Behind their Reading Glasses...

You are what you read...goes the famous quote. And we decided to figure
out the other life (beyond tech) of our CIOs by finding out what they love to
read. While some remain loyal to technology even in their libraries, some
embrace buddhism, some seek inspiration, and some unravel philosophy as they
turn the pages over.

Giving them a well deserved break from technology, we made them go beyond
managed services and business intelligenceto find out what they look for in a
book. Although reading is leisure for some, it becomes a source for inspiration
for others and a guide for few. We confess, it was a rather interesting
exercise...we also found out that its Mr Nilekani who is making two of our CIOs
imagine the new India.

Turning the Memory Chapter

Sanjiv Goomer, director IT/IS, Hughes Communications

Goomer says that apart from being the IT guy, he is an astrologer by choice
and thus a compulsive reader. The reading chapter of his life began with a
splendid classic, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. But more astonishing
is the age that he picked up the book at. He was all of seven years when he
picked up his brothers book and began reading it. It took him two full years to
finish the book, but he says his father pushed him on.

Since then, he has had his phases of readingfrom Chandrakanta to The Monk
who Sold His Ferrari. Goomer says that there is a strong memory and a story
behind every book he loves, and though chalking out five authors is a huge task,
naming his five favorite books comes rather easily to him. He starts with Sun
Tzus Art of War, a book that he says gave him a lot of strength in dealing with
conflict management during his twenty year stint with Maruti.

The next book on the list is Who Moved My Cheese. This, says Goomer, was a
gift from his boss at Maruti when he was just leaving for a three month trip to
Japan. And, he adds, it was a goof tactic on the boss part too, since he was
transferred almost as soon as he returned. The book certainly served its purpose
there.

Lee Iacoccas autobiography is another book that according to Goomer has made
him better equipped to handle setbacks. The next book is something that Goomer
recommends so strongly that he thinks everyone should read it at least twenty
timesthe book is called Simple Ways to Make Your Family Happy authored by
Pramod Batra and Vijay Batra. The fifth favorite book happens to be the backbone
behind Goomers official communications skills. book? Yes Minister!

Right now, Goomer is nurturing his great Indian dream by reading Imagining
IndiaIdeas For The New Century by Nandan Nilekani.

Mehak Chawla

mehakc@cybermedia.co.in

From Fiction to Non-fiction

Col Ramesh Wahi, VP, PMO, HCL Infosystems

Col Ramesh Wahi is quite a familiar name in the Indian CIO circuit. A
hardcore technology buff, Wahi has been the CIO in House of Pearl Fashions until
recently. Now he is the vice president with HCL Infosystems, leading its telecom
business unit. We all know about his passion for information technology. What
most of us are not aware of is his fondness for reading books. An ardent reader
that he is, Wahi has even created a library that is home to over thousand books
comprising a wide variety and genre. The topics range from fiction to classics
to literature, history, to socio-economy, politics, general knowledge to
biographies and the list goes on!

During his early years, fiction was the main fodder for Wahi and he has read
all books by Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer. As a young boy, Wahi was also a
devoted reader of all Munshi Prem Chand stories. His other favorite authors are
Frederick Forsyth and Earnest Hemingway. His all time favorite books include,
Animal Farm by George Orwell, Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway, The
Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Godan by Munshi Prem Chand, and A Suitable Boy by
Vikram Seth.

With time however, Wahis reading habits have changed. Although fiction is
still his first love, Wahi is now more inclined towards reading books of
different genres and variety. "Books are oceans of knowledge and as much as one
reads, his awareness on worldly affairs increases. Today, I love to read more
books on current topics of socio-economy, politics, life and culture, and human
behavior. It has helped me to broaden my views, adapt with the modern society,
and enhance my knowledge. This has further enriched me as a person as well as a
professional," says Wahi.

As a former defense person, Wahi has spent twenty-five years serving the
Indian Army. It is during this tenure that Wahi got his interest growing for the
world of books and his love for reading books went beyond just fiction. "There
were times during my defense services when I was posted in remote border areas.
And there was nothing much to do beyond my duty hours. It gave me ample
opportunity to read books," he says. "In fact it was the time when I got my
interest developed towards reading different kinds of books," acknowledges Wahi
who is currently reading books like, The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen;
Getting Past No, Negotiate Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation by William
Ury; and India Unbound by Gurcharan Das. "All my family members are voracious
readers and this is a passion that got transformed through generations," he
signs off.

Piyali Guha

piyalig@cybermedia.co.in

Tech-Smitten

Rajkumar, director, operations, Delhi Metro

As director, operations, Rajkumar monitors IT and Telecommunications at the
Delhi Metro. He is the man who works on IT, thinks IT and mostly reads IT.
Rajkumar says most of his picks are technology related. Not that literature does
not fascinate him, but technology is what excites him more than anything else.
His large room on the top floor of Metro Bhavan is full of models of metro
trains and signal equipments, descriptive of his passion for rail technology.

He made a tryst with reading, beginning with classics at school. However,
they did not keep him glued for long. At school while his friends would be
chomping off Enid Blyton creations, he could be found with his nose deep into
volumes that described experiments and new technologies.

However, Rajkumar did take a break from his tech feasting sometimes to read
books written by the author whom he admires the mostJeffrey Archer. He is
different, Rajkumar feels, and one writer Rajkumar can connect with.

So, what is it that is keeping him hooked these day? He pulls out a copy of "ERTMS:
Delivering Flexible and Reliable Rail Traffic" published by the European
Railways. There is a lot to learn from Europe. How it has built its rail network
and what a remarkable job it has done on the interoperability front.

Other tech books that he has savored are some penned by British Engineer,
Eric Laithwaite, who wrote An Inventor in the Garden of Eden. But Rajkumar likes
his book on linear induction motors better.

Not to forget his most credible guidethe Bhagwad Gita. All these years in
service, there have been several ups and down. Bhagwad Gita has been his
constant inspiration and troubleshooter.

Heena Jhingan/V&D

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in

Diverse Choice

Prakash Pradhan, head, IT, Jagsonpal Pharmaceuticals

For someone who draws his inspiration from the philosophy of Nichiren
Buddhism as practiced by the Soka Gakkai group, Pradhan seems an unlikely person
to name Khushwant Singh as a favorite writer. But the young IT head at Jagsonpal
Pharmaceuticals has diverse choices when it comes to reading. And he is proud of
that.

To be sure, Pradhan subscribes to and religiously reads the journals of
Nichiren Buddhism, which he finds very inspiring and applies to his everyday
life, including work. Yet, when it comes to his choice of favorite books, it is
not really dominated by philosophical books. If two practical self help
booksThe Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey and How to
Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (something he read while in
college)are among his favorites, so are two fictionsboth classics: Malgudi
Days by R K Narayan, and Yajnaseni by Pratibha Ray in his mother tongue Oriya.
The latter is a modern day classic on subtle feminism. And, of course, a recent
bestseller does make it to his list of five favorite books: The World is Flat by
Thomas L Friedman.

While he did struggle a bit to come up with the names of his five favorites,
what is surprising is that it does not have a single book from the category that
he reads most: biography. Stephen Covey, RK Narayan, and Khushwant Singh are his
favorite writers. As far as Khushwant Singh is concerned, Pradhan says, he likes
the smoothness in Singhs style and though not a single book that he has read is
powerful enough to make it to the list of top five or top ten, reading Singh is
a pleasure at any time.

Right now, Pradhan is reading Imagining India: Ideas For The New Century by
Nandan Nilekani and finds the book extremely engaging. He also mentions another
book that is top of mind among the ones that he has recently read: We Are Like
That Only by Rama Bijapurkar.

Shyamanuja Das

shyamanujad@cybermedia.co.in