Marriage that is HR

The Telegraph, of Calcutta,  in their edition dated Sunday , October 12 , 2008  writes about the event at CROSSWORD bookstore at Elgin Road, Kolkata in the section called Book Bazar.  They call it

Marriage that is HR

“Married but Available, that’s a book, written by Abhijit Bhaduri, an HR employee with Microsoft. No, the book is not about promiscuity. It deals with HR management. Bhaduri, in fact, has a thing for titles. His first book, of which this is a sequel, was called Mediocre but Arrogant.

An intriguing title draws readers. The book launch at Crossword on September 29 had event manager Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee conversing with the author. For someone who works backstage arranging such book launches, it was novel to have Chatterjee taking centrestage, exchanging notes with the author on studying “Eco honours” and following it up with management degree, which both the HR manager and the event manager seemed to have done.”

 The Hindu newspaper had already announced the book on 6th Oct 2008 in their piece titled

Made in heaven, available now  

HarperCollins India and Crossword hosted the launch of “Married But Available” by Abhijit Bhaduri at the capital, recently. It is a sequel to his debut novel “Mediocre But Arrogant”.

The book traces the protagonist Abbey’s life, amid circumstances that catch him unawares. Read more

Written by Abhijit Bhaduri · Filed Under Featured, Indian Fiction, Media Mentions Mediocre But Arrogant, Media Mentions of Married But Available 

Married But Available in the News

October 1, 2008

After the Media Launch of Married But Available at City Select Mall in Saket, New Delhi the next city was Kolkata. My first novel Mediocre But Arrogant was launched on 3rd August 2005 at the Oxfordbookstore, Kolkata. This time it was at the Crossword on Elgin Road, Kolkata. Loved the store for its great layout. Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee, the actor read out excerpts from the book. He read out excerpts that made people really senti. The book should be reaching all the bookstores in India by 10th October 2008. Read more

Written by Abhijit Bhaduri · Filed Under Married But Available, Media Mentions Mediocre But Arrogant, Media Mentions of Married But Available 

Management Compass: The Interview

June 18, 2008

“IfThere used to be a magazine called Competition Success Review that had a readership of aspiring to join the super competitive Civil Service Exams in India. They not only featured interviews of candidates who had been successful but had a summary of all the major headlines for the month. Not sure if that magazine exists.

Meanwhile Shubhadarshini who runs Management Compass contacted me for an interview. The mag reminded me of Competition Success Review but a lot more slickly produced and with its own summary of events in the business world. Here is a transcript of what I had sent to them:

1.      What is it about the B-schools that makes it a good backdrop for a story?

An author must write about things that have a ring of authenticity. I went to a B-School and the story is therefore set in a surrounding that I am familiar with. The dilemmas of B School life make for an interesting combination for B-Schools.

2.    Campus stories is a trend started by Chetan Bhagat. Your comment.

Chetan’s book was the first one to sell so many copies and so the setting became well known. But there have been stories set in campus or school settings before - just that they never became so popular.

3.      In terms of characters, how rich are the B-schools?

A character is interesting because of the way the author has written about them. There are interesting characters all around us. It is a question of writing about them in a manner that brings the character alive.

 

4.     What is it that can be repeated in terms of context?

My book Mediocre But Arrogant touches on so many aspects of B-School life that get repeated year after year - hostel life, bad food in the mess, crazy Professors, relationships… all of it makes for a potent plotline!

5.      What else can be provided to the readers?

The setting of the city. In my case, the story is set in the beautiful town of Jamshedpur. The life in that town is contrasted with life in the city of Delhi. That again is an opportunity to bring the nuances of the two places. 

 

6.     How strong and prevalent is writing among B-school students?

B-Schools demand a certain proficiency of communication skills. So everyone needs to have a certain degree of skill in writing. However that writing is more around Business Writing as opposed to creative writing. Most people do pen a few lines at some stage or the other. People write when they are impacted by an event and want to express their thoughts. The trick is to just do it consistently.

 

7.      How did the current authors like you flourish your language?

I just wrote the way it comes naturally to me. I never thought about any specific audience or anything because it was my first novel. I was not even sure anyone would want to publish it.

8.    All the books that have been done till now have the humour element, can you visualize a different genre of books like a thriller or a suspense?

I am sure someone could write a thriller or murder mystery set in a B-School. Any story or genre is possible. Just that it needs to be written plausibly.

 

 

Written by Abhijit Bhaduri · Filed Under Media Mentions Mediocre But Arrogant, Mediocre But Arrogant 

Ask Abhijit

May 25, 2008

Question : Are you Abbey? Is this story autobiographical?
Answer : No I am not Abbey, though we share a few things in common. I grew up in the Railway Colony at SP Marg, New Delhi and went to the same college as Abbey. My birthday is on 16th November. So yes, the settings are the same as mine. MIJ, the B-School that the story is set in the city of Jamshedpur and I went to XLRI which is also set in Jamshedpur. It was much easier to write about a place I knew well than to set it in a fictitious place or a city I had limited knowledge of. The story is believable because I could write authentically about the life of someone in a Business School. So all in all, if you write about a place that you know well and set the story in a setting you are familiar with, there is an air of believability about it.

Question : How long did you take to write this novel?
Answer : I wrote the story over seven years. I was not obliged to complete it in any time frame and had no million dollar advance from a publisher to submit the manuscript before a deadline. So the writing pace was slow and unhurried. I worked on the story till I felt that it was complete and ready for someone else to read.

Question : Who is your favorite character?
Answer : It is rather difficult for me to choose from among my own characters. Each one has some endearing trait or the other. Rascal Rusty tends to be a favorite among many of the readers I notice. I like his wit and insight. I admire the way he has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps in the story. All the characters interact together to create the chemistry of the novel. If anyone were not there, the novel would be incomplete.

Question : Who designed the cover of the book?
Answer : I did. There was no money to pay for a separate jacket design artist. So I paid myself to do it. The collage of photographs and scribbles is fuzzy – quite like the way someone’s memory would be if you look back at an event set in 1982-84. It has the handwriting of the characters in the story. Ayesha’s note to Abbey saying, “You will always be special in my eyes. XXX Ayesha”, while Arunesh Nanda the guitarist writes, “See you at my concert”

Question : Studying for an MBA is very popular at the moment, did you aim your book at a particular audience with this knowledge?
Answer : I wrote the story the way it unfolded. I chose the B School setting because I went to one and also taught at one (XLRI) for five years. That gave me opportunities to talk to students and teachers over a seven year period and enabled me to look at what was common across batches and what was transient. I believe the readers of this book are not just B School students or aspirants, (though that is a sizeable chunk), anyone who has experienced life on a campus can relate to the story.

Question : The title (very clever!), how did you choose this title? Anyother working titles?
Answer : Thanks. The title came out of a line used by the protagonist. The phrase gives the reader a flavor of the story - that it is funny, irreverent etc. I did not have any other titles in mind.

Question : It is true all the characters can be related to, are they based upon your college friends? To what extent?
Answer : I tried to create characters based on some archetypes. All that make the story touch people across generations and somethings that evoke nostalgia in everyone - ie good times with friends.

Question : Rusty (a favourite character of mine!), his ingenious solutions - are they your ideas or were the words of wisdom taken from elsewhere?
Answer : I got an opportunity to live the lives of all the characters during the process of writing this novel. So while writing Rusty’s lines I had to think like him. (He is my favourite too)

Question : You say you had to treat the novel as a term paper in order to complete it - was the novel difficult to write? Why? It flows very well.
Answer : Thanks for saying so. I wrote this over 7 years out of which I had a writer’s block from 1999-2002. WhenI picked it up in 2002, I did not like what I had written before. So I had to start from scratch.

Question : The classnotes are very clever and amusing, where did the idea to use them come from?
Answer : Many of us like to doodle in class. Abbey is the kind of charcater who starts off in all earnestness and then meanders along. The doodles capture that and build aspects of Abbey’s character eg his sense of humour etc

Question : The pressure Sethu experiences (to the extent he burns his notes), is that pressure you experienced or based on someone you know?
Answer : Doing an MBA is a demanding process. The pressure is especially compounded with the uncertainty of the Placement Season and of course peer pressure. That leads people to do desperate things. Sethu is no exception, despite being a topper. Or maybe because he was a topper and had additional pressure.

Question : Would you agree college days are the best days of one’s life?
Answer : Without doubt. The days spent with friends. When life is really uncomplicated.

Question : This is the first book in the trilogy - when are the next released? (I’m very eager!!)
Answer : I am scribbling away at book 2. But I am a slow writer. So lets see how long it takes to mature.

Question : The novel explores the journey into adulthood as well as the educational aspect of the business school. Did you plan to explore the emotional side of it as opposed to the day-to-day life in the business school or did it just occur with the writing process?
Answer : The book moves at two levels - professional and emotional. The movement in to B School and Abbey’s love life represent the two levels of his existence. I did want to talk about both aspects - hence the tagline “of love and life in a business school”.

Written by Abhijit Bhaduri · Filed Under Q&A on Mediocre But Arrogant 

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