Abhijit Bhaduri’s Blog
I write about careers, skills and the world of work. The cartoons and sketches are mine.
HarperCollins to Print MARRIED BUT AVAILABLE
It is official. I am going with HarperCollins. The publishing giant HarperCollins, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of News Corporation. Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world. In India they have been in business since 2002 as a joint venture with the India Today group.
Hindi Translation of Mediocre But Arrogant
I have often been asked if there is a Hindi Translation of Mediocre But Arrogant around the corner. I am looking for someone who can translate the story into Hindi or other Indian languages. Google has this cool feature of transliteration. A little painful at times, but certainly workable. Here is my attempt at translating the first two paras of the book. Tell me what you think of it.
David Rasquinha's Review of Mediocre But Arrogant on Amazon.com
David Rasquinha is an avid reader and reviewer of books. Starting off with his first review dated 14 Dec 1999 when he wrote about A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin, since then has written 118 book reviews and 1463 votes who find his reviews useful.
About him - as disclosed on the Amazon profile:
"I am from India, temporarily based in the USA. A banker by profession, I am fond of classical music and reading, amateur astronomy. I suppose my grounding in hard nosed economics and banking made me gravitate to science fiction and fantasy. I love reading about different worlds and more importantly, different world-views, seeing how characters interact. To me the most fascinating part of sci-fi is not the bells and whistles of technology but rather the effects of this technological change on society and human psychology."
Here is his take on M-B-A. Full disclosure: David Rasquinha and I were batchmates at XLRI, Jamshedpur, India. Over to you David.
Analysis of the Genre from Sid's Blog
"I had first encountered the likes of ‘Anything For You, Ma’am’ in the insanely phenomenal best seller ‘Five Point someone [FPS] ’ and had followed it up with my current favorite ‘Mediocre But Arrogant [MBA]’. I now feel I’ve got an intuitive awareness to the spot many common threads binding such kind of novellas.-->The first being, ALL the above-mentioned books are set in the premier institutions of our country. FPS, AFYM – IIT DELHI, MBA- XLRI.
Let's Write the Sequel Together
I was talking to Gautam Ghosh - my blogger friend, the other day and he suggested I try the experiment of building the sequel to Mediocre But Arrogant online with you.
Jai Arjun Singh writes in Man's World (January 2007 )
Is "lad lit" a genre? Does writing for the mass market mean that you are not fit to be considered for winning a literary award? If someone sells one book and is happy does that make such a writer a better to be? In short... many gut wrenching questions on Indians Writing in English (would that make it the I -WE league?)
Extracts from Mediocre But Arrogant from the NDTV Site
It was a cold November morning in 1981. Delhi University was just coming to life as U-Specials were doing their rounds dumping sleepy students in front of the College gates. Most of them, like me, got off the bus and headed straight for the canteen, except of course for the Scephanians. They didn't have a plebian canteen, they called theirs a Cafe.I am not a morning person. I find it tough to get my engines started in the morning. When the alarm rang, I would break out in cold sweat thinking I had become blind overnight until would I realize that I had not yet opened my eyes! It was the same every morning — stress, relief and then disgust- Stress at having to get out of bed, relief that I was not blind and disgust at the thought of going to college. I was not what one may call a motivated student. Rather, a lawyer representing me would say that I WAS indeed motivated to go to college but not the classroom
A Novel Pastime - Rashmi Bansal in Business World
Abhishek Kumar from Radio Mirchi writes
Read yr book, thoroughly enjoyed it !!! It took me through a range of emotions. Infact, the other day I was telling one of friends that this book is so relatble that even if someone called "Abhishekatoo sitting in Timbaktoo" reads this book he will be able to relate to it. I guess that`s wat is so beautiful about your book. It transcends all geographical, cultural, social & economic barriers.
What Men Want? Vandana Kalra of Indian Express has the insight
Move over Bridget Jones, Mark Darcy is here. After the hyped arrival of chick lit as a genre, men have decided to keep pace, coming up with their own version of a literary strand called—no surprises here—lad lit. So even as debate rages over the limitations and frivolity of the genre, the works are raking up sales and rising in popularity, inspiring a new breed of lad lit writers.
Display at Universal Books, Lucknow, India
It is always fascinating to see which books my book is keeping company of. Whether in someone's bookshelf at home or at a major bookshop. It must be some kind of analysis that says that people who buy a particular book TEND to buy some other books from a predictable list. Is that something you can predict? What do you think?
Englishiana, Anyone? asks Pramita Bose of Asian Age
With simplicity and flexibility defining the current-day writing style, young writers are increasingly resorting to the more elastic and contemporary expressions. Some even play around with words to induce colloquialism, thus enabling the target readers identify with the plot as well as the characters.
Pramita Bose of ASIAN AGE Writes about Mediocre But Arrogant
As they say, literature is a reflection of life, so is cinema — the reel mirror of reality. It’s no surprise then that there have been back-to-back screen adaptations of good old literary classics plus period pieces in the past couple of years. But what about those films that project the contemporary world and its socio-economic scenario? Well, the present-day young writers are wholeheartedly considering their options to join the filmi fray and chip in their penned sagas on the silver screen.
Mediocre But Arrogant on the Deccan Herald's Bestseller List
Here is the bestsellers list from the Deccan Herald dated 3rd September 2006
Recipe for a Bestseller by Anandita Gupta of The Tribune
Hours of scribbling away furiously for those terrible term papers. Some endearing moments — playing guitar in starlit nights, lazy sessions for rum and debate at the local dhaba, singing Bob Dylan numbers, eyeing pretty girls….