From a PhD in Chemical Engineering in South Carolina, to bioinformatics research in Singapore, teaching at Keio University in Japan, building an analytics startup, and now running Mysore Polymers and Rubber Products (yes, our rubber bellows fly on every PSLV and GSLV launch!) — it has been a winding road. Through all of it, one passion has stayed constant: India's past, and the stories that never made it into our school textbooks. Why don't more of us know about Lachit Borphukan at Saraighat, Marthanda Varma at Colachel, or the Chola navy's voyages across Southeast Asia? That question has led to five books in six years — The Battle of Vathapi trilogy, Daughter of Two Rivers, and now Mahakshana: Moments That Shaped the Mahabharata, which pauses at the defining moments when choices were made and destinies changed forever. In the interview, I talk about how Amish's Meluha trilogy first pushed me to write, the history teacher who made us copy Ashoka's inscription in the original script, and how I manage 10,000 words a week alongside a day job. Thank you, Vikram Sharma, for a wonderful conversation.
