HYDERABAD: He claims to be the first person to land on Mars and also to have eaten the apple that fell on Newton. He wouldn’t stop at that. He says he knows the location of Holy Grail and fought war alongside Captain America! (As the book’s blurb reads). But hold your breath, because he feels bad that he is still unknown to many and now, would like to reach out to all, through his soon-to-be released book, CGPA. He is Srikanth Polisetti for us. This young chap, at the age of 28, holds a degree from IIT, works for government and is now releasing a book. Srikanth discusses the nuances of his book, which essentially talks about College, Girls, Placements and Alcohol.
“My book is set in the backdrop of IIT. It is the story of an underdog. An average guy whose world changes upside down when gets a seat in IIT Kharagpur. He assumes himself to be a black sheep until he stumbles upon the world of girls, placements, alcohol and many more. We all can relate ourselves with the story. It is hilarious and will take you back to your college days,” says Srikanth who is not afraid of being compared to the likes of Chetan Bhagat. “I read Five point someone.
My work is completely different except for the fact that it is set in IIT backdrop like his. Rest is original and from my own experience. If people start comparing me with Chetan Bhagat, I would be more than happy. I shall take it as a compliment,” says cheerful Srikanth, who comes from a family of doctors. “My parents and my sister are doctors. I was the first grandson in our family and I was pampered. I used to bully my sister a lot as a child”.
Though he is a product of IIT, Srikanth firmly believes that he is just an average student. “Not a day went by, when I wasn’t punished by my teachers. I did my entire schooling in St Patricks, Hyderabad and then engineering from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology. The fun part is I did mechanical engineering, then worked as software engineer and then went on to do MBA from IIT Kharagpur. Throughout my education, I was a regular Joe and somewhere in my journey, I realised, writing is my passion and I cannot be an engineer. Somehow, those numbers just don’t amuse me,” says the young writer who is currently employed as Jr Manager, HR in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. When asked about how he managed to write a book, “I finish my job by 5.30 pm and I have all the time to pursue my hobbies. I play cricket, or watch movies or keep rambling. I am a blogger too. So, during my lazy times, I started writing scripts for movies. Thus my thoughts were turned into a 390 page manuscript which resulted in this book”. After he approached couple of publishers, he was asked to condense the script. “I would write a page a day.
In this way, I made sure, I wouldn’t procrastinate and finish my book in time.
I would utilize my weekends to review and write more pages. I have weaved the characters, the backdrop and the story line. I made sure, every age group could read my book and enjoy it. My book has romance, nostalgia, drama, comedy and conflict between father and son. It deals with reality and is close to our lives”.
Srikanth stresses that it is easy to write a book than get it published. “I did not know that books need to have a certain word count to be able to fit into some price slabs. So I had to meet many publishers or I had to cut copy. However, I chanced upon Educreation who kindly came forward to give my book a shape”.
Srikanth’s book is up for release this month end. “
“I have finished writing my second book and I am now working on my third one. Once, my first book is out, I shall release my second one too. I am just praying to be liked by all”, says the young author who is looking forward for his new journey.