Ode to a Guru
By early 1997, I had spent just under two years in the corporate sector, but these were enough to kindle in me several questions about whether this was really the ladder I wished to climb. A personal situation back home (in Patna) also catalyzed the existential questions, which were by now churning furiously in my 26-year old being. It was in these times that a friend recommended Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to me. Though I'd always been fond of reading, and had a decent collection of books by them, the self-help kinds did not find a place in my library. So I took up 7 Habits reluctantly to begin with, but within a few pages, was marveling at the resonance I found with what I was going through. The book helped me enormously during that fragile phase of life. I read and re-read the book, reflected upon it for hours, discussed the ideas contained in it with a few friends. This was a phase of intense introspection for me. Covey's ...