IIM graduate and now an author, Karan Bajaj is currently on a multi-city tour to launch his new book Keep Off The Grass. The novel revolves around a Indian American investment banker who, in order to find his roots in India, joins the IIM and undergoes a mix of bizarre experiences -- smoking marijuana, travelling to Dharamsala, selling soaps and shampoos in Benaras and the likes. Twenty-eight-year-old Bajaj tells BW Online's Sanjitha Rao Chaini that his work doesn't really fit into the genre of campus literature that's currently a rage in India, but a "quirky bizarre, quirky sort of a spiritual journey in India." The jury is still out on that.
Why Keep Off The Grass?
What you will find in the book is that it is a blend of a lot of my personal interests -- there is a lot of travel here; a very bizarre journey through India. I have been to all of those places. I have not obviously had so much entertainment as the book says. At one point of time in life, I was interested in Indian philosophy and spirituality, so you will find that kind of journey in the book -- meditating in Dharamsala and being on the ghats of Benaras, etc. My interest lie in travel philosophy and humour -- the book is a conglomeration of all that.
Intrinsically, how much of you is there in the protagonist?
The fundamental conflict in the book is about a second generation Indian trying to find his roots. Now, that's not true about me. I grew up in India. I don't need to find my roots. But you will see a lot of my fantasies of escape in the protagonist. He has quit his job and he travels. From the personality perspective, Samrat Ratan is much more sentimental and is much more risk averse and conservative. I am not at all sentimental, I am not emotional about the country. I could relocate to the US, go to Europe, move to South America and not come back or anything.
Coming back to the novel, it takes off from the campus. Campus stories are a huge hit in India. So why do we need a similar plot?
I didn't set out to write campus-based novels. In the sense, I wrote about a phase of my life in which there was a lot of personal quest. In fact, the basic theme of the novel is not about life in campus. The 'masti' part is secondary. The primary theme of this novel is about this young man trying to find himself in India. I am a part of the novel. The bigger aspect of the novel is bizarre, quirky sort of a spiritual journey in India. That's the phase of my life I wanted to capture in the book. An investment banker turning a hippie didn't have any structure to it, so the campus added a lot of structure to it. I used the campus as a base and with this, I could launch of all those journeys in India.
What kind of research did you put in before writing out the book?
Being in the US, I have met a lot of American-born confused desis. The whole concept is fascinating. They know more about new movies and movie gossip. I grew up in India and I think I should be knowing more about all this. There is an interesting trap here among the professionally successful people who are kind of personally trapped into an India which is not the India anymore anyway. But I have deliberately cliched the confused Indian-American bit. Not all of them are as confused.
Then, the identity crisis doesn't exist anymore? Or are people coping better these days...
I would give it a 50:50. it does exist, but is probably not as prevalent anymore as the US becomes a more racially diverse and cosmopolitan society -- for instance, Barack Obama becoming a Presidential nominee. So, no, people aren't as 'confused' anymore - though the phenomenon does exist in pockets.
Your future projects?
I am backpacking to South America next month. I usually backpack alone if the place is open and friendly and you are never lost for company. I went to Bhutan with friends though. I am going to Europe after that. I have quit P&G and joined Boston Consulting Group in the US. I join work in October. I don't take writing too seriously. I don't take myself seriously as an author. I like to continue writing; it also depends on the reaction of the audience and the critics. If I think this is not my calling, then I won't go ahead.
Are you going to write more?
Yes, I like this whole blend of travel, philosophy, humour and fiction. Keep Off The Grass is my basic, maiden attempt at that. I intend to perfect in this genre. Probably my next book is going to be based on my travels again -- say, somebody from Bhutan intersecting from somebody in Brazil -- all my travels with a philosophical edge to it.
How do you plan to stay away from repeating what you have already written in your first book?
By choosing completely, completely different characters and locales. For instance, if I am writing about a Buddhist monk from Cambodia intersecting prostitute from Brazil -- now this is a different character and setting entirely different from a guy trying to find his roots in India.
Books you recently read and liked...
Kunal Basu's The Japanese Wife, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by a Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid and Advaita Kala's Almost Single
Personalities 
IIM graduate and now an author, Karan Bajaj is currently on a multi-city tour to launch his new book Keep Off The Grass. The novel revolves around a Indian American investment banker who, in order to find his roots in India, joins the IIM and undergoes a mix of bizarre experiences -- smoking marijuana, travelling to Dharamsala, selling soaps and shampoos in Benaras and the likes. Twenty-eight-year-old Bajaj tells BW Online's Sanjitha Rao Chaini that his work doesn't really fit into the genre of campus literature that's currently a rage in India, but a "quirky bizarre, quirky sort of a spiritual journey in India." The jury is still out on that. 
