Chat with Karan Bajaj Author of " The seeker "

Penguin India organised the chat session with author of "The seeker" Karan Bajaj on June 16th 2015. I had chance to chat with him. He also Replied very prompt answers.Karan Bajaj is an indian american author. He wrote three contemporary novels Keep off the grass (2008),Johnny gone down (2010) and latest released book "The Seeker".His first novel Keep off the grass, which became a Best seller with more than 70,000 copies sold worldwide. Born in 1979 into an Army family, Karan is an engineering graduate from BIT Ranchi and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He was selected as one of the “Top 35 Under 35 Indian” by India Today and was nominated for all of India’s top literary awards—the Crossword Book of the Year, Indiaplaza Golden Quill and Teacher’s Indian Achievers Awards(Arts).

Summary of His New Book " The seeker " -

                          A violent encounter on the streets of Manhattan forces Wall Street banker Maximus Pzoras to confront questions about suffering and mortality that have dogged him since his mother’s death. His search for a mentor takes him to the farthest reaches of India, where he encounters a mysterious night market, almost freezes to death on a hike up the Himalayas and finally, finds himself in an ashram in a small drought stricken village in South India where strange things begin to happen to him.

But are Yogis who walk on water, do impossible poses, and live agelessly for 200 years the stuff of fiction or fact? Can a flesh and blood man ever truly achieve nirvana? Max struggles to overcome his rational skepticism and the pull of family tugging him back home. In a final bid for answers, he embarks on dangerous solitary meditation in a freezing Himalayan cave. Will Max penetrate the truth of human suffering, or is enlightenment just a new age illusion?
The SEEKER is both a page turning adventure story and a journey of tremendous inner transformation, a SIDDHARTHA for our generation.

    1) Hi! Sir, First of all Congrats to your new book "The Seeker" Going Very well i saw many positive reviews.What was one of the most surprising things you learned in "The seeker book"?

Thanks so much! The biggest surprise was how the story wrote itself without active authorship from me. For example, I had planned a completely different end but my characters wrote the story themselves and their story was quite different from what me, the author, had planned.

2) How did you begin writing? Do you have a any specific reason or reasons for writing each book?

      Yes man, each book has been an exercise of passion. In Johnny, I was very interested in the idea of a man with no nationality, whose family is the world. In The Seeker, from man's relationship with the world, I evolved to probing man's relationship with himself.

    3)What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews? Do you respond to them ? how you deal with the bad? 

      Reviews are gold for an author karthick, all of them! Bad reviews written well truly, truly inspire me to learn more about writing; Good reviews gives me the satisfaction of a job well done.

   4) Which authors do you like to read? What book(s) have had a strong influence on you(r) writing? 

Siddhartha has had the strongest influence on my writing. 

Authors= Mr. BKS Iyengar is a great inspiration in both his life and writing.

   5) Do you write on a typewriter, Laptop,or longhand? 

          Laptop for writing; longhand for ideas!

   6) What is your favorite motivational phrase & favorite "quote" ? and Any last thoughts for your readers including me? 

    

          "Forget safety.
          Live where you fear to live.
          Destroy your reputation.
          Be notorious"

You can buy his latest Book "The seeker" Here