Dreaming Big

My Journey to Connect India

De: Sam Pitroda, David Chanoff

Narrado por: Gregory Allen Siders

A young man from Titilagarh, Orissa, buoyed by nothing but dreams, boards a boat to America in 1964. There, in the land of opportunity, Satanarayan Gangaram Pitroda strikes gold in the burgeoning tech space to become the American millionaire Sam Pitroda. Armed with global patents and a vision supported by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, he vows to return home and fix India's telephone troubles.

Sam Pitroda became synonymous with the bright-yellow PCO/STD booths that sprang up across the country, and was dynamo in the Congress machinery in the 1980s. But his world came crashing down when he was dealt one blow after the other - a heart attack, false corruption charges and the assassination of his dear friend Rajiv Gandhi. To make matters worse, he realized that he had run out of money.

This is the astonishing and heart-warming story of how one man at the top hits rock bottom - only to rise again and make a bigger dent in the world.

©2015 Sam Pitroda (P)2017 Sam Pitroda

Inspiring life, hilarious mispronunciations.

The man is a legend. He has single-handedly transformed the lives of a billion people and brought India on the world stage. A truly inspiring life.

From a story perspective, some of the ordinary elements of his personal life could have been edited out but perhaps they help make his story more relatable.

The audio book narrator is hilarious. Not only does he render comedic mispronunciations of every single Indian name (including that of the author himself), but he also routinely mispronounces normal English words. At times I wondered if it’s a robot or AI. One of the numerous Indian-American voice actors out there who would have done justice.

Overall, the book is super informative and a must read for every Indian, and for anyone who wants to have a positive impact on society. Kudos.