Corporate politics at play

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Please share some interesting details about your background.
Born and raised in Ahmedabad but now based in Los Angeles, I’m a mother to a five-year-old, a wife, work in high-tech and love reading, writing, travelling and photography. Powerplay: The Game is On is my second novel after Live from London (Rupa & Co., 2011).
Tell us briefly about the book.
Powerplay is a corporate thriller set against the backdrop of cricket. It’s a heady cocktail of raw ambition, unwavering ideals, vengeful betrayal, consuming love and notorious scandals. There’s a wide cast of characters and their stories laced with humour (even though I say so myself) all through the book.
What brought about the ideation of Powerplay: The Game is On?
I believe it was at a Dodgers game (major league baseball team). The team had been undergoing a period of turmoil in management and had just filed for bankruptcy. A struggling team’s acquisition story makes for the skeleton of Powerplay. It is the story of a cocky, ambitious consultant as he deals with murky politics. It is the account of a sensitive, idealistic employee as she deals with her career and love — both of which are falling apart.
You have a very impressive profile — from Masters in Computer Science to an MBA in marketing to working in Analytics, to a professional photographer and a successful writer. What is your ultimate calling?
As for the degrees, that’s a quintessential urban Indian for you. Luckily, I have a job where I can blend marketing and technology rather well. Writing and photography are both close to my heart. They provide that delicate balance to the chaotic and stressful urban life that we inadvertently sign up for. I like both in different ways: one takes years before I can hold the finished product in my hand, the other is instant gratification.
Which is your favourite time to write?
I write when my neighbourhood sleeps. Only the chirping crickets are invited to the party.