Category: BookReview

The Book ‘India’s Most Fearless’ is written by journalists Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh.

Not many of us realize it, but India has been in a constant state of war since Independence.These conflicts range from Kashmir,North East and the Naxalite regions.

That we are able to carry on with our lives peacefully is because our soldiers,sailors and air warriors are on a constant state of mission alert.

The Book brings into stark relief the courage, fearlessness and patriotism of our men in uniform.

It covers 14 true stories of military exploits and some of them such as the surgical strikes in Pakistan,Myanmar etc gave me goose-bumps.

The Indian Army has the highest incidence of officer mortalities…the heroic exploits in the book makes us understand why.

As one reads the stories,I am stuck how truly pan-Indian our armed forces are-they are brave hearts from every part of the country-Mumbai, Haryana, Chennai, Arunachal Pradesh etc

Every soldier comes from a family who loves him dearly and does not wish to see him in harm’s way. And yet for the sake of duty,country and honor,they know it is inevitable

The Book does a fine job of bringing out these emotions…found some of the pages heart wrenching.

For instance, the words of the wife of Late Havildar Dada on receiving the Ashok Chakra from President Pranab Mukherjee:

“Dil mein toh ro rahi thi, par sabko apne aansoo kaise dikhati?Aakhir mai Dada ki wife hoon, aur Dada ki wajah se wahan hoon jahan hoon”

Another incident which shows the remarkable grit and courage of the families of armed forces is the incident of one of India’s finest pilots-Vikas Puri.

He was not doing fine at the NDA academy and his instructor wrote to Puri’s father advising that Puri is not suitable to be a pilot.

Puri’s father replied furiously:

Girte hain shahsawaar hi maidan-e-jung mein

Woh tifl kya girenge jo ghutnon ke bal chale?

It is only those on the horse will fall on the battle-field

How will they fall those who crawl on their knees?

My son has dreamt to become an airforce pilot and you are taking away his dream.

You can kick him,kill him, but I want to see him as an air force pilot.

Vikas Puri not only became one of India’s finest helicopter pilots but was also decorated with the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry.

Not only do I strongly recommend this book,but I also commend this book to your kids.They ought to know about the sacrifices made by our armed forces.

The Book ‘How to make money in Stocks’ is written by William J. O’Neil and is widely considered a classic in investing circles.

The author is a veteran trader and his approach towards the markets is “Been there,seen that”

He compares himself to an historian and believes that since markets are ruled by crowd psychology,many of the stock patterns in the past repeat themselves and will repeat again in the future.

The first chapter contains around 100 charts which make for interesting reading.

The second chapter explains how to read charts and how to select the right time/price to buy a particular stock.

But which stock to buy?He has a criteria called CAN SLIM which stands for:

C=Currently Big/Accelerating Sales and Earnings Per Share

A=Annual Earnings Increases with Big Growth

N=New Companies,New Products,New Earnings

S=Supply and Demand of Stock Volumes

L=Leader or Laggard

I=Institutional Sponsorship

M=Market Direction

There is a chapter on each one of these concepts which explain at length on how to apply them

The last section is on a very neglected aspect of investing-when to sell

The author is of the firm view that one should book losses quickly (not more than 8%) and let the profits run.

While all the examples are from the US, there are many investors in India who swear by the book and attribute their profits to it.

Do buy the book if interested in trading.

The Book ‘The Nationalist’ is written by well known journalist Minhaz Merchant and covers the incredible story of Larsen & Toubro and its Chairman A M Naik.

In India, there are very few companies in the private sector that can be termed as “strategic” and “critical to the national interest”

Larsen & Toubro is one of them.Its so critical when Kumar Mangalam Birla wanted to takeover the company, the PMO stepped in and ensured he backed off.

The Book is written with two narratives-one about the company and the other about AM Naik.

Larsen & Toubro was started by two Danish engineers who believed that with Independence, India would need engineering expertise for its growth.

L&T was present in all the iconic projects of India-from Tata Chemicals Mithapur plant,to Anand Milk Diary to Reliance Refinery in Jamnagar and so on..

It is is the only company in the world which can do aerospace, hydrocarbons, nuclear reactors,chemical reactors,nuclear powered submarines etc

I was astonished to learn that 80% of the gasoline processed in the US and 90% of the gasoline processed in Canada has passed through the chemical reactors built by L&T in Hazira.

I got goose bumps reading about L&T’s Hazira plant…when they bought the land,50% of the land used to get covered with sea water during high tides.

That L&T was able to transform it into one of the greatest manufacturing facilities in the world is a testimony to their engineering skills and the vision of one man-A M Naik.

A M Naik, like Dhirubhai Ambani, is one of those people who come along once in a generation.Under his leadership, the company’s revenues grew 100-fold and market cap-130 fold.

He also saved the company from takeovers and enriched the employees with his unique creation ‘L&T Employee Trust’ which ensured the ownership of the company remained with the employees.

The title of the Book ‘The Nationalist’ captures the ethos of Mr.Naik and L&T who believe they are into not just any ordinary business…but in the business of nation building.

There are lots of things to learn from Mr.Naik-his work ethics,his vision,his patriotism,his meticulousness,his people skills etc.

One anecdote which I particularly liked and brings out Mr.Naik’s personality is this:

“About 30 years ago, Naik and his colleagues were in the Powai workshop working late at night as there was a problem with the machinery.

After some time, they finally solved the problem.

Relieved, Naik and his colleagues left the workshop at 2:00 am

The next day, at exactly 8:20 am, Naik was standing outside the company’s office punch card machine and asking the workers why they were late.

They said: “We left at two in the morning !”

He replied: “Coming to work on time is your duty. Going back home after duty hours is your pleasure.”

The Book is full of such interesting anecdotes and interviews with L&T employees.

I particularly liked reading about L&T’s Kattupalli Shipyard near Chennai. Built with the help of Japanese technology, it has a 21,000 tonne shiplift-one of the largest in the world.This enables to pluck a ship out of water and put it on land where repairs can take place.

One tidbit I found ironic is that neither Larsen nor Toubro’s families own any shares in L&T.  Thanks to Mr.Naik, around 4000-5000 employees of the company are dollar millionaires due to their stock options.

One negative aspect of this book is that the author is so clearly in awe of his subject Mr. Naik that he goes overboard in praising him and does not actually critically analyze his business decisions.

Do read this book to know more about one of India’s greatest companies and its iconic Chairman

The Book ‘The Wealth Wallahs’ is written by Shreyasi Singh, former Managing Editor of Inc, India.

She does a fantastic job of covering the Wealth Management industry in India and getting perspectives -both from the client and the advisor’s perspective.

In the Indian context, a HNI (High Networth Individual) is one who has $1 Million of investable assets (excluding primary residence) and a VHNI (Very High Networth Individual) is one who has $5 Million in investable assets.

The Wealth Management industry is meant to handle the money/wealth of such clients.

The Book narrates the story of the Wealth Management industry via the lens of IIFL Wealth, which is now the largest wealth management firm in India.

Started in 2008, IIFL Wealth did a tremendous job of riding the wealth creation wave in India. India’s wealth has increased by $2.284 Trillion (Rs.15,24,227 Crores) between 2000 and 2015, making it one of the fastest growing places to make serious money.

70% of the clientele of IIFL Wealth are first generation entrepreneurs-think senior corporate personnel (CXOs etc), A list Celebrities (Bollywood,Sports etc),Startup Founders,PE investee firms etc

I found it wonderful how IIFL Wealth was created by three professionals who demanded ownership along with the normal salary/bonuses etc.

Its great to see working class professionals start companies,create jobs,provide world class products & services and have skin in the game.

The Book contains chapters on the perspectives of the wealthy towards money, how to spend it,how to raise children, on philanthropy etc which I found interesting.

What I found amusing was the attitude of the clients towards their wealth managers.

Most seemed to regard their wealth managers as product pushers for the sake of earning commissions.

As such, they had a relationship with two or more wealth firms.They did not trust their own wealth firm enough to go with their advise blindly. Every product they were pitched to was given to a competing firm for their inputs/critiques !

Also, the clients seem to have a low opinion of their own wealth managers.This is because entrepreneurs/business builders consider the process of creating wealth to be superior as opposed to “managing it”

Do read this Book to understand how the wealth industry operates.

The Book “Option B” is written by Sheryl Sandberg,COO of Facebook and Adam Grant, Professor at Wharton.

In 2015, Sheryl’s husband Dave Goldberg died suddenly of a heart attack.He was only 48 years old.He left behind a grieving family including two young children.

The book is born out of this grief where the authors write on how to face adversity and overcome trauma.

Trauma comes in many forms-death of close one, diagnosing of a critical illness like cancer etc,accidents,sexual assaults etc.

Sometimes the trauma can even be financial in nature-loss of a job, loss of savings due to fraud (NSEL etc),failure in business or even a stock market collapse (2008 etc)

The Book , through examples and anecdotes, offers very good advise on how to cope with these situations.

The most important advise is how 3Ps can stunt recovery:

Personalisation- The belief we are at fault

Pervasiveness- The belief that an event will affect all areas of our life

Permanence- The belief that the aftershocks of the event will last forever

Another important takeaway is the super importance of a loving family,close friends and financial security. If you have these three in place, you can recover faster and better .

There is a chapter on building resilience in kids so that they can overcome obstacles big and small.

One can do so by helping children develop 4 core beliefs:

1. They have some control over their lifes

2.They can learn from failure

3.They matter as human beings

4.They have real strengths to rely on and share

Another important takeaway is the importance of  hope/desire

In India, we have a saying “Jaan Hai Toh Jahan Hai”

Was surprised to know that in Chile, they have two sayings

“If there’s life, there’s hope” and the reverse “If there’s hope, there’s life”

Do buy this book to learn about overcoming obstacles and building resilience