Work Isn't Working

Corporate India has glass walls, glossy brochures, laminated policies and an endless supply of motivational posters. But behind all of that lies something far more complex and far more entertaining. It's a system held together by hierarchy, habit, accidental comedy, selective empathy and the collective exhaustion of its employees.
This sharply observed, darkly funny and painfully honest book takes readers on a guided tour of the Indian corporate ecosystem. From onboarding mazes to background verification nightmare loops, from caste-coded cafeteria rules to the quiet tyranny of dress codes, from narcissistic co-workers to managers who mistake meetings for leadership, every chapter offers a story that is both deeply personal and universally recognisable.
Drawing from real experiences, anonymous anecdotes, and the lived absurdities that unite
corporate workers across industries, the book reveals how the system works, why people
behave the way they do inside it, and how dignity often gets negotiated away without anyone noticing. Whether it is a leave request treated like a national security breach, or a notice period that suddenly turns into a negotiation drama, each incident becomes a lens into larger truths about power, culture, identity and survival.
Written in the voice of a columnist who has seen too much and forgotten to stay quiet, Work Isn't Working blends humour with social commentary, satire with empathy, personal narrative with cultural critique. It exposes the invisible caste hangovers in air-conditioned offices, the obsession with ratings and trackers, the fragile egos hiding behind job levels, and the hierarchy that follows employees around like a shadow.
This is not a book about companies. It is a book about people inside systems that were never designed for them. A book about work, but also about life. A book for anyone who has ever stared at a meaningless spreadsheet and wondered, “Is this really it?”
By the end, readers may find themselves laughing, nodding, wincing or rethinking their own jobs. But one thing is certain: they will never look at corporate India, or their own workplace, the same way again.