Book Review — Startup Secrets from the Ramayana

Startup Secrets from the Ramayana — by Prachi Garg

Publisher: Srishti Publishers & Distributors
Pages: 144
Price: Rs. 175 INR(Paperback)
ISBN: 978–9387022836
Buy here: https://amzn.to/34nKaEN

Ram was the next door, go-to guy for any advice on business administration. A gold Medallist from a premium management Institute in the country, if there was any business-related problem in Ayodhya, Ram had an answer for it. Ayodhya was his proclaimed kingdom in business, in the grip of his palms, thanks to his loyal customers, family, and associates. It was a dream turning to reality. Until ambitions started overstretching, boundaries started melting and favours became overpromising. Ram could not have imagined up until the big wave hit him, that he would be so instantly betrayed and uprooted by those who he thought to be the closest. Start-up secrets from the Ramayana is the story of ram’s struggle of setting up his business empire from scratch in a span of fourteen years. It took grit, moving out of his comfort Zone, and re-establishing himself with a new identity removed from the hangover of the past. The stories are inspired from the Ramayana to capture the celebrated wisdom of the God.

About the author:

Prachi Garg is not only the founder of ghoomophiro.com, but also the bestselling author of Superwomen and three other titles on entrepreneurship. She has spoken on essentials of entrepreneurship at various platforms across the world. She is a regular columnist and has been featured on CNN, The Hindu, Indian Express, Business Today and other major media. She has been amongst the top ten Indian women who made big online.

My take on the book:

Startup secrets from Ramayana is a modern retelling of the epic Ramayana by imagining the protagonist Ram as a dynamic entrepreneur and business consultant aided by his brother Lakshman who is his best buddy and business partner. The story starts with Ram shifting base from Ayodhya after being betrayed by his own family and left with no option but to start from scratch. How will Ram build his business empire and how he transforms himself in the process and what hurdles he faces forms the rest of the story.

The author picks up an interesting but ambitious idea to narrate a fictious story around the characters from Ramayana while shifting the timeline to today’s world. The main theme is chosen as business and entrepreneurship with obvious references to the famous epic. The story touches on major sequences from Ramayana and reimagines them happening in the backdrop of business world.

If the story is read standalone as a modern-day tale of a young man building his empire through his grit, hard work and perseverance, without reference to the epic it would have still been interesting. In that case, the names of characters and the locations should have been all fictitious without borrowing from Ramayana. The blurb suggests about the wisdom of the celebrated God and that this book draws inspiration from it, which is the exact point the story falters at. For those who have extensively read Ramayana, it is natural to see that the wisdom from the epic does not necessarily fit into a current day business world.

How Lord Rama ruled his kingdom, treated his friends and family or lead his life is worth learning from, but this book does not do justice while trying to draw parallels between both the stories and while creating characters with similarities. Like Shabari who tastes fruits before offering to her Lord is imagined to be a good quality control executive in current days and few such character traits in the book sounded forced for me. Likewise, including places like Chitrakoot in today’s world as growing business hubs does not make the intended impact.

The author could have entirely written the same story without references to Ramayana and it could have made a wonderful read as the jargon used, the story, and the narration are all top class. The way author explained the rules for building a successful enterprise and the ingredients that go into such a wholesome recipe are on point. The only thing lacking for me was this parallel story drawing from an epic and trying to force fit characters and sequences. If you can read the story without referencing to Ramayana, then it makes for an awesome read.

My rating:

3/5.