Confessions of an IT Employee-Shalini P. Sawkar

Book: Confessions of an IT Employee
Author: Shalini P. Sawkar
Publisher: Kalamos Literary Services

How was your first corporate experience?

Confessions of an IT Employee by Shalini P. Sawkar narrates the story of 3 people working in the same company. Sanchita, a fresh college graduate, and an employee who is misunderstood, she spirals into depression when she fails to impress the people around her, and slowly her childhood dream of becoming a writer becomes to surface. Bhoomija is a village girl who comes to the city, and starts losing her inhibitions to fit into the crowd, and is almost on the verge of losing her own identity. Alisha aims to move to the USA with her long-time boyfriend, but life deals her cards in a different way than she intended. The book is a story of horrible bosses, mundane routine and matters of the heart.

The plot of the book is well developed, and the struggles of a corporate employee have been captured in minute detail. Shalini has picked up anecdotes that would resonate with most of the people who have experience in the corporate world. The second aspect that the book tackles is that of one’s own dreams, and how as a society we have made suppression of those dreams in pursuit of money a norm, rather than an exception. Another aspect that is explored in the book is that of friendships and relationships, and important they are to a person’s life and sanity. The language of the book is quite simple, easy-to-understand, and context specific. I loved how situations were used to propel the story forward, though at some places I felt that a connect between scenes was missing. The title of the book is a bit misleading though since there are no confessions or any IT-specific incidents. The climax is quite imaginative though expected.

Coming to the characters, Sanchita’s character has been given proper time to develop, and she is the one who steals the show, specially in the latter part of the story. Bhoomija’s character was well done, and her development from a village simpleton to an urban girl was interesting, though I feel that while she was a part of the story initially, her character got sidelined in the middle of the book. Nishant as a character appeared only intermittently, though I would have loved to see more of him during the course of the story.

Overall, a story well-told, and one that captures the pulse of the corporate world. It scores a 4/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book here.