THE book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, by Robin Sharma starts with a courtroom scene. The main protagonist, the brilliant, distinguished and sharp trial lawyer Julian Mantle, collapses in the middle of a packed courtroom due to a massive heart attack. Julian Mantle, a graduate from Harvard Law School, is a reputed lawyer who has regularly made the front pages of newspapers and who owns a couple of houses, villas and several cars (one of which is a red Ferrari). His extra curricular activities are late night visits to some of the finest restaurants with well-known beautiful women. All said and done, Julian Mantle comes by all the material things in life one could possibly ask for. The severe heart attack he goes through followed by the time he spends in hospital gives him an opportunity to review his life, indeed his achievements. In other words, he

confronts himself, as it were, with a lot of questions. He decides to quit his profession, he sells off all his possessions, more importantly his red Ferrari, and heads for India.

Three years later, Julian returns from his soul-searching trip to India and meets the other protagonist, John, who narrates the story in the book. John and Julian have been students together and have worked together. Julian's arrival after a three-year gap takes John by surprise. The transformation in Julian's look is unthinkable. He appears to be a young, no longer anxious, a vital with spark in the eyes person. Julian shares the secret of his happiness and how he has come by it. In the next eleven chapters of the book he unfolds a fable about fulfilling one's dream and reaching one's destiny. He shares with John ideas of improving life — personally, professionally and spiritually.

The book in a way comes through as didactic, asking readers in so many words to take charge of their lives through the various methods that Robin Sharma shares with them in eleven chapters. If one is not happy with life, one can change it by accepting absolute personal responsibility. 'The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts' or 'there is no mistake only lessons. See setbacks as opportunities for personal expansion and spiritual growth' are some examples of the thoughts Julian shares with John. He also emphasises such ideas as 'master your mind' and tells John to find a purpose in life and then 'follow your purpose'. We tend to live either in the past, which we cannot change, or in the future, which is unknown. In the process we tend to forget to enjoy the present moments of life, which can be beautiful. Julian advocates living life selflessly and

enjoying the journey it truly is. Happiness, in the end, lies in the journey and not in the achievement. If we stay focused on our goals, the universe will take care of the rest.

Robin Sharma explains all of this in beautiful language. Probably this is the only quality that draws readers to the book. The rest is nothing new to us who are more familiar with Paulo Coelho. Sharma, an expert on leadership and personal development, tries to give readers some solutions for life's pressing problems. The approach, though, takes on an appearance of superficiality. Depth is somewhat a missing factor in the work. Sometimes it fails to captivate. In the overall sense, however, the book will perhaps appeal to people inclined to dabble in oriental philosophy.

Anindita Roy, who specialises in public health, writes from Germany