Comparing me to Rakhi Sawant was helpful

Karan Bajaj, an engineering graduate and an MBA, is the author of ‘Keep off the Grass’, which has been on the bestseller lists in India since its release in 2008. The author’s latest ‘Johnny Gone Down’ is already getting the right kind of reviews and his works are evincing interest from Hollywood and Bollywood alike. However, the author has expressed indifference to both film deals. In an interview with Shivangi Singh of Spicezee.com, Karan Bajaj talks at length about ‘Johnny Gone Down’, comparison with Rakhi Sawant, Bollywood’s call and more…

Congratulations for ‘Johnny Gone Down’ (JGD). In what category would you put the novel: thriller, travelogue or philosophy?
I would term it a character-based thriller since, at its core, the novel is a deeper, darker Forrest Gump-ish adventure. It relates the bizarre, almost surreal series of events that transform a pretty ordinary NASA scientist into first a genocide survivor, then a Buddhist monk, a drug lord, a homeless accountant, a software mogul and a deadly game fighter over a period of twenty years.

Full report here Spicezee

Book on Indian culture in Vietnam released

Traces of Indian Culture in Vietnam is a new book by veteran journalist, scholar and social activist Geetesh Sharma published by Banyan Tree Books Pvt Ltd, the English publishing wing of Rajkamal Publications that was released by ICCR president Karan Singh in the capital on Wednesday, March 3.

The 77-year-old Kolkata-based writer, who has visited Vietnam 13 times, had been researching the historical ties between the two nations since 1982.

Ties between India and Vietnam date back to more than 2,000 years when Hindu traders from the Bhagalpur region established the ancient Champa kingdom in central Vietnam, Sharma says.

Vietnam – the bloody stage for a 30-year-war with France and then the US – was once home to a bustling Hindu settlement devoted to Shiva and Vishnu. Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, was the business hub of the South Indian Chettiyar community that set up money-lending businesses.

‘The relation between India and Ho Chi Minh city dates back to more than two centuries when the Chettiyars, the trading community from south India, first came to the city to establish their money lending business.

Full report here Calcutta Tube