This 17-year-old would remind you of any other guy you might have seen in school. What sets Ronen Chatterjee apart is that he has two books to his credit already and is reputed to be the youngest published author in India. Ronen’s second work, “Ready to Rock” (Haranand Publications), was released in the city recently by actor Kabir Bedi.
Said Ronen, “When I wrote this book, I was a teenager myself and I could understand what developments and changes teenagers go through at that time of their lives. My book captures all the fights, first loves, heartbreaks and identity crises that every teen goes through.”
Haranand chairman Narendra Kumar said, “I am proud to discover this young talent at the very beginning of his career.”
Though Ronen writes about human relationships and emotions exhaustively in his books, being so young one wouldn’t expect him to be so experienced in relationships. “I observe what I see around myself. It’s God’s gift that I have the ability to put myself in other people’s shoes and think from their point of view. That’s how I write,” he explained.
Logged spaces
Despite both his parents being writers, Ronen recalls that in his early years he wasn’t interested in either reading or writing. But he had many stories in his head, almost like “heavily logged spaces”. It led to frustration, which ultimately made him put pen to paper. “I’ll have a lot of pressure on myself now. That might take away the joy of writing from me,” he also admits.Kabir Bedi was all praise for the young lad. “I have been struggling the last three to four years to write one book and I am having a devil of a time. The most admirable thing about Ronen is that he has made it possible at this age,” he said.
What does he think is the reason behind India witnessing a spurt of young authors in the past few years?
“When writers see that their work is getting international recognition and that they can make a decent living, more people are keen to take it up as a profession,” said Bedi.
Still basking in the success of his newly-launched book, Ronen has started work on his next.
“My next one is about snakes! The idea came to me while watching a adventure series on television. The journey would take you around the world to places like the Amazon jungles, amidst anacondas and boa constrictors. I hope to finish this one by next year,” he revealed.
