PNN
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 4: The World Is Carried Within – Eighteen Essays on the Natural World and the Working Life, the latest book by Manoj Mathew V M FIIHM, Senior Vice President – Operations, Tamara Leisure Experiences, was launched at a special event held at the Verandah Boutique Lounge, Tamara Leisure Experiences Headquarters, Bengaluru, on September 3, 2026.
The book, which is Volume I of The Third Eye Series, was inaugurated by Mr S.D. Shibulal, Chairman, Tamara Leisure Experiences and Co-Founder, Infosys. The first copy was presented to Ms Shruti Shibulal.
The launch featured an engaging in-conversation session between the author and Mr Ian Faria, Mind Coach, Corporate Trainer and Leadership Consultant, exploring the experiences and reflections behind the book’s 18 essays. Mr Mahesh Iyer, Principal & Founder of Iyer & Mahesh Architects and creator of The Tamara Coorg and The Tamara Kodai, and Dr. Tapas Mukherjee, former Head of the Department of English, Government College, Bori, District Durg, Chhattisgarh, also addressed the gathering.
Where Nature Becomes a Lens for Understanding Life
The World Is Carried Within brings together 18 literary essays, each beginning with an original wildlife photograph captured by Manoj Mathew across the forests of Coorg and Nagarahole, the pilgrimage coast of Gokarna, and the shoreline of Bentota, Sri Lanka. The photographs serve as the starting point for reflections on nature, human behaviour, organisations, leadership and the inner life.
Rather than presenting nature as a collection of lessons for leadership, the book allows observations from the natural world to lead naturally into questions about people and the working world. Encounters with creatures such as the Coorg snail, potter wasp, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Black Kite, Stork-billed Kingfisher and Indian Pond Heron become points of reflection on behaviour, intelligence, leadership and human experience.
“This is not a nature book. It is not a leadership book. It is a book about seeing.”
Four Decades of Leadership, A Different Way of Seeing
With a hospitality career spanning four decades across India, Zambia and Sri Lanka, including 33 years with the Taj Group, Manoj Mathew brings to the book an operational perspective shaped by years of observing people, organisations and behaviour. He currently serves as Senior Vice President – Operations at Tamara Leisure Experiences.
The book moves through four thematic movements — The Forest, The Organisation, The Shore and The Opening — taking readers from close observation of the natural world to reflections on organisations, working life and the deeper questions of living and leading.
Speaking about the book, Manoj Mathew said:
“I did not set out to write a book about leadership, and I did not set out to write a book about nature. I set out, as always, with a camera. The photographs came first, and what they showed was not always what I had seen. That is where the essays began.”
Author’s Fourth Book
The World Is Carried Within is Manoj Mathew’s fourth book and follows his Dead Reckoning trilogy — Journey Without Maps, Where the Map Ends, and Landfall. Together, the books reflect his long engagement with leadership, hospitality, human behaviour and the experiences that shape working life.
The book is published by Quiet Compass Press and features 18 essays accompanied by 18 original wildlife photographs. It is available as a standard trade paperback, along with a limited edition of 125 signed hardcover copies.
About Manoj Mathew V M FIIHM
Manoj Mathew V M FIIHM is Senior Vice President – Operations at Tamara Leisure Experiences, Bengaluru. His hospitality career spans more than four decades, including 33 years with the Taj Group across India, Zambia and Sri Lanka. He has undertaken professional education at IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, Nanyang University Singapore and Cornell University. He has also held leadership positions within Skål International and the tourism industry.
About Tamara Leisure Experiences
Established in 2005, Tamara Leisure Experiences (TLE) is a hospitality group built around the philosophy of “Responsible and Memorable Hospitality,” balancing profit, people and the planet. Its portfolio includes nature resorts, business and leisure hotels, urban stays and Ayurvedic wellness experiences. TLE has grown into a multi-brand hospitality group with more than 1,000 keys and is committed to responsible tourism and sustainable hospitality.
(ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same.)
