Reverse brain drain, philosophy, etc

This is an excerpt from an email I received from Venky, one of my friends from IIT Kgp. We 'kuppa kottufied' together for four sweet years before destiny took us in two different directions. He is an amazing guy with remarkable energy and sense of humour who can also be pretty serious when called for (this is one such occasion!). He's now in New York doing research.
The full text of the email and his email id available only on request :)
[Talking abt humour, I've some masterpieces to share... Watch this space!!]

We are all in the same boat. We are fortunate that our exposure and experiences and raising have eventually lead to such maturity of thought. There is absolutely no iota of doubt that making money and enjoying what money can buy will wear out soon for all of us. It is indeed the correct time to plan for a more meaningful existence.
Fortunately for us, several really really smart people grappled with such questions all their lives for hundreds of years. There are elaborate recordings of their thoughts and extensive interpretations of their writings. The highest thought of the best people has been amalgamated into Indian philosophy (and am sure into other cultures and religions as well). I am intentionally evading the word religion as it is still a terrible turn-off for many. But please do not let this interweaving of religion, spirituality and culture let you ignore the marvels of human thought and intelligence that lie waiting to be discovered. Rest assured that even this inter-weaving was a master-stroke, a super-smart way of helping the feeble human mind not lose its way in a world of distractions.But that is an issue you can defer.
I urge you to read about the lives of some really smart, educated, accomplished, world renowned Indians who experienced what you and I are experiencing, and then about the spiritual transformations they underwent and how they better understood the world and life after that.I am not proselytizing. I was fortunate to be pointed to some books and I am just mentioning some of them here. Different books appeal to different people at different points in their life. If you have access to a public library (or the UT-Austin one), just go pick up 6-7 books and read all their introductions. Then read whichever book appeals to you. If none of them do, try more books.Anyway, here are some suggestions:
Fiction: Best Place to Start
RK Narayan's English Teacher, My Days
Somerset Maugham's Razor's Edge
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Biographies of Very Intelligent People:
1. Aurobindo Ghosh (also wrote some inspiring pieces about India when he was a freedom fighter)
2. Rabindranath Tagore
3. Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda: an excellent realvery human account of his life from an ordinary child to his transformation into a yogi. No he is not yet another fake hindu prophet !
4. Read about Swami Vivekananda: totally skeptical disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Another line of pursuit is to ask "so what is all this fuss of hinduism ?". There have lived many great very wise people (as is to be expected if a culture / civilization is several thousand years old) who have painstakingly provided answers to these questions. You will find many commentaries on epics, fundamentals of hindu philosophy, etc... easily on the net too. That can help you put in perspective religion, culture and spirituality.
I am now reading The Gospel of Sri Ramkrishna: a very rare very detailed account by one of his disciples of the complete life of SriRamakrishna. Please do not start here :)) .......
-Venky