Books of the Year
By Harini Dedhia
Dear Investor,
2025 was a year of a decisive reset in the markets. The bull run driven on the fuel of
narratives gave way to doubts. The 26000 on NIFTY in October 2024 feels different
from the same level today. Age-old lessons were taught to new and old investors
alike; and all investors are now questioning the wisdom gained in the last five years.
The books I read and loved this year were also reminiscent of this reset
phenomenon. They collectively challenged the preconceived notions I carried and
the systems around us imposed.
Businesses at scale, we are taught, run on processes; systems that make them infallible. Yet if these systems are not updated, upgraded and periodically uprooted with time- they end up breaking or worse stagnating the business.
Small Boat by Vincent Delacroix
In November 2021, a small dinghy carrying 29 refugees across the English
channel capsized resulting in the death of 27 onboard. While enough ink was
spilled on reporting the incident and the stories of the refugees- how did they
end up there? (personal and political stories), no one wrote of the one person
whose life was permanently altered with this incident. In this imagined
account of the French rescue operator (CROSS) that received the call for help
from those drowning, our acceptance of systems is questioned at the most
fundamental level.
This book should perhaps be mandatory in all liberal arts programs, for it
leaves us with too many of the ‘invert, always invert’ moments. Who is morally
obligated to avert the refugee crisis- the refugees themselves, the regime they
are fleeing, the french coast guard or the dinghy operator loading up people in
a boat clearly not meantto take the weight? If your politics and best interest instruct your opinions otherwise,
should you still be responsible in saving the refugees? Are you obligated to
protect those that willingly leave your jurisdiction?
The fundamental question it left with me is, should one allow one’s morality, their
independent agency, override the duty protocol one is asked to follow? Processes
are set up so that there is efficiency in the system and no requirement to
constantly explain to every line worker. Progress however stems from someone
questioning those systems occasionally and demanding a reset. The French
rescue officer was simply following protocol in establishing the genuineness of
the distress call from the passengers in the capsized boat and the jurisdiction
of the French over the same. In not heeding to her independent agency, 27
people lost their lives and she was blame for it. Systems that make companies
infallible are fallible themselves?
Contradictory to our traditional approach to processes, they require enough
flexibility within them that allow room for evolution. Companies that are rigid
on their core value system but not on the laid down systems around it thrive
longer than those who are rigid through and through.
The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke
The most intense physical manifestation of a simple strong core came through
in the story of a 9 year old’s heart, that was transplanted into another child’s
body allowing the new body to live on as a healthy system.
Digressing momentarily from the investing lessons, this is non-fiction at its
finest. An emotional story intertwined with a technical discipline made plain-
a prose that is beauty personified. "Triple-bagged, submerged in fluid, a
perfect yet petrified living organ, Keira's heart, Max's hope, rising now from
its frozen bed, wondrous and incomprehensible." The first of all organs to be
discerned in a fetus, the last to give up on us. In narrating the story of a single
heart transplant,
Dr. Clarke has in fact written a love letter to the muscle that embodies life itself.
The heart transplanted and living on, embodies the “promise of permanence
through constant reinvention.” This is the mission statement of Eternal Ltd.
(erstwhile Zomato)
Unseen by Megha Vishwanath
Relentless- that would be the one word I would use to describe Deepinder
Goyal after having read this book. Apart from being a thoroughly gripping
read, the author truly brings out Deepinder and by extension, Zomato’s ability
to do a complete 180 and start over again.
Having clawed the company’s fate out of the jaws of bankruptcy multiple
times. Delighting first with restaurant and menu discovery globally, scaling
down and pivoting to food delivery, pivoting then to not just operating their own
fleet but pioneering customer delight via 10 minute delivery, Zomato has
changed and shaped our daily lives more than we realise.
While they kept the core of reinvention, relentlessness, and a maniacal pursuit of
customer delight, they kept transitioning the medium to deliver on the same.
The systems and processes in place are looked as temporary tools to guide on
achieving core today that may or may not evolve into something else tomorrow.
The Zomato narrative detailed in this book, challenged everything I look for in
businesses. It has added more nuances to the questions I now ask of a company’s
management. While I vehemently stand against the dis-respect for capital shown
by Zomato’s management team time and again, it has made me rethink the
nature of competition that some of our portfolio companies may face and what it
would demand from them. Above all, it has reaffirmed my belief that all long
term investment calls in the end boil down to a call on the person running the
business. While our process commands us to look for rationality and measured
approaches in our entrepreneurs, the fact remains, “Nothing remarkable ever
happened with someone being rational”.
Investing in peptides 12 years ago was not rational. Asking the Indian population
at large to pay a premium for an everyday service is not rational. Not accepting
government subsidies on a SEZ land parcel is not rational. Yet these are
exceptional businesses heralded by exceptional leaders and have thus far
produced exceptional results. We are confident that these uncommon results
will continue to contribute to our portfolio results going forward.
I hope you enjoy reading these above-mentioned books, as much as I did.
As always, I thank you for your continued support and faith in choosing us to be your partners in your wealth creation journey. Wish you and your loved ones a very happy new year!
Best,
Harini Dedhia
Fund Manager