My yearly campaign of reading books (#52booksinayear) has me trying out all kinds of non-fiction. And though I love reading across the board, autobiographies are at the top of my shelf. There's nothing more insightful (and beautiful) than a life well lived in my opinion, and autobiographies enable us to dive deep into some very beautiful and inspiring lives.
What gets me even more excited these days is when I see an Indian author making waves. You see, most of the good literature that has come to us in this space has come from the west. And while I grew up reading about Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Sam Walton, etc., I somehow knew that those stories were fundamentally disconnected from India. I could see the difference in the way people operated at the very basic level. This made me wonder..
Why don't we have Indian stories in this space? Why don't Indian entrepreneurs share their learnings?
If you notice carefully, Indian non-fiction, especially in the business subgenre, is a very recent phenomenon. There are very few books written about Indian entrepreneurs, and even fewer written as autobiographies. I don't know why, but even our film industry has been really aloof to the concept of making honest biopics. May things change and that right soon! And frankly, I guess the change is coming, but I hope it comes faster. Godspeed.
Coming to Mr. Ankur Warikoo, I'm really happy for him. Back in 2017, I was frankly quite surprised to see him making motivational videos after moving on from Nearbuy (they were a client for The Testament and I remember my team liking working with them). At the time, I didn't really understand what was that about and my reaction was mostly on the lines of "What the hell is he doing?". But now looking at how personal branding has become a business that stands on its own, I'm glad he took that path. He's doing really well, and that's super inspiring.
Mr. Warikoo hasn't written this book like a typical autobiography. As per his admission, it's written like a collection of things we know, but should keep reminding ourselves. Each page contains a lesson, followed by a backstory borrowed from his personal experiences. The book is short, sweet, honest, and full of personal anecdotes which are quite touching. In one of the passages, he talks about how his father took some financial risks which didn't pay off, leading to some serious struggles in the family. In another one, he shares how he failed to crack IIT JEE, and saw his family crying.
I read one of his tweets where he said that his mother broke down while reading the book. I can imagine that. The book has him sharing many vulnerabilities which most people wouldn't open up about, and I must thank him for that. The fact that Mr. Warikoo has reached where he has today is extremely beautiful, not because he's a genius or something. But because he's a kind person with a good heart. Believe it or not, that's extremely rare.
I thank him for writing this book and hope it reaches millions of people. Because more than anything, he's a genuinely nice guy. I'm rooting for him. :)
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Mr Ankur is a running a massive ponzi scheme where he runs buys up entire YOutube ad inventory to convince you to buy his course on success with youtube , hes made more money on this model than his start-up itself , which shows the greed of Indian society at large