TCS Techie book on training days
By Suneetha B

Techie Biswanath Pati just wanted to write a novel about software engineers. Set in Kerala, his debut novel, ‘One Week with Her…Life @ Corporate training centre’ has struck a strong chord with the Indian IT ITES fraternity with its nostalgia elements based on induction training days. Mr. Pati has a Doctorate in Applied Economics and Statistics and a Masters in Computer Science.

Biswanath is a Syntel and Accenture alumnus and currently working for TCS – America at a consultant grade for a major healthcare unit.

Biswanath Pati speaks about his rendezvous with the pen to Techgoss

Techgoss (TG): Is OWWH your first book? Have you written fiction before?
Biswanath Pati (BP): ‘One Week with Her…Life @ Corporate training centre’ is my debut novel. There are novels on call centers, on engineering campuses, but I haven’t heard of a novel on software engineers. I wanted to write something on my fraternity.

TG: How come you chose Trivandrum as the backdrop for your novel?
BP:  For a short stint, I was working at TCS-Trivandrum software training centre. It is the oldest, biggest and the most prestigious training centers of the country where the campus placed engineers are groomed to work in corporate world. I was mesmerized by the elegance of the training centre and the scenic beauty of Trivandrum that compelled me to write this book.

TG: Does the book have any autobiographical elements?
BP:  I would say the book has a biographical element. Trust me, many of the associates who take the induction training, end up getting their life partner at the training center itself. I have received many mails from my fans who have stated that OWWH’s story line resembles their life. It’s a story to which a young software engineer can associate himself.

TG: Are any of the characters from real life?
BP: No, this is a fictional story with incidents drawn from the real life. As one's imagination is limited to what one see, hear or dreamt about, so is the story. It’s an imaginary write up with a couple of incidents loosely connected to real life events.

TG: What prompted you to the premise used in OWWH?
BP: I can strongly vouch Trivandrum as one of the scenic places of the world. The training center has world class facilities and has a capacity to train more than 30,000 software engineers a year. .  Many get their life partners, and others get life-long friendship. However one thing is common to all and that are lifetime memories that all get at the training centre. There are constant parties, boozing, gossiping, love, breakups, lust, friendship and much more. I decided to write a love story revolving around the life of software engineers at the centre.

TG: How long did you take to write this?
BP: I took over 6 months to complete and another couple of months to review. Usually I sleep late; mostly I wrote after midnight and before I went to bed.

TG: When was the novel finally published and by whom? How has been the response to the novel?
BP: I contacted a few publishers over net. I got a couple of interested souls too. After I spoke to the MD of ‘Good Times Books’, I felt comfortable to proceed with him. The novel is getting quite a good response from all quarters. Within a couple of months of its publication, we have been able to sell several thousand copies. The official website oneweekwithher.com is visited by hundreds of people every day.

TG: Are you planning a new book?
BP: I am currently more concerned with the marketing of ‘One week with her’. I have a couple of scripts in my mind. I would start writing, once I am satisfied with the success of my first novel.