6th Book - Those Faulty Journeys

When everyone spoke of something in common, 'Ungal En Enna' spoke something that was both logical and yet, beyond common man's perception. The foundation of the book was strongly rooted on something that except me, no one else perceived previously. This was from the sociological perspective.

From a technical standpoint, at the time when Ungal En Enna was published, I met no one who had a strong understanding on Math Fictions. That was the motivation to rewrite Ungal En Enna in English. This translation went on, in parallel, when Ungal En Enna was being authored by me.

First, in 2017, Ungal En Enna was released but the reception was too pathetic. I was hoping, some one would acknowledge the work. I handed over a PDF copy of the book to a senior author who was also a mathematics professor. But he returned saying, the book was not up-to his expectations. When I enquired about his expectations, from what he answered, I could make out that he was looking for a 'part' in the 'whole' idea of a scientific work.

That was when I thought, I must look for someone who can 'certify' the work and to my luck, Alex Kasman, an american mathematician came to my risk. He gone through the work and acknowledged it and even gave a home in his long list of mathematical fictions. But the point was, he strongly disagreed in the book's agenda. That was OK with me, because, in a way, I wanted to conceal the core of the book and I was happy that with his disagreement, the core was super-concealed. Anyone who read his review, I am sure, would not take the book seriously and that, I considered, 'need' at the present. I needed no more acknowledgements.

This translated work came out in the name 'Those Faulty Journeys' through Emerald Publishers in 2018. Sad that many publishing houses didn't even go past the synopsis of the book. They ruled out publishing the work saying, the work was too technical for wide audience. In Tamil, if you consider original works, Ungal En Enna was the first original work in the genre Mathematical Fiction and I am proud about it knowing that me and my book, both are being ignored.

BUT, EVER SINCE THE BIG BANG, I THINK, GREAT THINGS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN IGNORED. ISN'T IT?

5th Book - Inexhaustible

By the time, I penned down 'Atchayapathra', I knew, it was going to be a unique script and therefore, I wanted to make the idea's presence global. That was the prime motivation towards translating it in English and 'Inexhaustible' was born.

The idea was I didn't want the target audience to be restricted to Tamil readers. Until that point in time, the only other work of mine that I had translated in English was 'Ungal En Enna'(Those Faulty Journeys). But when it came to publishing, Inexhaustible preceded 'Those Faulty Journeys'.

The reason was simple. Between 'Inexhaustible' and 'Those Faulty Journeys', 'Those Faulty Journeys' was more significant content-wise.

Sura and Westland had the same reasons to turn down this work.

'Your work is too technical for broad spectrum of target audience'. 

I have to give in. I had to go with Emerald Publishers, again, not because it was the best home but because, I didn't have a choice.

Inexhaustible was published by Emerald Publishers in 2018. That was my first work in English. This transformation, I considered, very significant for a budding writer. This work marked my 5th fictional work, though a translation of one of my original work.

4th Book - Atchayapathira

While penning down 'Irandu Viralgal', I conceived an idea. The idea was fresh, first of its kind and therefore, was compelling to put down in words and 'Atchayapathra' was born.

The name was derived from Tamil word 'Atchayapathiram' which meant, a vessel that could give boundless food. I found the derivative convincing to the idea I conceived and hence the title.

This novel was also written in the backdrop of IT industry, its culture and a reflective of common people's perception on IT industry.

This book marked my 4th fictional work in Tamil. This was in the fag end of 2017 and was published by Vathini publishers. Honestly, I didn't like the way, the publisher came out with the wrapper. Later, I realized, there were limits in getting the work done remotely from 12000 miles away. No one to be blamed. It was just the way it worked. (But I would like to also highlight that, just because a certain thing worked a certain way doesn't mean, it was right).

If you considered the evolution of bank heist methods and techniques in the last 100 years, you would agree that this book and the idea it conveyed in 20000 words stood unique and never told before. 

3rd Book - Irandu Viralgal

While penning down 'Ungal En Enna', I kept conceiving numerous ideas. Time, despite being a construct, became insufficient too. So soon after completion of Ungal En Enna and its release, I flew back to US and after settling at work, I penned down 'Irandu Viralgal'.

To tell about 'Irandu Viralgal', it is a novel written in the backdrop of IT industry. It also talks about some of the dark areas of IT culture and common people's perception on IT industry. This novella evolved into a suspense novel. I never wanted to be a 'Suspense, thriller Engine' that if fed with an idea, turns it into a suspense thriller novel. There are many writers who function this way and I thought, I do not need to me to be one of them.

Irandu Viralgal, content-wise is a short novel and there was no intention behind it. In general, I do not prefer to rush to a stereotype.

This time I did this with Vathini publishers remotely with me being in US since I could not travel to India to organize a release function for this book.

Primarily, these efforts helped me to keep myself focused, fight depression and accumulate all my efforts to bring out something more productive which is both progressive and meaningful. These days I was in US, working for a company as an IT contractor and kept hitting gym an hour everyday. I sincerely hoped that, at some point in time in the future, these efforts would add more glory to life.

2nd Book - A Mathematical Fiction

'Ungal en enna' is by far, the book authored by me that has the craziest of my ideas. But if you read the book, you will realize that  neither the book is crazy nor me. In fact, the book would even logically quite convincing to you to an extent that you will not have a counter-argument to any of the argument that the book has laid in front of you.

So does that mean, this book is flawless? No. As a reader you would never have seen human relationships this way before and that is the only flaw there can be. It all depends on how deeper have you perceived the subject. If your perceptions in human relationships are at a very elementary level, you may find this book, unrealistic and crazy. In other words, if the book appears unrealistic and crazy, chances are, your perceptions in human relationships are very basic.

After I did my first work 'Oppanaikal kalaivatharke', I wrote two novellas but towards the end, they failed to impress me. This was the year 2015. It was the end of 2015 and in a few days 2016 was to be born. I conceived an idea based on what I discussed in my first book. The idea was based on the question: "How to model human relationships?".

I developed my own theory and elaborated it in 200+ pages and then 'Ungal en enna' was born.

Some good things to count on this book are:

1. This book marks the first and only original work in the genre, Mathematical fiction in Tamil. (The others are not original and were written for academic purposes).

2. It has been more than 2 years since the release of this book and there are no other mathematical fiction original works in Tamil after this.

3. Some of the things discussed in this book, are becoming real these days.

4. Senior writers in Tamil have not approved this work for a mathematical fiction yet but a mathematician and a researcher in College of Charleston, South Carolina, USA has approved this work for a mathematical fiction and honored this work by giving it a place in his long list of math fictions from across the world.

I came down from US to India for stamping in December 2016. US embassy in India kept me in a long wait. I took this as a 'directional sign' for publishing this work. Most publishers and fellow writers didn't even had a clue, what a mathematical fiction genre was. This was my problem to hit. To whoever I shared the work, I wasn't getting a 'verbal approval'. There was no appreciation. None wanted to get into a debate. Most tried to avoid a debate and the few who tried it were intended to know about it by getting into one which annoyed me.

They mostly were doubtful if it was a 'work' at all. I could make out that, a lot expected the work to resonate the qualities found in Tamil family novels that are filled with tears, emotions, sentiment, nativity etcetera.

Finally, after a lot of turbulence, I ended up publishing this work with Kaavya publishers not because it was the best placement but because I didn't have many choices to pick one from. The publisher had arranged for a book release function at Iksa Center, Egmore on the day of new year 2017. I gave a short 2 minutes speech to a bunch of say 50 people of which 10 are authors. So you can imagine how grand release it was.

Irrespective of who approved or ignored this work, it has now become a part in Tamil literary history. 

The one that marked frenzy of a crazy writer

Soon after my first novel work, I did something for around 90 pages just for the fun of doing it.

I was simply 'David' of Alien Covenant, trying to create something just for the fun in it. 'Mudichu' was that 2nd novel and then this time, I wanted to explore, book launching menaces.

So I approached a publisher who read my work and came forward to bring it into a book. But then the novel 'Mudichu' was just 100 pages. Therefore, I included my first work 'Oppanaikal kalaivatharke' with 'Mudichu'. They together weighed 300 pages and with that page count I was ready for my first debut book.

That led to the release of 'OppanaikaL kalaivatharke' by Kaavya publishers. This was in January 2014.

This release was just to get a grip of Book publishing, publishing procedures, marketing stuffs, fill nostrils with the first smell of your own book and that divinish feeling and so on. Several sad truths about publishing industry surfaced and it was a good learning. I was in Chennai those days working for Capgemini Consulting.

Kaavya Shanmuga Sundaram had arranged for a book release function in the book festival that held in YMCA ground, Nandanam. I learnt something very quick in those days. It was about the rate at which I could create a 100 pages novel. I learnt that I don't belong to those who come up with one book per year. I have always had the writer's itch and writing a few pages was like having a tea or a soft drink in leisure. Ideas kept flowing in my mind and that gave all the motivation to write in wide variety of topics.

As far as I observed, ideas were keys and I was getting them at a much faster rate. So I never had the luxury of waiting for a quality idea to put forth in a book. Rather I was always bombarded with ideas and have felt the urge to put them in words so as to take the credit of 'first time in the history of ....' thing.

Therefore, I was not in resonance with the publishing industry's wavelength. The other thing was in the way I looked at things. It was not regular. It was not normal. It was way too far and much ahead. So when a publisher read my book, he was not always convinced with my work at first instance. If I were to publish my work with a publisher who got a perfect rhythm with my ideas, then, I might have to wait for years in a row.

So I was forced to find my own publisher and at one point, I was glad if I got someone published what I gave and I was able to point my finger to a publisher when someone approached me asking for one of my book.

'Oppanaikal Kalaivatharke' This book marked the frenzy of a crazy writer whose ideas, he is much proud of and claims much ahead of time and yet, mostly unread.

SOLARIS (2002)

SOLARIS (2002)

Yet another movie adaptation from a novel work by Stanislaw Lem.

SOLARIS is by-far a direct evidence to admittance by Hollywood on the influence of cosmic forces in human behavior.

It has been a long debate and science has so far been perceived to function exactly opposite to vedic astrology of Indian Hindu mythology. But I see this movie, quite convincingly arguing that influence of cosmic forces on human behavior is yet, a mystic part of science.

Though the film carries fantasy elements throughout, it kinda is framed around this 'influence' idea. There are no 'action' elements in this movie. The movie is more conversational and I think, might not have costed much from the production perspective.

Glad to see James Cameroon in the producers list. In fact, I picked this move to watch because of his name.