Jack Patel might sound like the proverbial banker but his rather quirky sense of being and tongue-in-cheek humour gives you a new perspective on a man whose dreams don't seem too far from reality.
P.G. Bhaskar's Jack Patel's Dubai Dreams is a mix of fiction and fact, focussing on the life of his protagonist during the 2008 financial crisis, “I'm a banker myself and I guess I just took the easy way out. Basing a fictional story against the backdrop of the financial crisis and its aftermath seemed the natural thing to do. I wrote the book without thinking too much about it and had great fun doing it,” says the author, “The way I see it, my book is a potpourri, a very light-hearted mix of fiction and business, with a liberal dose of nonsense.”
While the story itself is fiction, the author, who is based in Dubai, reveals that there are bits and pieces that are real. “I am a regular visitor to Madras, my hometown. The characters, dialogues and situations are all made up though the odd influencing factor would be there for sure. But those bits about the markets, the collapse and its shock impact is something that bankers, investors and their families have all seen, felt and endured. In many cases, the effect of that wallop is still there.”
Bhaskar took about a year to finish this novel, his first. “I do write occasionally for newspapers, but those rarely exceed 1,000 words,” he says, “When I started the novel, it did — for a brief while — seem somewhat forbidding. But once I crossed 10,000 words, it flowed easily. I finished the first draft in five months. Then I started fine tuning it and looking for a publisher.”
But his journey with the pen is far from over. Following the success of Jack Patel, he has decided to continue the protagonist's story. “Though the book was aimed at the 20-40 age group, I am particularly pleased that people of all ages seem to enjoy reading it,” explains Bhaskar, “I have already completed the draft of another novel. You could consider it a sequel to this one. If I may paraphrase Shakespeare, ‘If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue the story with Jack in it'.”
The book is priced at Rs. 150.
