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E-COMMERCE WITH LOVE!
Which is the best to learn about what is e-commerce is all about?
Textbooks, CDs, classroom sessions or plain practice? Well,
according to Thothathri Raman, a familiar name to the B-school
community being the editor of Indian Management monthly and als o
the author of the Best B-schools Survey which appears in Business
India annually, a story book would be the best option.
Hope! the 26th century tale of Commerce and Love is just that.
A story that is grippingly told about commerce and love
celebrating the eternal obsessions of mankind. The book briefly
talks about the way of the Kingdom of Galactica, strewn together
by a set of people bent upon restoring sanity to the earth which
has almost been ruined by centuries of "industrialisation". The
kingdom eventually restores order and hopes to win the possession
of the worlds away from the earth well into the galaxies through
the time tested route, namely the Market. But as market always has
been, the charlatans of commerce lead the elders into a garden
path and they are left holding dud shares to their vast kingdom in
the last vestige of commerce, Intergalactic Financial Exc
hange(IGFE).
In the aftermath of the fiasco, the elders decide to win back
what is lost through force and annexe all the living worlds by
brute force and since the defeat has been through, with vengeance
they annihilate from the face of the known galaxy. Commerce i s
destroyed through fiat of the kingdom and they set their sights on
the next aspect of human indulgence, namely love which they are
able to control through first ban of reproduction through human
means and later by manipulating the DNA preserved in the c entral
preservation laboratory(CPL). The result, the entire human
population is reduced to a sheep.
Ra and Ri two young loyal scientists of the kingdom get drawn
inadvertently into the web of intrigues that follows as the
Kingdom is riven asunder by a group wanting to amass power, which
also includes restoration of commerce. Love blossoms naturally a
nd the 26th century Adam and Eve set forth for the new world!
The story is told in a fluid and powerful way by the author in
a style not often seen in the Indian English writing. The chapters
are sharp and to point and they easily lead to the next by keeping
the suspense alive till the end. The choice of history for the
robotic brain gives ample scope for the author to move back and
forth into the history of mankind and explain the nuances of
commerce with ease. E-commerce is explained fairly adequately and
the author even goes to the extent of suggesting that e- commerce
would have killed commerce making it easy for the kingdom to clean
up whatever remained after commerce had lost its sheen. In the
electronic era based on information and knowledge it is but
natural that no body would be prepared to pay a price be yond the
cost of the product, which means profits the backbone of commerce
would not be there to take. Since there is no profit, there would
be no commerce.
The book also has several refreshing ideas about the way
technology choice of the present day world is leading as a sort of
forewarning as to what is in store with the way technology is
going at the current point of time in history.
Hope! sure is the basis of this book Hope for humanity which is
terrorized by straggly group of terrorists of all hues and faith.
WTC is an excellent reminder that the ugly face of human also
reveals a sort heart that could come for the rescue of human ity
with all the love and compassion which only human being is
capable. A sort of paradox. A must read for lovers of technology
commerce or simply anyone with a heart for love.
Book authored by: Thothathri Raman
Reviewed by: R. vekataraman
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