Joker in the Pack - Book review

On my recent visit to Landmark, I chanced on this book titled – “Joker in the Pack” Authored by IIM Bangalore alumnus Neeraj Pahlajani and IIM Lucknow alumnus Ritesh Sharma, this work of fiction supposedly offers– An Irreverent View of Life at IIMs. The synopsis at the back sounded interesting – expecting another Five Point Someone, I went ahead and purchased it.

The book is about the travails of Shekhar Verma - a student from India’s quintessential middle class - through his journey at the institute across our main campus – IIMB. The word Joker in the title alludes to Shekhar being a graduate from a second rung college in Delhi.

The authors take a clichéd approach causally going through the initial life of Shekhar – gyrating around Bollywood, Cricket & Girls (no prizes for guessing this). The authors actually come into their own, the moment Shekhar lands at IIMB.

Life @ IIM is more beyond lucrative jobs, case studies, beautiful girls, booze parties, business events, rock concerts – that is the glittering image for the people to have in their mind. The book exposes the things which are virtually hidden from the outside world – like how emotionally draining the entire experience can be -very few IIM students have girlfriends/boyfriends and those who have at the beginning of the course break up – midway through the course; how HR is the least preferred specialization; the placement day – the emotional wreck (which range from cursing, breakdown during GD/Interview to back stabbing to land a job) that the students are on the placement day has been captured in absolute rawness. It provides some insight on the interview process, how the students are shortlisted for each company (you are at the mercy of Control room and the people sitting there do blunder), what happens during the interview, the kind of questions asked, the kind of jobs offered on Day 0, Day 1 & Day 2 of placement – Day 2 companies in some cases offer more than Day 0 companies!!!! Everyone @ IIM dreams of an Investment Banker/Consultant job; ironically the most lucrative offer in this story comes from a company called Lehman Bros!!!!!

And if you thought – summer internships meant wearing pin-striped suits and having offices in Singapore, New York think again…Picture this – the hero of the novel is made to travel to remote places in UP, Bihar, West Bengal to run a questionnaire on a sample set of people to understand their preferences for Biscuits!!!

The book also throws up some interesting insights on IIM students – like the most dreaded question in the interview is – “Where do they see themselves after 5yrs/10yrs”. And for most of the students what matters is how lucrative the job they land is – not what they do or what they want to do.

A bit more polished effort from the authors – this book might have turned out be a bible for every MBA aspirant.
Final Verdict – It is a more serious book than it appears to be – definitely not a “Five point someone”. If you are doing an MBA or planning to take it up, this book is a must read for you.