The late P Ramalingeshwara Rao was not only an electrical engineer by profession, but a great Sanskrit poet, whose works include Rukmini Kalyanam, Padmavathi Kalyanam and more. Well, clearly the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! His grandson, Ravirajaganesh P, who is a project engineer at Wipro, Pune has just written his debut novel, The Verdict. And naturally, he has been writing since a very young age.
What started off as small poems in Telugu, Hindi and English went on to become columns for KL University, Vijayawada’s college magazine. Today though, it's gone on to become a love story. "While most love stories concentrate only on what happens between the boy and the girl, my novel focuses on the people around them and the relationships the two share with them," explains the 23-year-old, asserting that the novel will find admirers among the college-going crowd. We're not surprised, after all, that's where he got his plot points from.
But Ravi was in for a rude shock when he realised that publishers demand huge amounts of money for publishing. "There is no faith in debut authors and publishing houses sometimes don't dare to take up such clients," he says. But Notion Press clicked and the book became a reality. Despite all deterrents, there is a reason he has held on to this dream though. Ravi believes that the first book will keep him from drifting away with professional commitments and keep him anchored in writing. "It will help me keep my enthusiasm for writing alive," he affirms. But there is another dream he nurtures, that of becoming a full-time writer. Well, he's just a few steps behind we reckon.