A dedicated fiction reader, who once upon a time used to complete a 400 page book during a Bombay – Delhi – Bombay flight including the waiting time at the airports; over the past year or so found my reading habits breaking away completely, more maybe from the fact that I do not travel at all these days, a little less from the fact that have been watching more movies, tweeting?
Having said that had decided to rectify the situation this year. Flipping thru Flipkart sometime a fortnight ago, saw some Indian authors, whose books sounded simple, in terms of story & price both. Ended up ordering the following:
Love, A rather Bad Idea….All it gives is a lousy hangover by Anirban Mukherjee
Zero Percentile..Missed IIT Kissed Russia by Neeraj Chhibba
Nothing can be as crazy by Ajay Mohan Jain &
The Dork by Sidin Vadukut (heavily tweeted on twitter by his well wishers)
Whilst this was in transit, I made a trip to Malvan and picked up a book at the Goa airport – Devil in Pinstripes by Ravi Subramanian having read his earlier ‘If God was a Banker’
Then overcome with work, did not even glance at those till, last week, when glancing through them, saw that most of them were 200 pages easy to read font & decided to go for them & so began:
Devil in Pinstripes – A good book taking a look at the Banking & financial segment, boss, mentor, couple relationship etc. nudging & offering some insight of what it is all about in a superficial way.
Dork – A good enough book, that gives an insight into Management placement, Consulting industry, taking a swipe at the perception & hype created vs how actually it works.
Zero Percentile – Halfway decent writing, that takes a look at lower middle class home, destiny mish mash. A book that can be missed without missing anything
Nothing can be as Crazy A decent book on the Banking Industry with neither a complete coverage on banking or institutional politics. There but cannot be there.
Love, A rather Bad Idea – A breezy book trying to convey that IIT has everything that the world can show and friendship, love, loyalty overcomes everything.
Having said that, some common factors which are not so surprising:)
Out of the 5 authors 2 are from IIT & 2 are from IIM or combination of both.
All the books can be called “ILIT” that has sex, loyalty, destiny, family & happy ending with of course IIT or IIM as background.
A bit of superiority “we were there, we are better, and now besides we can write” comes through.
The cost of the book is sub 200/- something like ‘chiclit’ take it on the flight & throw it.
As the DNA & Sunday Midday of 22nd February says that 1000 copies is enough to break even all of them have broken even, if nothing else but through their network, loyalty, friends & relatives.
What is painful is that such intelligent (obviously with IIT & IIM tags) people have chosen extremely mediocre, flat subjects to write their novels on, truly hope that they come out of their comfort zone & contribute more.
The Question this raises now is – “Do Indian Authors need to be IIT or IIM”
BUT in the end Hey they have written, published & people read, whilst I have not, so whilst this may sound, it is NOT sour grapes.
India produces more Bhagat’s?
The trend is quite interesting, and I somehow get the feeling that blogging experience also acts as a catalyst. The magic formula may well be
Indian + IIT/IIM/Both + Bloggers + Established Network/Fans => ILIT
Thanks for the read, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish?
I want a refund on the 99Rs I spent on Two States by Chetan Bhagat! Complete trash! Cannot refund my time but I want him to refund my 99Rs!!! π
Not necessary that author must be IIT or IIM. The reason why they write is because they know how to sell it. If you know how to sell, then you should write. Everyone has right to make money. It is all up to readers to catch the book or trash the book.
Yeah sure thing, but producing more Bhagat’s? I reserve my comment on that. Blogging can act as a catalyst, however writing a book needs discipline, consistency & constancy, which somehow seems to be lacking. Also the same area/platform – IIM, IIT – tends to vane after a while, so readers may disappear? π Just my two bits
Did that long ago https://www.anaggh.com/2008/11/10/stay-hungry-stay-foolish-review.html And Rashmi has put this up on her blog also:)
Shhh. Don’t shout or you may get “Blocked”
Sure. And that is what I have mentioned. If 1000 copies is a best seller, buy them off!
Read your Stay Hungry review before reading this post and have to agree, its not the quality writing which is getting them name/fame but their network. they get deals and selling 1000 books is no big deal to break even esp when the geographia is huge and your personal/social network is large.
there are lot of good writers who are NOT from iit/iim and they keep making rounds of publishers to end up with same answers NO.
but you should Keep Inspiring us anyway π
Interesting article. And yes the trend is noticeable. As if the IIT/IIM tag should automatically make them a good writer as well. People need to look beyond the IIx tag and read the book for what it is, not for the author. Let’s see how many jump into the fray in the future. π
hii all,don’t u think it is ridiculous to comment on such stupid blogs?? Why the hell is it necessary for an author to be an iit/iim graduate.Havin said that this fabulous writers have never claimed for the tag of superiority or dignity…..It is their passion towards immense hard work and potential to earn the name and fame.They deserve the best for their contribution….and last but not the least yes a tag of IIT/IIM ofcourse do creates a brand which is worth the value of being so called an IITian or IIM graduate coz when they pull up their socks for any task they drive for perfection….cutting the long story short ‘they come’,’they see’ n they conquer!! datzzzz it! no hurt feelings…..
hii all,hope u agree with my last statement…. tnx very much for givin a patient reading wida effective though…lol 2 all my bros n sis out dere!!