Ever wondered why it is only Hercules, Achilles and the ilk who are remembered across the world when we talk of some of the greatest characters from our history books, and not Arjuna, Ram or Krishna from Indian epics? On a mission to let Indian mythological heroic tales be remembered by mankind is author Debashis Chatterjee, who is also the dean of IIM Lucknow and the former director of IIM Kozhikode.
Professor Debashis, who has written 17 other books, through his latest book Invincible Arjuna brings forth captivating tales from the Mahabharata, and applies them to the drama and the politics that goes on inside the corporate boardrooms — henceforth bringing fiction and non-fiction together. The author, who has taught leadership classes at the Harvard University, speaks to us about his latest book and his inspirations.
“I feel there is no greater discomfort than holding an untold story inside your heart. My grandmother, who used to tell me fascinating stories from the Mahabharata, kindled in me the desire to tell those stories in my way, for my time. My first published work was a book of poems called Reminiscences, which was a tribute to unrequited love. I self published that book after I got an inspiring handwritten note from Khushwant Singh, who said that my poems read well. Later, I returned to writing a novel in verse much later as a professor in IIM Lucknow called The Circle of Love,” reminisces Debashis about his literary journey so far.
The author believes that management of today is like the mythology of older times. “Think of boardroom warfare as corporate Kurukshetra, imagine the successions, the drama in politics in corporate houses. See how large family run businesses are breaking up into pieces. Wonder how a startup from a garage scorches as a giant enterprise like humans burning Lanka — you will get the picture. To discover the truth inside the lies that corporate machinery broadcast to us, we have got to understand mythology. Both management and mythology starts with the mind. Mythological tales help us understand the managerial mind in a way spreadsheets, statistics and pie charts in corporate boardrooms cannot,” he explains on why he relates mythology and management. Through Invincible Arjuna, the author hopes he would be able to shed light on the lessons that his tales carry. “Indian mythological heroes are popular only in certain segments in Asia. We have to retell our stories now — with India’s economic cloud, our stories would be heard by the rest of the world better than ever. And I think there’ll be other Indian authors who would be retelling our myths for the world. This is just the beginning,” he says.
