I purchased this book called "It Happened in India" at one of the Big Bazaar outlets in Mumbai. The purchase was more out of curiosity - what can a mall owner write about retail business that common people wouldn’t know . and also because Kishoreji’s face looked out at me eagerly, a very benign smile plastered on his very affable countenance. What could this book tell me? That was the question. Now, I am no one in retail business. I am just an average customer who goes to BB or Pantaloons maybe once or twice a month and buys his usual groceries and home wear.
What attracted me to the book and caused me to pick up a copy to take to the cash counter was its ridiculously low price: its M.R.P. was only Rs. 99/-!
Having read the book from cover to cover, my impression of this man is this: KB(as he is called fondly) is an amazing individual with foresight, luck, unorthodox working and the phenomenal ability to get his dreams realised through sheer persistence and hard work. Throughout his narration, there are comments by many of his past and present employees, friends, relatives and associates. These comments are real eye-openers in the sense that they give you a peek inside the brain of this trader and businessman known as KB.
The book is divided into different sections/chapters that tell us the story of how KB came up to the position that he enjoys today. The first chapter opens dramatically with the story of what happened on 26th January 2006 when Big Bazaar announced its first ever mega-sale across all its outlets across the country for three days. As the narration unfolds, he takes us on a roller-coaster ride from his college days, to his factory for making trousers, to his first Pantaloons outlet, to his inorganic and organic growth along the pathway of radically different paradigms of business.
His recounting of the Big Bazaar story almost made me leap up with joy. After this, he went on to tell us about his foray into producing Hindi movies - he produced two and both flopped miserably. This related, he tells us about his new venture, the Central Malls - which he calls the "destination malls" of the city. A place where all shoppers, young and old, must go on weekends.
Interspersed with a small album of photographs that tell about the past, present and the possible future of Pantaloons Fashions and all its subsidiary companies or formats, "It Happened in India" is a carefully compiled collection of facts, anecdotes, messages and lessons that every Indian will enjoy reading.
The language is easy, the type is pleasing, and the book size is just right for browsing and carrying to one’s place of work.