If one notices, our life is predetermined by numbers. What are the deadlines? When do you have to make payments? How much is your income? What is the expenditure? And so on. “We revolve around a world of numbers, where everything is time-based. It captures the essence of our life,” says debutant author Upendra Namburi.
He is neither new to the world of numbers nor to the world of words. A banking and financial expert by profession, he is a friend of numbers. But writing is something he started as a hobby. “I have been writing for many years now for both Indian and international publications. I have been a guest columnist. Caught by the writing bug, I took to blogging. quite obviously my next destination had to be a novel,” he says.
Presently based in Gurgaon, Upendra is a Mumbaikar at heart and is a Telugu by origin. “My parents are from Vijayawada,” he says. In his latest novel, 31, he tries to bring about the effect of numbers on his protagonist, Ravi Shastry, a banker with a multi-national bank. “31, is the story of 31 days in Ravi’s life, regional head of a bank, who lives in Bangalore, with his wife who is a software employee and two children,” explains Upendra. Suddenly everything that looks stable in Ravi's life starts falling apart. A scandal in Brazil suddenly puts in jeopardy jobs of about 1/5th of the staff. How Ravi struggles to save his job and gets back to everything stable is what the story is about.
So, is this something out of his personal experience? “Everything one writes is always out of his/her experiences. Be it from their own, or from their surroundings. Ever since 2008, the concept of lay-offs has become quite common. There would have been many people who all of us know in such situations. I have also known some of them and I realised this subject is something that has not been ventured into. Hence, I wanted to attempt writing this,” explains Upendra.
He mentions how globalisation has its pros and cons. “Multi-national banks have their nuances. Incidents that happen thousands of miles away become very relatable and people are globally affected due to new strategies at the headquarters,” he points out.
And what effect does this have on employees? Upendra replies, “In any scenario, when business is under pressure, employees always find it challenging to tackle such situations. Equally important is how an employee proves himself at that point, so that he/she is chosen over fellow colleagues. A lot of factors come into play in such situations like the geography of the office, the business line-up, your place in hierarchy and what are the alternative choices the higher authorities have.”
Going into the reasons behind choosing such a subject, he explains, “This is contemporary urban Indian lifestyle, about how people deal with situations. And it becomes fast-paced, because it is relatable. My book captures urban cultural nuances and subtleties in the characters.” The 375-page book took him about two years to finish.
“The journey seemed quite long. After several rounds of edits, the final draft was ready. And then finding a publisher took another couple of months,” Upendra recalls.
Going down the memory lane to the challenges he faced through the course of writing of the book, he muses, “every author faces numerous challenges. In my case, my family has been very supportive with the passion and since they are all well read, things became very easy. It did consume a lot of family time, but now I am making up for all of it.” The first in the number series, 31, will be followed by “60” and “8”. “All the books talk about modern Indian contemporary subjects, which I chose to write in the form of thrillers. 60 is also set in a corporate world, but this one has a more personal touch to it,” he reveals.
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