At 15, his first book made it to the stands, now at 17 Ronen Chatterjee is back with a novel. Called Ready to Rock, it captures the coming of age of a young boy in the hostel. "I always wanted to know what happens to kids who don't have love in their life. One night during a father-son talk the idea hit me.
Plot and plan
So his protagonist, Arjun is an orphan, who is violent, aggressive and heartless. For the setting, Ronen, who is studying in Std. XII chose Nainital's Sherwood School, where his father studied.
"When I was seven, I visited the school with my parents, the ambience stayed with me. As I wanted to place Arjun in a boarding school, I opted for Sherwood."
He visited the place again to get the details right. "In public school you get the freedom to take leave, be with your parents when you like but in a boarding school even on holidays you are in same premises most of the times.
They say today's kids are independent. I went for a setting where they are really independent to make their decisions without any parental influence." Ronen has revived the age-old rivalry between Sherwood and St. Joseph's.
"As Sherwood has turned co-ed recently, I could bring in the love angle as well. In fact it is this relationship that leads to Arjun's change of heart because he had not been in a relationship before."
School stuff
A student of Commerce stream at Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, Ronen says there is nothing in Arjun that he has taken from his life.
"I just wanted to emphasise on the importance of school and relationships. Some of our best moments in life come during the school days but when we are there we could not realise it. We realise their importance when we grow up.
That's why I feel the book will find readers of all age groups."
Arjun is not opting for a course in literature.
"I feel literature limits your options. I am practical and my father feels I have got good business acumen.
So I will go for a bachelor's in business administration but continue writing. Chetan Bhagat is an example. He is an investment banker but is writing great stuff. "
In love with serpents, Ronen is now penning a novel around the life of a photographer, who is given a task to shoot snakes.
"He has to do it because he is in a financial mess.
The narrative will travel from Amazon forests to Indian deserts."
