Poor Little Rich Slum

Well, i ordered this book even before it was released. So, as usual FK did a great job in delivering the book on time that too with the limited edition Autographed by Rashmi Bhansal herself. But, the book turned out to be a BIG disappointment. Unlike the last 3 books of amazing success stories, this book is a re-creation of discovery channel episode on Dharavi. I finished the book in about 4.5 hours of time. Not for once was my adrenaline high.

If you like reading books, then probably go ahead and complete your collection but don't expect this book to do wonders to your motivation level.

The only good thing was the quality of paper used this time. Was different, with more colorful contexts and paragraphs. But, that does not make up for the content.

None-the-less, reading and knowing what i already know was fun.

Beware folks! The new generation of IIMs is not just capable of managing giant international firms with their admin skills for astronomical salaries! They can surprise you as writers of contemporary fiction and motivational books and self improvement to name a few topics. So we have Chetan Bhagat who took the young and the old readers by storm through his ‘Five Point Someone’ and making regular appearances in television shows and magazines with his thought provoking writings and a few more positively substandard books though claimed to be best sellers. Now we have another IIM alumni, Rashmi Bansal who created ripples with her first two books now had come out with her in depth study of Dharavi Slum titled ‘Poor Little Rich Slum’.

She had co authored the book with Deepak Gandhi with some catchy photographs of Dee Gandhi.

You can easily guess what would have been the content who is famous for her writings on entrepreneurship and motivating talks. She had completely overshadowed the darker and seamy sides of Dharavi and presented the brighter and cleaner aspects of it. So we happened to know about some international traders, small time hoteliers, women activists and entrepreneurs, gym trainers, educationalists and social workers. The variety is amazing and unbelievable.

But what is surprising is a place which had been all along known for its criminal records, shady deals and abject poverty can foster such activities on the long run? I am not sure whether the author is taking the reader for a ride or the other media doing that job! Whatever, according to Bansal and Gandhi ‘Dharavi should be celebrated and replicated’.

That one line speaks volumes of the perception and hypocrisy of the Indian elite and educated!

I am associated with one of the enterprises featured in this book, Barefoot Acupuncturists. So I often need to buy this book to gift to our funders and supporters; including acupuncturists who come from overseas to work at our clinics.

Just recently we required 5 copies of this book. I couldn't go to any physical bookstores to buy this book, because I'm recovering from a fractured leg. So I logged on to Flipkart and placed the order to be delivered directly to the clinic. It was delivered in 2 days (with the added bonus of 41% off on the book). The option of having the receipt billed to the company also makes it easy for account records. So there are multiple reasons why ordering from Flipkart is first preference for me.

As for the the book itself. The reader has to keep in mind that this book focuses only on the silver lining of the cloud that is Dharavi. The negative issues surrounding Dharavi are already well-known. Having the author mentioning them would be redundant. What instead is a fresh thing to do is explore how human enterprise and compassion can still prevail in this dark and difficult environment. That's just what this book is about. If you read this book from that point of view you will appreciate it.
The only critical point I can tell of is that the book has many quotes in Hindi which are not translated. This creates a gap in the story and is often vexing to a reader who does not know Hindi. I say this from experience of having given the book to many foreigners and receiving their feedback. An English translation of the quotes as a footnote would have done good. It is to be kept in mind that Dharavi is most fascinating to foreigners. Therefore a significant target audience for this book would be foreigners; who are largely non-Hindi speaking. By adding numerous Hindi passages without a translation, the overall international virality of the book has been hampered.

If you intend reading this book to sympathize with a slum and its people then, this book is certainly not for you. Poor Little Rich Slum is a book especially created to inspire all those who believe that life is too depressing to be lived well. It is about a society bursting at its seams but still surviving successfully.The book helps us view life from a different perspective, from the point of view of the Dharavi inhabitants.

The book, appreciates the 'never -say-die attitude ' of people who have 'spirit and spunk…' The book is about people who slog and survive making a difference in their lives despite all odds.

Even though one may wonder, "Even that is surely not enough…Where do people relax? How do children study? When do couples make love?”
People do adjust. Quite simply,they make do with what they have.

The real living characters in this book like Jameel Shah, Mustaqueen Bhai, Panju Swamy,Fahim Vora,Tauseef Siddiqui, Rani Nadar,Praveen Sakpal, Aneerudha Paul – all of them suffer but still survive. All this and more make Poor Little Rich Slum a worthwhile effort and deserving read.

Do have a read of this wonderful book. I guarantee it will not leave you unaffected.

21 મી સદી માટે એક સાદું સસ્તું અને ફ્લેક્સિબલ ઇનોવેશન માટે અભિગમસફળતા વિકાસ માટે jugaad નવીનતા અરજી પર મચાવનાર પુસ્તક.Jugaad એક ઘણી વખત ભારતમાં સામાન્ય વાતચીત સુનાવણી શબ્દ છે. સમસ્યાઓ માટે ઉકેલો શોધવા બુદ્ધિશાળી અથવા તક ઈન્ડિયન્સ માં પ્રતિકૂળતાના ચાલુ છે કે શું તે દ્વારા શપથ લેવા. આ નિર્ણયાત્મક પુસ્તક માં, નવી Radjou, જયદીપ પ્રભુ, અને સિમોન આહૂજા ખૂબ રીતે એક પરંપરાગત સંસ્થા વિચારે છે અને કામ કરે છે પડકાર હતો. ફેસબુક, ફ્યુચર ગ્રૂપ, જીઇ, ગૂગલ, પેપ્સીકો, ફિલિપ્સ, નિસાનના, સિમેન્સ, સુઝલોન, ટાટા ગ્રુપ, અને યસ બેન્ક, બીજાઓ વચ્ચે, જેમ કે અગ્રણી કંપનીઓ પહેલેથી મૂળ વિચારો અને અગ્રણી વૃદ્ધિ પેદા jugaad પ્રેક્ટિસ કરવામાં આવે છે.વૈશ્વિક સ્પર્ધા વધી છે અને સોજો આર એન્ડ ડી બજેટ ની મધ્યમાં, Jugaad ઇનોવેશન માટે નવીનતા લાવવી, લવચીક રીતે રજૂ કરે છે, અને ઓછા વધુ કરવા. Jugaad ઇનોવેશન, આફ્રિકા, ભારત, ચાઇના, અને બ્રાઝીલ, જેમ કે ઊભરતાં બજારોમાં નવીન સાહસિકો ઉદાહરણો સાથે મસાલેદાર એક જટિલ અને સ્ત્રોત દુર્લભ વિશ્વમાં બીજ વાવવાં સફળતા વૃદ્ધિ માટે પાથ પ્રકાશિત.નવી Radjou એક નવીનતા અને નેતૃત્વ વ્યૂહરચનાકાર સિલીકોન વેલી આધારિત છે. તેમણે વિશ્વ આર્થિક મંચ ફેકલ્ટી સભ્ય છે. તેમણે સલાહ આપે C-સ્તર સફળતા વૃદ્ધિ strategies.Navi પર વિશ્વભરમાં અધિકારીઓ પણ નેતૃત્વ નવા મોડેલો પર પુસ્તક લખી રહ્યાં છે.જયદીપ પ્રભુ ભારતીય બિઝનેસ ઓફ જવાહરલાલ નેહરુ પ્રોફેસર અને જજ બિઝનેસ સ્કૂલ, યુનિવર્સિટી ઓફ કેમ્બ્રિજ ખાતે Enterprise છે. તેમણે એબીએન એમ્રો, બર્ટેલ્સમેન, બીપી, બીટી, આઇબીએમ, આઈએનજી બેન્ક, નોકિયા, ફિલિપ્સ, ભ્રમણ, શેલ, વોડાફોન, અને ઝેરોક્ષ ના અધિકારીઓ શીખવ્યો છે.સિમોન આહૂજા અને બ્લડ ઓરેંજ, અને નવીનતા અને ઊભરતાં બજારોમાં કુશળતા સાથે વ્યૂહરચના કન્સલ્ટન્સી માર્કેટિંગ સ્થાપક મુખ્ય છે. તેણી નિયમિત હાજર અને ક્ષેત્રોમાં સમગ્ર ફોર્ચ્યુન 500 કંપનીઓનું માટે વિચાર વિમર્શ, અને હાર્વર્ડ બિઝનેસ રિવ્યૂ બ્લોગ ફાળો આપે છે