Book Review
23:59:59
The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India
by Sadashiv Pradhan
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| 23:59:59 The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India |
Author: Sadashiv Pradhan
ISBN: 978-9388427456
Genre:
Length: 236 Pages
Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2MdTBTt
About the author:
Sadashiv Pradhan has completed his MBA from XLRI,
Jamshedpur. He is currently working in Star India Pvt. Ltd. He is a passionate
writer and prolific storyteller. He started writing 23:59:59 when he was in
XLRI, where he believed that there is a story to be told- the story behind the
curtains of otherwise glamorous B-school culture, which every graduate goes
through but hardly anyone speaks about. The story of survival in the B-schools of
India.
Follow him on Instagram: @storytellersada
Check out his Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Sadashiv-Pradhan
REVIEW
Narration
23:59:59 – The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India is a commendable work done by an MBA degree holder, Sadashiv Pradhan.
Describing in one sentence, the book depicts the life of B-School students
throughout their two years course of MBA, irrespective of whether they are
having specific purpose behind it or not. The story is narrated in third person
point of view and mainly focuses on the protagonist Jay who, at the beginning
least cared about pursuing MBA. The writing style is the most basic one, hence
easy to understand even if there are professional terms, most of them are
explained for readers. The author has provided point of views of other
characters like what they are thinking at the instance, which is very helpful.
Setting
23:59:59 – The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India sets in the top B-School of India. Almost
everything revolves around this B-School campus and its hostel. Where the
students with different mindset and their discrete motives gathers. Apart from
Jay there are these important characters who leads the story because one cannot
survive B-School without friends. Abhimanyu and Ishaan are his friends and have
an answer to the question ‘Why MBA?’ Shalini, who is from the same city as Jay,
becomes his friend when they both get admission in this top B-School. They all
get to know each other quickly and form their group named 23:59:59 for
assignments and academics, and eventually their friendship grows with time.
Theme
The sole essence of this Contemporary Fiction 23:59:59 is
the B-School. As the title suggests it provides you ‘behind the scenes’ of this
B-School culture. First things first, the cover is just awesome. The word cloud
built that forms 23:59:59, contains everything that is discussed in the book.
The topics it mainly covers are, Money or Passion? Ethical and Unethical,
Politics, Placements, The so called CULTURE and the ultimate question ‘Why MBA?’
These all are elaborated from different perspectives of diverse characters with
different mentality. The hard work they put into the tasks just to survive the
B-School. The legacy they’re carrying forward just for the sake of so called
culture. The things students do for adding CV points and ultimately getting
high paying job.
Plot and My Views
The plot is driven by all sorts of activities in between
first day and the last day in the B-School of Jay and his friends. At first
Abhimanyu disposes his thoughts and philosophy towards the B-School culture and
multiple times he gets to realize that he was wrong. Each page of this book is
filled with motivation. Their adventures starts as they do assignments together
and then, presentations, case competitions, etc. Everyone in the group have
their own talent and apart from that Jay and Ishaan follow their passion as
well in this chaos of being placed by top companies. Which will lead to the
conclusion. One of the main topic discussed is the structure of the B-School,
how it all works and how students get placed. There are failures too and how
characters survived and made it to the other side. The importance of networking
and connections is shown but the author also depicted that no one can defeat hard
work and determination. There are meaningful conversations about what is right
and what is wrong where most of the students don’t even know why they are
pursuing MBA. At the end, all got whatever they wanted from this top B-School
but now, they have more important decisions to make. Finally, the author kept
it open-ended, that reader could perceive it accordingly based on their life
experiences and capabilities. Because, the fact being, no decision is right or
wrong.
I liked everything from cover to the end of the book. Those
punches of laughter once in a while between the hectic days for characters.
That ‘ch*iya hai saala’ phrase at the end of all chapters which are named as
the time when it occurred. Multiple days without sleep and food. Encouraging
friends and endless debates. There is so much more that it won’t be enough
ever.
23:59:59 – The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India is truly a journey that gives a current scenario of
B-Schools and the struggles of student surviving there. I would recommend it to every
student in India whether they are pursuing MBA or not. I think it can be very
helpful for students who wants to pursue MBA. And to all others for it will
show you how difficult choices can be for a student after graduation.
Happy Reading!
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