Ever since “Five Point Someone” happened, we've had more than our share of IIT and IIM-themed books. Stories of campus bonding, late-night rendezvous, a heavy dose of Hinglish in every conceivable/ inconceivable place, boy's nights out, boy-meets-girl, rise of the underdog… we've had it. Now, with “A Roller Coaster Ride!... When an IITian Met a BITsian Girl”, published by Srishti, Saumil Shrivastava joins the much-crowded league. He, however, claims a difference in the time frame in which it is set — being based on new professionals just out of college instead of students per se.
“A Roller Coaster Ride!” is the story of Maddy, a graduate of IIT-Mumbai, who upon meeting a friend at an entrepreneurship summit, recalls his first job at a business research firm in Gurgaon. What initially looks like a lesson in entrepreneurship turns out to be a story about his workplace, colleagues, flatmates and love affairs, with the latter usually ending in unexpected ever-afters.
On the truth-and-fiction balance, Shrivastava says, “It is based on 10 to 12 different people, and one story has been made out of their experiences.”
Shrivastava's already started work on his next book, with a focus on entrepreneurship, a pet subject considering his previous, albeit short-lived, stint with starting his own venture, before recession set in and ruined things.
Isn't entrepreneurship is what he set out to write about when he started “A Roller Coaster Ride!” ? “I agree that one gets the feel that the book might be based upon Maddy's experience with entrepreneurship. Though the story changes as one progresses, the occasional reference (of entrepreneurship) is there (which occasionally crops up in Maddy's conversations with a friends).”
On the lessons learnt and difficulties while writing his first book, the author says, “It was creating these so many characters. The character of Divya is positive for 70 to 80 per cent of the book. I had to create that image so that what follows next comes as a surprise. Flow was a challenge. When too many characters are involved, it is necessary to see that the scenes don't get redundant. There are characters who don't figure in the book for several chapters. How they come into the picture again was a challenge.”
