Plunnge: Reinvention for the New Generation

There is something amiss about the whole concept of this book. I read the stories including the main one which is of author himself. Very frankly I was disappointed by the content and the writer's ability to tell his story including several others.

First of all, the author Rakesh keeps harping on one incident which happened in BEW conference in San Deigo. He makes it seem that he quit his job on gut instinct and makes it sound very filmy when actually knowing HR related and quitting related stuff, I can assure you that this is a rarest of rare event. No one quits a job when he supposedly sipping the best wine, best company, best colleauges blah blah blah. If I am not wrong this San Deigo conf is mentioned at least 3 times in book. Also assuming if the decision is made by the author as is..Why quit right after an event in which company spent couple of thousands of dollars to take you to the event and back. Does this not sound unethical? I am sure quitting crossed his mind before the conference at least once. Secondly, he makes it sound like the best job in the world to quit claiming he was traveling the world, being in 3 or more cities in one day. Who does that..? No one. being in 3 or more cities in India in one day is not fancy, it is more of slavery. The tenor and manner in which Author highlights his job profile are at best delusions of grandeur. I was expecting much more from author and my expectations were very high given my impressions of him from online world.

Now let us come to stories, the stories are not balanced in the sense for every 10 people quitting their jobs, only 1 makes it to so called life of freedom. Many folks struggle for about 4 to 5 years before becoming stable in what they chose. Now here the stories were at best recent ones, half baked and most of the time romanticized. This whole notion which has been peddled that once you leave your job and love what you do is at best a good feeling to have but in reality it rarely translates into as it is. There is no balance in stories. In fact in some of the stories like the farmer one, people had made enough money and then ventured out of it. Where is the element of risk..Absent.

Happiness hormone: Guess what does the author do and how he spends his first earning after quitting his job, doing his own thing and getting his first payment by selling his skills in start up venture?..He takes his family to Disneyland and let his partner buy trinkets?? Seriously? Your happiness hormone is fixated on same old artificial pleasures of 'yes I took a vacation abroad people this year with my family'. This section of people are not even 1% of our nation. Author is still fixated in same happiness hormone as he was when he was in his job. Vacation abroad and material pleasures. What's the point in toiling, he could have done that every 6 months in a job by taking weekend vacations abroad.

I understand my review is not favorable to author Rakesh but I just could not understand the whole point. I found the book confusing,misplaced and at best juvenile.

Last but not the least, I think it was good attempt to get the msg out but sadly it failed to capture my imagination of what I had heard about it before started reading.

Rakesh has written such an amazing book that words fall short to explain it here. Let me tell you it is not another run-of-the-mill book on entrepreneurship. Infact it is not at all about being an entrepreneur. It focuses on finding the eternal bliss within. With generous dose of self realization thrown in, you may even say it is a book on 'spirituality'.

The book starts with Rakesh's own dilemma in life, his constant duel with his conditioned vision of successful life, his search for 'truth', thereafter the realization, courage to stand up and straighten up things. Rakesh then explores the world to butress his reinvention process and finds amazing people on way.

I can connect to this book word-by-word. I have been through this phase and now what it all means, and I bet that Rakesh has been ruthlessly true on it. You are surely going to find out how adults create misery for themselves when the solution is so obvious and straight forward. Just because of fear of unknown and rejection due to 'social norms'. Because we all have been trained from day one to achieve some hypothetical ideal that is percieved to be 'the destination'.

I am sure eyes will go wet when you read some lines. Like when he looks for a teaching job and finds none of the colleges ready to give this brilliant person a place; when he realizes that for world it is the business card that carries more importance than the person itself; the world which respects the company one works for but dejects the very person who very eligibly worked in that same company. What a hypocricy.

Have seen cases where colleges are ready to hire a tom-dick-harry person with NET, PhD and what not, but not the one with a PGP. Crap. Somewhere our education system is at fault too. Companies recruiting freshers with fat packages not even concerned with what those guys want to do in life, or with the exact profile they have to offer, or whether that degree really neccessary for this job.

Thanks to the soul searching book by Rakesh, many of us who feel trapped even after having the dream education and a dream job, will finally stand up and see for themselves what success is all about.

Kudos Rakesh. Keep mentoring the mortal souls lost in this mindless world.

Aseem

Went to bed at 10 ,,, slept for 2 hours and then woke up …. Had nothing to do as Ricky, Samreen and Tanvi were in deep sleep… Looked at my small book shelf and thought of giving a try to read ur book.. Few pages I just chilled … and were laughing that Godhu has already used his lines front of me and what’s new here (Since I know him from last 18 yrs) …. But after few pages .. u showed me the white light which I was searching .. fun begins .. I forgot that I ever know u .. U took me to the amazing journey which I hardly get in reading in any of master piece in my shelves .. I realized that when was the last time I had read the complete book in one shot … I felt myself in you today .. and after reading I share the same success and joy as you are enjoying in your dreams .. Every story had lot to say and you have been able to manage it with simple characters .. Don’t know where my plunge is .. might be in teaching as I don’t calculate the time when I do the preparation…
God bless you my dear .. as you have actually opened my skin holes which are ready to breathe at 5 in the morning

Recently read "Plunnge" and also referred this to few others as well. Rakesh has done well in making a point by sharing his and few other live exaples who have taken the Plunge and are doing well.

The stories ar ereal and Rakesh has done full justice by not pushing his views, instead he just narrated his interaction with people in a lucid way.

I also like this book for the fact that it has not introduced anything as a prescription like the way Self Help books tends to do.

Moreover, i do believe that we should invest time and energy in doing something whcih we actually like rather then just following day after day. It may take a while but it would be worth the effort.

Waiting for my Plunnge moment.

The reading was smooth. Rakesh not only talks about how he took the plunge and he mixes it nicely with explaining the nature and the food before he goes with every story. Rakesh has got a unique writing style. At the end of the book it leaves you with confidence.. "They have done it.. Even I can.. Let me just be confident!"

The best parts of the book to me were the Kerala experience and how he remained patient when his wife was settling in. It also shows how a man should carry with him his family lovingly and accommodate their ideas and at the same time follow your aspirations.

A must read book for everybody!

My rating 4.8/5!