Interview on mybangalore.com

I moved to Bangalore last October. To be interviewed for the city’s website mybangalore.com was the equivalent of the neighbors peeking over the fence to check how you are settling in. It just feels good. That is just how I felt when Dhanusha Gokulan spoke to me. To be counted on as a Bangalorean felt good. The conversation was free flowing – from books to my meeting with the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, India. Just what was it like to meet His Holiness, she had asked. The fact that you do not know what to say to someone of his stature. Seriously, can you think of one really smart question to ask the Dalai Lama?   

Over to “namma Bengaluru” or maybe I should just say MyBangalore …

Bhaduri authored the book Mediocre But Arrogant which is a story about love and life in a Business School of the protagonist Abbey. The book opened at No 2 on the ndtv.com best-seller list in August 2005 and in September 2006, the book was No. 3 on the weekly best-sellers list of the Crossword Book Store chain in the Fiction category. He followed it up with another book Married But Available. Abhijit Bhaduri is a Human Resources professional who currently works as the Chief Learning Officer for the Wipro Group and is based out of Bangalore. Bhaduri who works full time at Wipro said that he shuffles work and writing, by taking time off during the weekends, and tiny breaks.

“Its over these long three day weekends that I work furiously. It depends, because when your working the break is not for more than 6 or 7 days. Besides, travelling is also a very good time to write. Sometimes I should think I should dedicate my books to the airline companies because of the long delays” said Bhaduri.

Speaking on how he decided to start professionally, he said, “I would always write. Letters to friends and family, looking back at it that was probably the initial encouragement. It was serendipity that I ended up writing for mass appeal.”

Bhaduri has an active online presence through blogs, twitter and other social networking sites. “I originally started a blog (see the first blog here) after publishing the first book because I wanted to get the word out to the people. I wanted to seek support and feedback on all of that because there is only so much you can write in your book”. The author is also a guest writer on various other blogs like the Dudseascrawls, (and tickledbylife.com) and a couple of my own blogs. He also wrote a corporate blog, and after combining the effort put together in all of the other blogs that he decided to create his own website.

The author’s first book Mediocre But Arrogant is according to him, about wanting to convey a funny idea of life. “Something like a tongue in cheek concept, it was easy because it’s a book on MBAs. The second book Married But Available was a continuation of the relationship. Besides, it was a catchy way of describing the scenario, and it has the ability to tickle people’s curiosity” added Bhaduri.

Speaking about the protagonist Abbey in Married But Available in fact in any way was autobiographical he said, “there are elements of me in the character Abbey and the physical aspects of the character is somewhat similar to what I do. But, Abbey is not me. For one, his marriage ends in a disaster! As an HR person there are dilemmas that Abbey has faced, and I’ve faced which are fairly universal experiences. The book has many different characters and there are many things with the character that I can relate with. The first book is set in Jamshedpur and I can write very authentically about the city because I’ve spend time there. If I had to base the book in Bangalore, I would be limited by my own experiences here because some of the elements like the physical aspects would be something that I should be able to write about authentically.” added Bhaduri.

Bhaduri’s books made it to Best Sellers list in the ranks of the likes of Amitav Gosh, Aravind Adiga among others. Reacting to being a part of some of the most prestigious authors in the country, he said, “It’s a tremendous feeling, and its some thing which encouraged me to work harder on my craft. These are people who I’ve always admired, and I don’t think I will have the audacity to compare myself to them. I would love to be able to write like them, but I can only write like myself.”

One of the most defining moments of his life was meeting Tibet’s spiritual head, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “I love travelling, and I took a chance, and walked into Dharamshala. I was lucky that I happened to meet him. For security purposes, the guards there had taken away my camera, and I told him nobody would ever believe that I was here with you, and he asked his photographer to take a picture of the both of us together. He wrote a small prayer on a photograph of his which I was carrying with me. I must’ve been there for 10- 15 minutes, but you feel like you are in a trance when you meet something like him, you can’t think of anything to ask, and you don’t know what to speak at that point. You feel extremely small and you realise how little you know about the way the world works”

Abhijit is currently working on a non- fiction book, on how people should be hiring. He said, “Its not a handbook necessarily, avoiding the text bookish connotation. The book is about a business concept. For example, to hire a radio jockey’s for a popular breakfast radio show in the city, it requires a lot of skill because it is a super specialized job. Most people who do hiring in their jobs, don’t always know how they are expected to right the best. This book on hiring is fundamentally focused on corporate hiring. Every job is different.” He is also working on a murder mystery.

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