If there is one thing on which I spend lot of money, that is books. Buying books (not necessarily reading) has always been my passion right from my college days. I have a reasonably big collection of books (mostly non-fiction) which is stacked away in cupboards at home and in the book shelf in my office. Frustrated by the space that my books were occupying at home, my wife once told me that I should not bring any more books home, till I finished reading all the books that were stacked in the cupboards. From then on, I started accumulating books in my office!
But, today, I am about to narrate an interesting incident about one of my books. Recently I was driving to Bangalore and a senior professor of my Institute, Dr. P Venkataramana accompanied me in my car. We kept discussing about many things during the journey and in the process he also mentioned about his experience of interacting with Prof. Pradeep Khandwala, the ex-director of IIMA and an expert in the field of Organisational Development. He also told me that a book written by Prof. Khandwala on Organisational Designs was an international best seller few years ago and he had been searching for a copy of the same. He could not get it anywhere. When I was a research staff at IIMA during 1996-98, I had the opportunity of meeting Prof. Khandwala. Mr. Ram Mohan Rao, who was a member of the research team of Prof. Khandwala was a close friend of mine at IIMA. He had once gifted me a book, which I had kept among many other books in a corner of my shelf. Since my area is not Organisational Development, I never read that book, except for reading first few pages. But, since it was a gift from my friend, I kept that book safely in my shelf. When Prof. Venkataramana mentioned about the book by Prof. Khandwala, I was not sure whether he was referring to the same book, because I had almost forgotten the title of the book.
The next day, I searched for that particular book gifted by Mr. Ram Mohan Rao among my old books and found the same. The title of the book is 'Organisational Designs for Excellence', written by Prof. Khandwala. I was really thrilled to realise that this was the same book that my colleague was searching for. Next morning, when I gave this book to Prof. Venkataramana, I could see a glow on his face and he immediately grabbed that book, promising that he would return it after reading. I was wondering, this book remained in my cupboard for 17 long years without being read or even touched by anyone, finally to reach the hands of an individual who has been longing for years to read the same..!!! Can we say that every book is destined to be read by someone, some day?
But, today, I am about to narrate an interesting incident about one of my books. Recently I was driving to Bangalore and a senior professor of my Institute, Dr. P Venkataramana accompanied me in my car. We kept discussing about many things during the journey and in the process he also mentioned about his experience of interacting with Prof. Pradeep Khandwala, the ex-director of IIMA and an expert in the field of Organisational Development. He also told me that a book written by Prof. Khandwala on Organisational Designs was an international best seller few years ago and he had been searching for a copy of the same. He could not get it anywhere. When I was a research staff at IIMA during 1996-98, I had the opportunity of meeting Prof. Khandwala. Mr. Ram Mohan Rao, who was a member of the research team of Prof. Khandwala was a close friend of mine at IIMA. He had once gifted me a book, which I had kept among many other books in a corner of my shelf. Since my area is not Organisational Development, I never read that book, except for reading first few pages. But, since it was a gift from my friend, I kept that book safely in my shelf. When Prof. Venkataramana mentioned about the book by Prof. Khandwala, I was not sure whether he was referring to the same book, because I had almost forgotten the title of the book.
The next day, I searched for that particular book gifted by Mr. Ram Mohan Rao among my old books and found the same. The title of the book is 'Organisational Designs for Excellence', written by Prof. Khandwala. I was really thrilled to realise that this was the same book that my colleague was searching for. Next morning, when I gave this book to Prof. Venkataramana, I could see a glow on his face and he immediately grabbed that book, promising that he would return it after reading. I was wondering, this book remained in my cupboard for 17 long years without being read or even touched by anyone, finally to reach the hands of an individual who has been longing for years to read the same..!!! Can we say that every book is destined to be read by someone, some day?
