By Prabhu Guptara
Book Review by Deepak Mahtani
I opened this book with great interest primarily because the title intrigued me. Surely, even visitors to India notice the large numbers of youngsters in every city. Of India’s 1.3 billion people, 40% are below the age of 20. In spite of the vibrancy of the Indian economy, the rate of job creation lags behind the number of young job-seekers. Unless the rate of job-creation improves, what has been called a \\\’demographic dividend\\\’ may end up in a \\\’demographic timebomb\\\’ adding to the number of young people unemployed, disappointed, confused and asking, but not receiving answers.
Given all that, it is not easy to write a book that is refreshing and is, above all, a book of hope. Neither a management book nor a \\\’how to\\\’ book, Make The Best of Your Life is a compilation of letters written to young people with real issues, originally published in Forward Press magazine under the pen name ‘Dadu’, which is a word for Uncle. Reading the book is therefore like taking a peek into an ongoing correspondence between an Uncle with his younger relatives – relational, warm, and packed with very practical advice.
Helpfully, Make the Best of your Life is divided into 3 sections: Life, Education and Work, covering commonly asked questions on topics as far ranging as health, confidence, ambition and marriage! What you will glean from the book is wisdom and insight that takes into account the uniqueness of Indian culture and blends it into modern day realities of balancing the traditional with the modern, freedom with conformity, and individual rights with the onerous but satisfying responsibilities that the culture places not only towards families but also towards wider groups.
Make the Best of Your Life provides the reader with both thought-provoking and heart-searching realities in a light-hearted, but very real way. The book will also help business leaders, HR practitioners, educators, and government officials to appreciate the real issues being faced by young Indians in the growing, and sometimes confusing, landscape we love to call our India.
Make the Best of Your Life is published by Forward Press, New Delhi in both Hindi & English.
Deepak Mahtani, Trustee & Management Consultant
