Veteran banker Advyth with 19 years of experience pens a book close to the hearts of most affiliated to the corporate world. Revealing the ever-present mediocrity and politicking that any modern office offers, the book is easily relatable and immensely readable. In fact, the twists and turns make this book not only an engaging read but also offer it up as a readymade script for web series—something that the author has candidly admitted will hopefully happen.
Why Me? is the story of Shiva Athreya, a B-school graduate and scion of a political family. The young man enters the corporate world of his dreams much against the wishes of his family that wants to see him as the flag-bearer of its political legacy. But the arena that a naive Shiva enters has other plans for him. Shiva’s innocent dreams of a steady career graph aided by hard work and a brilliant mind are soon shattered when office politics finds in him an easy prey. Soon, he is sacked from the job that he had coveted not long ago.
Pushed to the wall, he shores up his shattered confidence and strikes back with demonic glee as in less than four years he rejoins the organisation that terminated him. But this time, he is calling the shots and people must obey. While enticing the readers with a well-written and fast-paced book, the author establishes Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’. The unpretentious writing makes it extremely relatable and the way the protagonist strikes back, is any corporate ladder climber’s dream come true. —Medha Dutta Yadav