Techie in comp shortlist
By Suneetha B

BIT and IIM educated Technocrat Karan Bajaj’s first novel ‘Keep off the Grass’ made publishing history, award lists, and is at Hollywood now. His second work ‘Johnny Goes Down’ about a NASA scientist’s bizarre fate has now been short-listed for the Popular Category at the Vodafone Crossword Awards 2010. 

Karan Bajaj grew up in an Army family in India and says “he changed school 12 times” wandering round the country as his family changed stations. He graduated with an engineering degree from BIT Ranchi and went on to IIM Bangalore for his MBA. ‘Keep Off the Grass’ has been on bestseller lists in India since its release in 2008. The book was a semifinalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and was short-listed for the India plaza Golden Quill Award, among other honours. ‘Johnny Goes Down’ has been hugely popular and made the tillers ring merrily. In his other avatar, Karan works with Kraft Foods, New York and looks after their Brand Management.

The Vodafone Crossword Awards were initiated in 1999 and is in its sixth continuous year of celebrating Indian writing in five categories; Fiction, Non-Fiction, Translation, Children’s writing and Popular writing.  The Popular writing genre award, introduced this year, entitles the winning author to a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh and a certificate. The long list for the various awards was announced in April and now a short list has been announced in July.  The final awards will be announced in a couple of month’s time.