How Somewhere @ Nowhere was written
By Resmi Jaimon

Nikesh Rathi, author of Somewhere @ Nowhere, worked with IT industry for some time before going on to pursue his passion for Education and Writing.  Though he had only a short stint in IT at Wipro, it helped him form the central characters of his book. Post his MBA from IIM in 2008, he now works in the educational sector.  Techgoss speaks to Nikesh about his well received book.

 
Techgoss (TG): Tell us about your educational and professional background?
Nikesh Rathi (NR): I belong to Raipur, have done most of my schooling at Baroda, engineering at NIT, Bhopal (2005) and MBA at IIM, Lucknow (2008). I have worked in IT and FMCG industries for sometime before moving to education sector recently. I am currently working with IMS Learning Resources, and worked with Wipro and Dabur earlier.
 

TG: What were the reasons that prompted you to write a book? Were you interested in writing from your school/college days?
NR: It was a mix of various factors. It was something which I always wanted to do! I have been somewhat creative throughout my life but this had been mostly limited to blogs, short stories, and few articles in school or college publications or just cracking PJs! There was always an urge to do something more, maybe on a larger platform and this is where I got this idea to write a book. I started and abandoned the project a few times, but eventually I got going and wrote it.

 
TG: How long did it take you to write the book?
NR:  It took around 3-4 months to write. It kind of followed Pareto’s principle—the first 80% took 20% of the time! That was when a basic skeleton was ready. Then it was all about revising it, re-revising it, re-re-revising it and so on. Theoretically there is no end to it. This went on for almost around a few months. Most of that time was used in giving ‘finishing touches.'

 
TG: What were the challenges you faced in writing Somewhere @ Nowhere?
NR: I think the first obstacle is “Getting started”. There was this idea in my head but it took some time before I could overcome my inertia. I started and abandoned the project a few times before I got going.  Once you get stuck, the writer’s block is often there to trouble you. It might be in the form of lack of ideas or ideas not getting converted into words.

There were times when I actually felt that the whole thing was going somewhere towards nowhere! But these were probably minor stumbling blocks.

TG: Could you tell us what Somewhere @ Nowhere is all about?
NR: It is about a young guy who is an investment banker and a pass-out from IIT & IIM. He has always been a “winner” throughout his life. However, one fine day he loses his job and in the days to come he travels across the country with the objective of exploring the country.

Somewhere @ Nowhere is essentially about the different experiences he had during the journey, It is also about different facets of the country and its people as seen from the eyes of a relative outsider. It is also about how those experiences change him as a person and how his outlook about the life changes in the process.

 
TG: Did living in several places help you write the novel?
NR:  Yes. It did help, though I have actually traveled to only few of the places mentioned in the book.

Along with it, my interest in knowing about different places and different people and cultures helped me a lot.

 
TG: You initially self-published the book and later Cedar published your book? Tell us about your experience from self-publishing to finding a publisher.
NR: The publishing experience was a kind of mixed bag. To begin with, I was a ‘nobody,’ sending an unsolicited manuscript to publishers. There were publishers who never replied, there were some who rejected it outright and there were some who wanted to make major changes to the content to make the book more ‘spicy’!

I wanted to have control over the content, so I initially self published it through www.pothi.com. Later on I published with Cedar books, primarily with the objective of having a wider distribution reach.

 
TG: Would you be writing a novel based on IT industry life? Or which other topic would you choose to write, for your next book?
NR: I can’t predict that. I would surely like to write more but I would try to steer away from all those love at IIT/ IIM/ kind of novels! Ideally I would like to write something out and out humorous.

 
TG:  You worked with Wipro for a year before moving out of the IT industry? Didn't IT industry inspire you enough or you were more fascinated by the education industry?
NR: Actually, I left Wipro because I secured an admission to IIM Lucknow. It was like an offer I couldn’t refuse! When I passed out, IT companies were not recruiting that much. Education is something I am passionate about and I wanted to be a part of it in some way or other ever since I was working in these industries. How that would be, I wasn’t too sure. It was probably just a vague idea. Later on, when the opportunity came, I grabbed it!

 
TG: Has your education and IT industry experience helped you in writing the novel?
NR: Actually, different aspects of my life have helped me in it. IT industry has been a part of it. To an extent, the personalities of the main protagonists have been based upon that of people working in the IT industry. So, in a way it has helped me develop characters. Also, there are few references within the book, which wouldn’t probably have been there had it not been for the IT industry.

I entered into the education industry after I wrote the book, so there wasn’t too much from that part. However, throughout the book I have broached upon the topic of education and probably it is a reflection of something which I have been passionate about!

 
TG: Do you dream of being a full-time writer?
NR: That is like wishful thinking!