Unearthing forgotten historical voices

According to historians, one or a few people 'controlled' an era, and were central characters of the entire epoch. But look around us today, we see that it is simply not true. There are several, several people who play a part in events, most of whom are left behind by historians, who build their entire narrative around one or a few characters (typically, a ruler and his closest aides). The less knowledge we have of an epoch, the more we construct theories of that epoch which we know to be practically impossible in the present day. "It could not have happened thus, something here doesn't fit", we say to ourselves, but we leave it at that, without exploring further, and busting the myths propounded by historians.

From a trading desk to a published novelist

Shankar Narayanan worked at Deutsche Bank (Europe's largest bank) on the credit trading desk. In trading, he observed that nothing was streamlined and gradual, there were ups and downs in the market every single day. Surely it is the same in politics too, and must have been the same in the entire rundown of history till the present, with a huge number of twists and turns? On quitting his job in trading, he set out with a mission to bring historical lessons to light, on how to weather those storms that are ever brewing amidst human society. He had to go no further than his own country of Bharat (India), one of the world's oldest civilizations, to unearth all he needed. Field trips to preserved landmarks, abandoned harbors, and ancient alleys ensure that every scene in his novel carries the genuine scent of events as they happened, from the deepest of sorrows to the highest of joys, to the calm stillness of the spiritual state.

About the author

Shankar Narayanan graduated from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in 2017, with a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering. He spent his four years at IIT doing nothing related to engineering, but immersed in cultural activities, the Quiz Club and reading novels from morning to night.