sharma (IIM Lucknow 2003-2005).

Author(s) Speaks

"This is a story of dreaming the great Indian middle class dream, and of life shaped — accidentally or by design, only God knows — by the great Indian middle class values. The joyride begins in the lap of two favourite pastimes of the nation — cricket and television — and after some shattered dreams, leads to the hallowed precincts of the venerated IIMs. It is a story of the life at the IIMs, and of life beyond. It is a story of how to play the IIM game successfully and beat the super distillation system refined by the IIMs to separate the chaff from the grain, the also-rans from the super achievers. The story has bit of raw truth. It is also tongue-in-cheek. It is designed to whet the appetite of those aspiring. It will evoke nostalgia amongst the alumni; it will also anger a few. Read on... you will either love it, or hate it, but will find it difficult to put down."

Wikipedia Speaks

Joker in the Pack describes humorously (and often satirically) the life of Shekhar Verma - a middle class student who grows up in the post liberalization era. The book starts off by describing Shekhar's childhood in a typical urban middle class setting, playing gully cricket and "ice-pice" (I Spy). As Shekhar reaches senior school, he is influenced by his middle class brethren into pursuing a "dream job" with an MNC (defined as any job that pays very well as per prevailing standards). In order to achieve this job, he enrolls into an Information Technology course as it is considered "hot" by recruiters. He gets disenchanted with the course once IT bubble bursts in India and salaries plummet. Shekhar then trains his eyes on the IIMs, in the hope that an MBA from an IIM will help him get his dream job. The book describes in detail Shekhar's life at an IIM and introduces the various personalities that make up life there including 'Northie Lafanders' and 'Dosa Dudes', the influential Placement Committee ('Placecom'), wise 'Daddus' and the glamorous 'Page 3s'. Throughout the book, Shekhar has been shown as being critical of the middle class that "labels kids according to the marks they get in exams and salaries they get in jobs". As a character, Shekhar is shown to mature as the book progresses, culminating in his starting to question his own beliefs and actions and the sarifices he has made to achieve something he is no longer sure he wants."

Suyash Joshi (whose opinion matters, because this post belongs to him) speaks

Well, Initially I had found it similar to another of those "five point someone" rip offs, but it was, surprisingly, something new. I read it during the last two weeks of my CAT preparation and I found it really encouraging if someone wants some boost up to crack the monster exam (as if anyone does require, but just in case). What I now realize is, that the typical middle class common man is on a resurgent rise in every aspect, intellectually or economically or by other infinite standards. Everyone desires to graduate/ post graduate from a premier institute and make a mark of his own. I will say, this book will let you feel your dreams too, and hence its a must read. As the last line of the riveting prologue said, "Shekhar Verma had finally arrived", I was hooked on to this great piece of work. Grab it up and get ready for another page turner !

[The_Big_K]

Originally Posted by suyash

Suyash Joshi (whose opinion matters, because this post belongs to him) speaks

What I now realize is, that the typical middle class common man is on a resurgent rise in every aspect, intellectually or economically or by other infinite standards. Everyone desires to graduate/ post graduate from a premier institute and make a mark of his own. I will say, this book will let you feel your dreams too, and hence its a must read.

That's interesting. Everyone wants to graduate from premier institute (IITs/IIMs) [I'm talking about the engineering folks]. Most of us squeeze the hell out of our souls to prepare for the exams; few make it, most don't.

But as my personal observation goes, people give up on their own dreams in pursuit of 'success' defined by the society.

Say what?

[suyash]

Originally Posted by The_Big_K

But as my personal observation goes, people give up on their own dreams in pursuit of 'success' defined by the society.

Say what?

This has become a fact of life these days, since students aren't properly illuminated with respect to other professions/ activities that they can indulge into and make a career out of it. The need of the hour is to let students realise their plan at an early stage and prepare for it accordingly.

it is just because of the lack of this, that everyone gets involved in the rat race to premier institutes, since they are the only avenues where success can be obtained as projected by the society !!

[kidakaka]

Well said Biggie!

People give up their dreams because they cannot be sustained in real life

Seems like a good read. Will definitely give it a flip-see.

[The_Big_K]

Originally Posted by kidakaka

Well said Biggie!

People give up their dreams because they cannot be sustained in real life

Seems like a good read. Will definitely give it a flip-see.

Kidakaka, you've survived IIM. Do let us know your views once you read the book.

[technospartan]

This sounds another five point someone.but the theme rocks! we have innumerable kids preparing for iit-jee right from 9th standard.many engineering grads prepare 2 years for CAT and end up with a seat in a five star b-school.we define and then measure (what else does an engineer do) but very few of us analyze what we really want in life.we compromise with our dreams and talents and finally end up doing what our SOCIETY wants us to do.

[suyash]

if anyone wants to read my "piece-of-mind" on the CAT.. do read this post on my blog...
Time of your life - Suyash Joshi: The CAT is out of the bag !

after reading this post, kindly come back to CE !!