THE PERCEPTIONIST

Vohra’s (Explore Your Potential, 2011) novel follows one young man’s journey from average to extraordinary.

Sudesh Kapoor is awaiting the results of his XII grade exam—results he’s not too excited about receiving: “It was not that he had fared badly in any subject but he knew he was average and his score would also be average.” Finding that his results are a measly 69 percent, Sudesh expects a major argument with his parents. He’s surprised when they instead offer to send him to a monastery for a year, an experience both his father and grandfather had gone through. “I felt completely smashed, my own grandpa and dad were monks for one year and I didn’t know,” he says. Though the monastery offers “no cable TV, no friends and worst of all no girls to speak to,” Sudesh agrees to go, opening himself to a novel experience. Charged with repeating a mantra a million times over the course of his stay, Sudesh sets about his task even though he’s unsure about the potential benefits. Will his time in the monastery be for naught when he returns to the real world? How will he succeed in his professional life, particularly when prospective employers eye his less-than-spectacular exam scores? The answers come quickly in this short read. Pursuing a career in the stock market and eventually an MBA, Sudesh finds himself uniquely prepared to deal with the ups and downs of such endeavors. Sudesh tells readers that keeping an open mind is key, as when handling the turbulent stock market: “I knew if I kept an open mind and didn’t get carried away I would recognize the reversal of the trend.” Though the details of Sudesh’s work life aren’t terribly gripping, the narrative moves at a rapid clip, providing an experience as unique as Sudesh’s time with monks.

A breezy book with a positive message for those who tend to think of themselves as helplessly ordinary.