Skip to main content

60 Minutes – Updendra Namburi



A pacy corporate thriller with all the right ingredients. What happens when individuals rise above the name of their companies? What happens when corporate rivalry becomes personal, very very personal? Egos take over and the big corporate, which make less sense anyway, start making even less of a sense.
60 minutes is a story of sixty minutes of life of Agastya and Sailesh, two people on the opposing sides of a battlefield. The battlefield here is of detergents. Who will win and who will lose is and what would be the cost of the victory is what this book is all about. It reminds you of the famous detergent rivalries between P&G (Tide) and Hindustan Unilever (Rin, Surf etc.) which are being battled about for years now. So the story begins with this new detergent that Agastya plans to launch. He has worked hard for past some time to get it going. This is going to be one of the biggest brand launches by his company in recent times. But his rival Sailesh plays spoilsport and tries his best to scuttle the launch by throwing spanners in his work. Now Agastya has to respond but he has been taken by surprise and has just sixty minutes to right everything, make Sailesh retreat and get a successful product launch. Breathing down his neck at the same time is his mistress who wants a lot of his money, attention and time. Something which he can’t give at the moment. But she won’t have any of it. So on top of his career, now his personal life is under threat as well.
Add to it the compulsive addictions, for Agastya which is stock speculations. Like a gambler he plays the high stake games of equity markets. Then there are the women with whom he sleeps around. The character of Agastya is very well written by the author. I hated that woman, Maithili totally.
But when two people slug it out in the open, the opportunists are the ones who extract the maximum blood. In this case as well, as Sailesh and Agastya fight it out, others are trying to make the best out of it, by using this battle as a means to advance their own careers. After all they both hold very high positions in their respective companies. Personal ambitions can be easily fulfilled by manipulating their fight.
Sailesh is also a well sketched out character but the author seems to have dwelled less time on him. He is this academic chap who has stumbled into the corporate world and is sucked into the myriad of opportunities and options given to him. He has determined Agastya as his foe and will stop at absolutely nothing to destroy him. His astute and sharp brain churns out a master plan too. But will this hatred be his undoing? Read the book to know more.
Then there is this vamp kinda character Maithili. I hated her all through the book. Do we even need an excuse for actions of such people? These are the kind of people who disturb the society most.
This review is a part of the Book
Reviews Program
at http://www.blogadda.com. Participate now to get
free books!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An epidemic of loneliness: Why are we lonely in a world so full?

In the town of Havenwood, an unusual epidemic takes over—not one of physical illness, but an outbreak of loneliness. When Lina, a fiery yet secretly tender-hearted skeptic of romance, meets Quinn, a free-spirited artist questioning the same ideas, they are forced to confront whether real connection lies beyond romantic love or if they are truly doomed to solitude. It was a crisp day in Havenwood, and the sky was brooding—dark clouds laced with impatient energy before a thunderstorm, as if even the heavens felt the town’s growing melancholy. It was not the kind of town you would expect to be cloaked in loneliness. Stone cottages lined the narrow, winding roads, and the trees had that sage-like stillness that you only see in stories and dreams. I hadn’t been here long when the problem struck me like a slap in the face: everyone was obsessed with finding The One, as if every single person was but half a person, wandering through life like a lost sock in search of its pair. How did a town ...

Epitome of Equality

First of all This is not to demean any religion.. I am a Hindu by birth, but yes I respect all religions .I offer my daily prayers , fast on holy days , but there was something that was disturbing me . God as per me was a Friend, someone who was by my side always , someone who was a dear friend , but this is not what everyone else thought , for others he was the Judge who gives his verdict always and punishes anyone and everyone . Walk into any temple and you would see , if you have money , you will be treated in a way as if you are the ONLY disciple of the God . I have had too many experiences where I was treated as a second class citizen in the temple . Why? Well I could not afford giving thousands as donation. This is not how it should be , God looks at each one of us with the same divinity .As I mentioned God for me is a friend, so tell me, do we chose friends based on their bank balances? Do we give our verdict on them ? then how can God do it? I know many of us would ...

Standard contents in a Guest Room

IN A 5 – STAR HOTEL GUEST ROOM:- 1. BED:- 1. Mattress (1) 2. Maters protector (1) 3. Bed sheet (2) 4. Night spread (1) 5. Blanket (1) 6. Pillows (2) 7. Bed cover (1) (Boisters) 2. ENTRANCE DOORS:- 1. Lire exit plan 2. DND card on the door know 3. Collect my laundry card 4. Please clean my room card 3. WARDROBE:- 1. Coat hangers 2. Skirt trouser hangers 3. Laundry bags 4. Pot 5. Extra blanket and pillows 6. Bed slippers 4. LOUNGE :- 1. Sofa,...