Book review: ' Been There Done That'

Book: Been There Done That
Author: Paddy Rangappa
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 296
Price: Rs180

Millions of Indians like me study engineering, not out of any innate interest, but because they took the entrance examination and secured admission. Many then go on to do an MBA course, at the end of which they can choose a career in banking, marketing, consulting and advertising. But many don’t make a choice: they apply for all jobs — with carefully worded versions of their resume expressing their undying passion for each field — and take the job they get (if given a choice, they take the one that’s more coveted by others). Often this job will define the rest of their life.

I got the idea of writing a humorous book based on this rudderless career journey. A memoir would have been funny enough — after all, I have made bloopers in my choice of education and career, which I could have embellished with a healthy dose of exaggeration — but creating the fictitious Jagannath (Jags) Srinivasan allowed me leap from hyperbole to fantasy. I made Jags study engineering like me and then work for two years in an automobile company like I did before securing an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. But after this I cut the fetters binding him to my life and let him fly, a free bird, from job to job, oblivious about what he wants, and why. In parallel, as he mismanages his career, he commits bloopers in marriage, child upbringing and social relationships.

Creating Jags allowed me to have vicarious fun with careers I’ve never experienced. Marketing has given me many funny stories but, as I interviewed people in consultancy, advertising and banking, and read comical stuff about them (especially banking, which has had a droll spotlight shining on it for the last three years), I realised that these professions are rich sources of hilarity too.

The other advantage of creating the fictitious Jags was that everyone around him automatically became fictitious too. I no longer had to encounter trivial objections from my family members (“That’s not true!” and “I never said that!”), which stifle an artist’s creativity.

As my wife was reading a draft of Been There Bungled That she suddenly turned to me, annoyed. “I never did that!” she said. “How could you write…” “That’s not you,” I interrupted soothingly.
“That’s Jags’ wife, who always does silly things like that.” But it also backfired. “I never asked you for D&G sunglasses!” my daughter said, looking up from the book. “That’s not you,” I said. “That’s Jags’ daughter.” “I know,” she said, “But now I’m asking you – can you please buy me a pair?”
In essence, Been There Bungled That looks at life through an exaggerated, distorted, funny lens.

It may open your eyes to the sublime secret of living and therefore experience inner peace but I won’t bet on it. What I will place a hopeful bet on is that it’ll make you laugh. And I think that’s a worthwhile activity on its own, especially today, when so little is designed to amuse us.

The mountaineer George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, famously replied, “Because it’s there.” Turning his rationale on its head, I say I write humour because it’s not there. If, through Been There Bungled That, I inject some into your life, I’ll be happy.