Story of the Book 'Along the Way': A Must-Read for Every IT Professional
From the archive: first published September 15, 2011. The original review was cut short in migration — what survives is below, and it's enough to say the reviewer loved this book.
Along the Way (Rupa, 2011) by T. G. C. Prasad is a novel about Indian IT professionals — the generation that studied engineering in places like Andhra, fell in love on campus, flew to America, and built lives out of cubicles and late-night production releases.
The reviewer begins with the romance at its heart: Venkat Subramaniam Adishankara Tanikaburla (VSAT), an engineering student from Andhra, falls in love with Anjali Cariappa, a Coorgi girl whose retired-colonel father believes that good sons-in-law are those who are great at trivia.
Why should every IT professional read it? Because it is, at bottom, a story about them — their ambitions, their migrations, their juggling of tradition and modernity, their love stories negotiated between parents and preferences. The rare book where the background is not scenery but the life the reader actually lives.
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