Indian authors have influenced an entire generation with their writing. Over the years, Indian writers have contributed to the world of English literature and books in regional languages. Indian authors in English deserve a special mention as they have portrayed India; its rich cultural heritage and societal norms to readers in the west. Indian writers have also striven to add variation to the pre-existent and chiefly dominant genres. Among these Indian writers are those who have carved there special place with their modern Indian writings. Among their audience are their critics, but the fact is these writers are popular and have placed themselves as predominantly on the reader’s selves.
Here are five such writers and their interesting things to know about them:
- Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat is a Mechanical Engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. After IIT Delhi, he went ahead for a management program from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Being an outstanding student, it was no wonder that he was awarded as “Best Outgoing Student” at IIM-A. Chetan went to Hong Kong and was working as an Investment Banker with the well-known I Bank there.
He worked in Hong Kong for eleven years and discovered that this was not his true calling. He quit the Plushy I Banking Job and moved back to India. He started writing, his true passion. Chetan published his first novel ‘Five Point Someone’ in 2004 and this very first venture took him to the peaks of fame and popularity. Today he is a household name with book lovers and ladder himself to new heights every time he out with his latest installment of work. Chetan Bhagat was featured in Time’s Magazine’s list of “World’s 100 Most Influential People” in Year 2010.
- Amish Tripathi
Amish Tripathi is one of the famous Modern India’s Author, popularly known for his novels The Immortals of Meluha (2010), The Secret of the Nagas (2011) and The Oath of the Vayuputras (2013). The three books collectively comprise the Shiva Trilogy. He studied at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and later went to do his management program from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (Now Kolkata). Passionate about history, mythology and philosophy, finding beauty and meaning in all world religions, all he wanted was to be historian but chose a career in finance because he couldn’t afford the former.
After spending 14 years in financial services Industry, in companies such as Standard Chartered, DBS Bank, and IDBI Federal Life Insurance (Last job as National Head- Marketing & Product Management and Member of senior Management Committee), he turned to writing. Tripathi’s first novel, The Immortals of Meluha, was published in February 2010, was a bestseller, placing itself into the top seller chart within a week of its launch.
With 2.2 million copies in print and over Rs 60 crore in sales, The Shiva Trilogy has become the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing. An Eisenhower Fellow, described as ‘India’s first literary popstar’ by world-renowned film director Shekhar Kapur, he is among the top 100 celebrities in India as ranked by Forbes India for year 2012, 2013 and 2014. The Ram Chandra Series is Amish’s second series and will be based on the life of Lord Ram. The first book in the Ram Chandra series, titled ‘Scion of Ikshvaku’, will be released on 22nd June, 2015.
- Vikas Swarup
Vikas Swarup was born in Allahabad in north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In the family of lawyers, he did his schooling from Allahabad and pursued his further studies in Psychology, History and Philosophy from Allahabad University. He joined Indian Foreign Services in 1986 and since then he has been in various prestigious diplomatic positions of India. He has served in Turkey, the United States, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan.
He instantly became popular with his debut novel “Q & A” in 2005. His book received critical acclaim both in India and abroad, and became international best-seller. Book was translated into 43 different languages. Slumdog Millionaire, Movie that was an adaptation of the novel, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning 8 including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. He has been awarded with various awards like South Africa’s Exclusive Books Boeke Prize 2006, as well as the Prix Grand Public at the 2007 Paris Book Fair. His other writings include Six Suspects (2008) and The Accidental Apprentice (2013). He has gained a respectful name in the Genre of realism fiction writing.
- Devdutt Pattanaik
Modern and young Indian Author Devdutt Pattanaik Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik was born on 11 December 1970 and educated in Mumbai, and he lives in Mumbai. He is a Mumbaikar who speaks English, Hindi, Odiya and Marathi. He graduated in medicine (M.B.B.S.) from Grant Medical College, Mumbai and subsequently did a course in Comparative Mythology from Mumbai University.
He worked in the Pharmaceutical and healthcare industry for 15 years with companies such as Apollo Health Street and Sanofi Aventis, before joining Ernst & Young as Business Advisor. All this while, he continued to study and write on mythological stories and symbols, drawing rich insights about business, leadership, and modern life. He spend his spare time in writing articles on mythology, a passion which later turned into full time writing on Indian Mythology. His columns on management and culture appear regularly in The Economic Times (Corporate Dossier supplement), Mid-Day, Speaking Tree and the DailyO (India Today website).
Devdutt was the Chief Belief Officer of Future Group and is now a sought-after public speaker and culture consultant for corporations and business leaders. He was also featured in a special series called “Business Sutra” on CNBC TV and CNBC Awaaz, where his ideas on the intersection between business and mythology were discussed extensively. His TED talk is one of the most viewed talks with over a million views. He has authored over 30 books, many of them best-sellers like Myth = Mithya, Business Sutra, The Pregnant King, and Jaya: An illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata. Many of his books have been translated in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and Marathi. He consults Reliance on matters related to culture and Star TV on various mythological serials. He currently lives in Mumbai.
- Ravinder Singh
Ravinder Singh was born on February 4, 1982 into a Sikh family in Kolkata. He happens to spend his childhood in the small town of Burla in Odisha. He did his engineering from Karnataka and moved to Bhubaneshwar to work at Infosys Technologies for five years.
Later, his went ahead to pursue Management studies from Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. He was working as a Sr. Program Manager at Microsoft when he decided to become a full-time author. On the accidental death of his girlfriend in 2007, left him in pain and later adapted his own story into his debut novel “I Too Had a Love Story” which was reviewed by N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus of Infosys Technologies, who called it “Simple, honest and touching”.
Can Love Happen Twice? is his second book. He is one of those Indian writers who left their cushy jobs and pursue what they were passionate about, that is full time writing. Ravinder is settled in city beautiful, Chandigarh.
We will soon come up with some more great writers story covering the details about them and how they achieved success.
Till then; Share your thoughts and views in the comments section below. We want to listen from you about your opinions. Tell us what do you think of them. which novels you think was the best and which one would you like to read next.