IAS officer’s book received with acclaim

IAS officer’s book received with acclaim
IAS officer’s book received with acclaim
IAS officer Venkatesham Burra with his best seller book ‘Selfie of Success’

KEERTHI KUMAR RAVOORI

CHICAGO: “Selfie of Success”, an engaging first of its kind book penned by Venkatesham Burra, an IAS officer that is as among the Amazon best seller list has received much acclaim in Chicagoland and Indiana state.

 The book, replete with illustrations that highlight the 360-degree holistic view of success, was widely acclaimed at a launching ceremony in Chicago.  In his overview , Burra delineated the essential elements and nuances of success, the philosophy of success, synergy of success, stories and  illustrations of success, and how each element led to the building up of success with real life examples of history of people.  

Burra was in Chicago to receive a Global Oscars “Author of the Year” award at the American Multi Ethnic Coalition gala held in Chicago along with several global dignitaries including Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The award was presented for authoring a book that is characterized as a guiding light to people determined to embark on a journey that leads towards success, and providing remarkable direction to those who passionately seek to pursue, preserve and sustain success.

Burra presented a copy of the book to Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Indian Consul General in Chicago Sudhakar Dalela, Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Paneerselvam, and Member of Parliament O. Raveendranathan Kumar among others.

Burra serves as Secretary to the Government of Telangana presiding over important portfolios including tourism, sports, culture, youth and welfare.  In his remarks, he described his humble origin and his passionate drive to become an IAS officer.  

“Selfie of Success”, divided into five major parts, seeks to encapsulate various nuances of success. Each chapter has remarkable anecdotes from the lives of successful people taking into deeper depths of how success is tenable. Burra defined his book as an attempt to share, motivate, and inspire success emphasizing that success is a journey and not a destination. It is an external manifestation of inner desire. In the epilogue outlining the distinction between success and happiness , he observed that  happiness is not necessarily an essential component of success. 

He does not shy away from outlining the demerits of success and how history bears the painful testimony of many successful figures met with heart-wrenching ends.

The book unveils offspring of success, sins, side effects, shocks, stages and everything that is needed to understand success. It moves away from the idea that “the aftermath of success is all enjoyment, glory and greater happiness in the lives of successful people”.

Burra unveiled the genesis of his authorship and the inspiration that led to writing this book that he defines it as a compendium of anecdotal episodes. One of the significant highlights of this book is that it also dwells on the side effects of success and how to avoid the pitfalls of success which history has unveiled from Hitler to Michael Jackson. This compulsively readable book is sure to inspire readers to untap their inner potential to unleash their innate power to succeed

The book also cautions about the propensity to heighten ego and false pride of successful people that may lead to destructive arrogance and sheds light on the evil effects of success citing the sins of envy, pride, greed, and anger that sometimes get integrated with success.

The concluding chapter of the book offers guidelines to pursue the next journey – from being successful to becoming great