American mocktale

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In India some of us are still fascinated with America and the American life. We dream of a life shown in those firangi sitcoms or straight out of American Pie or Baywatch — brash, silly, and naive. But is it actually the way we fantasise it? What is this whole “American experience” about?

First time author, a seasoned blogger and the vice-president of an investment bank, Atulya Mahajan tries to discover that in his novel Amreekandesi: Masters of America and sends two young boys on their dream American sojourn.
Mahajan calls his American journey to be a wonderful learning experience. “There is so much new happening to you. It’s a new culture, there is glamour, pretty girls and plenty of assignments. In the midst of this, how people adapt and pick their priorities is a fascinating study in itself. I wanted to share all of this with the world, which led to my book Amreekandesi,” he says.
Amreekandesi is the story of Akhil and Jassi, who go to America for their Masters. The two are very different from each other in their expectations from America, and the book is a fun account of their adventures living in a foreign land searching for their American dream. While Akhil is grounded, down-to-earth and wants to finish his studies, work for a little bit, and return to India eventually. He is looking for an identity and independence from his over-protective parents. Whereas Jassi is the other extreme. His only purpose in life is to find a nice American girl he can live happily ever after with.
The story, we are told, is not autobiographical, though some settings in Florida are real. “The book does derive from my experiences, but all the characters are fictional and exaggerated to show the differing perspectives people have about America and how Indians behave in a foreign land. There are also references to Punjabi culture, which we all know is the most cultured culture there ever was,” reveals Mahajan.
An engineering graduate from Delhi College of Engineering with a degree in Masters in Computer Science from Florida State University, writing didn’t feature on his career blueprint. But he did write a poem in junior school. Though the poem, titled Mera Bharat Mahan, was an innocent attempt at writing, it happened to be his first brush with satire. “Unfortunately, it was so good that my teacher didn’t believe I wrote it. So I guess all the talent was just waiting to burst out, eventually manifesting itself into a blog and now the book,” he says.
The blogging bug bit him back in 2007 in New York. While others his age were busy kicking about in pubs and clubs going after girls, he was happy writing about Indian politics, society, current affairs, and the lives of Indians living abroad on his blog amreekandesi.com.
“It was as satisfying as Sachin Tendulkar winning the World Cup. Initially I used to do more political, hard-hitting political pieces. But then I shifted to a less direct satirical tone. A few of my blog posts went viral over the years, including an open letter to Shri Roberts Vadraji, a man whom I admire and adore. He’s my role model. It is always a wonderful feeling when people post comments on my pieces that go ‘brilliant’, ‘genius’, ‘mind-blowing’, and ‘you are a stupid loser with no purpose in life. Go kill yourself’,” he chuckles.
Mahajan’s writing style has been subtle satire but the book doesn’t reflect that entirely as it is a light fictional read with elements of humour and sarcasm. “I don’t have any particular inspiration in terms of writing style, but one person I really admire for his sense of humour is Jon Stewart. I’d like to believe that he has somewhere influenced my humour,” says Mahajan, who loves to read Jeffery Archer, Michael Crichton and J.K. Rowling.
The Delhi boy is now waiting for the book to sell a gazillion copies. He has some ideas for the next one, but the right alignment of the stars will decide when he will start to work on it.