Tag: Biography

Authors, Book Reviews

“The Rise of the Hitman- The Rohit Sharma Story” by R Kaushik

Being an avid cricket fan for six and a half decades, I love books on cricket and cricketers! I was delighted to read, R Kaushik’s “The Rise of the Hitman- The Rohit Sharma Story“. This was published recently by Rupa Publications.

For those readers of this blog, who don’t follow cricket as much as we do in India, let me say that Rohit G. Sharma is one of India’s superstar cricketers. He has successfully captained India to the T20 World Championship in 2024 and the Champions Trophy in 2025. These after that huge disappointment of losing to the Aussies in the finals of the 2023 ODI Championships. Rohit announced his retirement from Test cricket a couple of weeks ago.

In the world of franchisee cricket, he has had the distinction of leading Mumbai Indians to 5 victories in the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL). Years ago, in 2009, he was a member of the victorious Deccan Challengers team- which gives him bragging rights to 6 IPL titles.

Rohit scored over 4300 runs in 67 Tests with an average of 40.58 and 12 centuries with a highest score of 212. He played 275 ODIs scoring over 11100 runs for India, with an average of 48.77 and a strike rate of 92. He hit 32 centuries including 3 double centuries. His highest score of 264 made in 2014 still remains the world record. In the more modern and currently everyone’s favourite format – the T 20, he has played 159 matches for India scoring 4231 runs averaging 32.05 with a strike rate of 140.89. He has scored 5 T20I centuries as well.

With this in context, let’s get back to the book. I found the book to be largely made up of impressions of Rohit, as a player, as a captain, and as a friend and human being from many eminent cricketers. The author has gleaned their thoughts and impressions over the years as they saw Rohit in different capacities. They include the likes of Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Anil Kumble, and W V Raman, who need no introduction to the cricket fan. Dinesh Lad, Rohit’s first coach recalls his childhood days and how he saw the latent talent in the boy from Borivali, a suburb of Mumbai.

“The Hitman” as Rohit is affectionately called by his world wide legion of Tests fans, went through many ups and downs. There were several deep disappointments, especially in the early years. His missing his first Test in 2010 due to an unfortunate injury on the morning of the Test readily comes to mind. Such was the competition for places in the Indian Test team that he had to wait for 3 years before he finally made his Test debut. Another big disappointment was his missing out on the T20 Team for the 2011 Championship which India won.

We read about his journey as a cricketer from the young days when he was seen as a boy with great talent till he became the icon he now is. The book highlights his skills as a player and more importantly as a skipper. It describes his memorable performances and what he brought to the table as he led from the front. As a captain of India, he won 12/ 24 Tests, 45/56 ODIs and 49/62 T20I. A very commendable record, indeed!

Ritika Sajdeh, his wife, has contributed immensely to Rohit’s successes. She deserves every credit for standing by him through thick and thin. I wish we had heard more from Rohit’s parents- their perspectives and challenges.

Books on crickets are devoured by cricket lovers. We just love our statistics! So, to set The Hitman’s cricketing achievements in context, I wish the book had a page on his career statistics, to make it more complete.

Thank you, Kaushik, for yet another well-written cricketing book! Your simple and elegant language makes for easy reading. We look forward to many more.

Authors, Book Reviews

“Capture The Dream: The Many Lives of Capt. C P Krishnan Nair” by Bachi Karkaria

It was only a few days ago that I had dinner at The Leela on Bengaluru’s Old Airport Road. We enjoyed the drinks at the tastefully furnished Library Bar followed by a delicious dinner at Jamavar, the Indian restaurant there. As we savoured the food and the overall ambience, my mind went to the book I recently read about the man who founded the Leela Group of Hotels in India.

Sadly, the Leela at Bengaluru no longer belongs to the Leela Group as we know it. But therein lies the story of a truly remarkable man. He came from a very under privileged background to become -in his heyday- one of India’s biggest hoteliers: Capt. C P Krishnan Nair.

Bachi Karkaria’s book ” Capture The Dream: The Many Lives of Capt. C P Krishnan Nair” (Juggernaut, 2020) portrays the man as he was- larger than life, generous to a fault, a stickler for detail, and one who always strove for excellence. He dared to dream big and perhaps became over ambitious at one stage of his life. He set new standards in hoteliering ensuring that his chain of luxury hotels -named after his wife, Leela- grew at a scorching pace.

Capt Nair served in the Indian Army in the days before Independence. He had no prior experience of running a hotel when he ventured into the very demanding hospitality industry when in his 60s! From a humble background, he first gained fame in the textile export business, pioneering “Bleeding Madras” which became a rage in the 1970s.

Reading the book makes you feel you have met the man himself. He was a man who lived life to the full, always optimistic, always looking for an opportunity to further the interest of his business empire. A true bon vivant – who lived life to the full- and on his own terms. He had the human touch and could mingle comfortably across the spectrum of society. He was as much as ease with Kings and Heads of State as he was with the doormen and gardeners at his hotels.

Overall, a well- narrated story of an extraordinary nationalist who was immensely proud of being an Indian. Highly recommended.

Authors, Book Reviews

“Elon Musk” by Ashlee Vance

Of course, I had heard of Elon Musk but I didn’t know much about him. I knew vaguely about the Tesla car and his space endeavors but not much else. It was only recently when we heard that he had put in a bid to buy Twitter for $ 44 billion that I became more curious and wondered who this man was. I knew that he had -and still was – creating big waves in the world of business. My son bought this book by Ashlee Vance for me, titled, “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and The Quest for a Fantastic Future”. This was first published by Ecco, an imprint of Harper Collins, in 2015 and soon became a best seller. I understand that over 2 million copies of this book have been sold.

Musk has been described as being the most daring entrepreneur of our time, as also being ” a modern alloy of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs”. You can’t think of many entrepreneurs- if at all any- who have taken the high risks that he has.

Vance details the life of Elon Musk through the stories of some of his biggest and best known business ventures such as Tesla and SpaceX. The book traces Musk’s childhood in South Africa where he was born in 1971. Reading about the difficult childhood he had makes you admire the man who is today reputedly the richest individual in the world. He went to Canada for his matriculation, then crossed over to the United States, where he was always aiming to live and work. He got his BA and MS from the University of Pennsylvania, then moved to California to pursue his dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

His first venture – a web software company called Zip2 was initially on shaky grounds but grew till it was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999. Musk’s entrepreneurial journey had taken off- far better than he had imagined. After that came X.com and Space X, Tesla, SolarCity and other business ventures- each of which were incredibly daring and different in thought and business approach.

Naturally, life was not a bed of roses. The book covers his initial struggles and the difficulties he faced -in considerable detail. It takes you through the highs and lows in what was for Musk something like a high risk high reward roller coaster ride. What I liked best about Vance’ s book was his relentless endeavor to try to understand the enigmatic and maverick like Musk as an individual. We know from childhood he was quite different from most others. His experiences -then and later -fashioned his personality and life style. It determined the characteristics that set him apart from most other business leaders of his times.

In this book, we get to understand the very futuristic ideas Musk had and backed to the hilt. All his businesses had this aspect in common. They charted a new path. They dared to experiment and cope with expensive failures.

Ashlee Vance is a leading writer in the technology space with extensive knowledge of the world of start ups centered around Silicon Valley. Tony Fadell, creator of the iPad and the IPhone, now CEO of Nest Labs writes: ” Ashlee Vance offers a clear-eyed look at a man who has played the underdog again and again- challenging old thinking and changing the world. I dare anyone to read this book and not be inspired to set their sights a little higher.”

If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, this book is for you. It gives you deep insights into the life and mind of a man, whom you cannot help admiring.

Authors, Book Reviews

“Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw” by Hanadi Falki

I have always been a huge admirer of the late Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw (1914-2008) so jumped at the chance to read one more book about him. This ebook titled, “ Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw” is written by Ms Hanadi Falki. Frankly there wasn’t much in the book that one hadn’t already read about. It looked like a re-hash of arcticles, book extracts, interviews and the like. The personality of the Field Marshal is so strong, and his story so interesting however, that we feel like reading about him all over again – which is exactly what I did.

As a military commander and a leader in war and peace, Sam Manekshaw has few parallels in Indian military history. He was the 7th Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army- from 1969 to 1973- and his greatest contribution was winning the 1971 War against Pakistan. This led to the bifurcation of the Pakistani State and the birth of the new country of Bangla Desh.

The book traces his life and career in the Indian Amy from the time he joined the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun in 1932 in the very first batch of cadets. He served the Indian Army for four decades and fought in five wars till he retired in 1973. A grateful nation then bestowed upon him the rank of Field Marshal. He was the first General and COAS in the Indian Army to be so honored.

Apart from his exploits as a military leader, (he won the coveted Military Cross for bravery as a young officer in the British Indian Army during Second World War in Burma), Manekshaw’s character as a person of the highest integrity and professionalism stand out in the many anecdotes in the book. He had the courage to stand up to those in authority including the Prime Minister, Defense Minister and the political leadership of the country.

As I have said before, I have been and remain a huge admirer of Field Marshal Manekshaw. I am therefore terribly puzzled how under his watch India released 93,000 Pakistani Prisoners of war but did not do enough to get back 54 of our Defense Personnel, They simply did not make it back to their homeland . I was hoping that this book would cover this unsavory part of Indian military history but I continue to remain disappointed on this score.

I wish the book had been better arranged for ease of reading. It does not follow a prescribed pattern. For example, it has his childhood and early years suddenly appearing from out of the blue, much after the start of the book. However this slim volume, despite its shortcomings, remains interesting because of the man the book describes and his exploits- in war and peace.