For a person who claims to read seven books simultaneously, it is needless to query his reading routines. As IIM-K Director Debhashis Chatterjee puts it, "My reading routines are not limited to one book at a time. I read five to seven books together. My idea of reading is not simply for leisure or to pass time. I make it a point to extract some genuine ideas from my reading. However equipped my time may be, I see to it that my day doesn’t wind up without browsing a book.’’ According to him, voracious reading ‘enlightens’ one to a greater paragon. But even this bookie does have a favourite choice in his collections. And, needless to say, Chatterjee has his own reasons for picking up Hermann Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’ as his favourite book. He starts off by saying that ‘Siddhartha’ would be one of the best fiction works, reasoning lots of stuff about enlightenment and nirvana as such. “The manner in which a Western author has elaborated on an 'Indian God' is simply brilliant,’’ he says. Unlike any other work of this genre, the book, according to Chatterjee, has a complete depth and deftness in narration. The movie version of the work, directed by Conrad Rooks in 1972, received much applause. “I came across the work when I used to teach in Harvard Business School. ‘Siddhartha’ was in fact part of the MBA School syllabus. Though it was due to this that I started ploughing on it, later on the work fascinated me for many more reasons. The manner in which Hesse introduced Buddha and his rendering of other characters were just simply marvellous. He ruled out the concept of figuring Buddha as a lord and in fact gave a human eye to the image. Moreover, Hesse was successful in conveying the three ideologies inevitable for a glory - the importance of thinking, fasting and waiting. Accordingly, these themes were profused as the most important stepping stones for a human to conquer the world,” says Chatterjee who further adds that his yet other favourites are ‘Bhagawad Gita’ and Autobiography of Charlie Chaplin. Chatterjee adds that the fluency in the narration of 'Siddhartha' makes it more handy for a true bookworm. “I opine it is a must-read for all young people who are interested in knowing more about the country’s rich heritage. "All the contrasting poles of life are sharply etched by the author,’’he explains. Hesse has portrayed Buddha as ‘Gotama’ in the work. Each character in the work, as Chatterjee says, starting from the protagonist Siddhartha to Govind, his friend who follows Siddhartha to Kamaswami, a merchant who instructs Siddhartha on business and Vasudeva, an enlightened ferryman to name a few, has been moulded to perfection. Having served as Dean of an International Business School in Singapore, Debhashis Chatterjee was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for pre-doctoral and postdoctoral work at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. His published works include six books, among which ‘Timeless Leadership- 18 Leadership Sutras from the Bhagavad Gita’ had created ripples, being a work which explored the timeless principles of leadership required for modern day leaders. Chatterjee’s next work to hit the book market will be ‘The Class Act’. “It is all about the notes from the diary of a teacher,” he winds up.