Think about it. Review on Scenes from an Executive Life - Anurag Mathur

This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force!!! A review for this book is extremely difficult, so I'll review it from the perspective of different classes of people But firstly about the cjharacther and the plot: Chief charachter: Mr Gambhir Kumar. The rest of the charachters just flit around his life. He has a wife, Kapila and a nemesis, Mukul.

Plot: The travails, victories, successes, failures and sexual escapades of this rising executive. His heartaches, his passions, and other people's petty jealousies towards him.

Now the various reviews: 1) To a Layman, unaccustomed to the corporate world: for the sake of argument, let me call him '' Mr Layman'' The book will make absolutely no sense to such a person.

I believe he would be completely baffled by the promiscuous lives that the charachters in this book are supposed to be leading. It makes one wonder whether corporate life is really all that bad, or whether Mr Mathur is trying to force an alien culture down people's throats.

The life that Mr Gambhir Kumar leads with his wife outwardly seems picture perfect, BUT there are glitches.. there are people like Himmat and Mukul, who are out to ruin Gambhir's life!! What Mr Mathur tries to do in vain here is to turn office quarrels, gossip and steamy love affairs into something funny. Why he would fail with a person such as ''Mr Layman'' is that such things become more of a bore than comedy. He would be unable to associate himself with the lifestyles that are being professed in this book and hence a big turn off.

2 ) To Mr Executive himself; Here's the saving grace, to an executive from the corporate world, this book MAY seem funny... they may be able to relate to the wierd situations that Gambhir finds himself in. Even in corporate life, there is very little of the promiscuity that Anurag Mathur seems to find omnipresent. Even more rare is the absolute hatred that co workers have. Petty skirmishes are common, but to the extent of framing a person in a sex scandal. I highly doubt it. Personally I've not witnessed such activities in my stint in the corporate world!!

My Verdict: Read this book as a one off. It definitely is not worth buying for keeps. Pick it up from a friend , or from a library and give it a once over. If you decide you like it then buy it. Personally I would recommend you buy other books by the same author such as ''The Inscrutiable Americans'' or ''Making the Minister Smile''.

Sumanth