I wrote three books while I was at the bank, when I met a French journalist friend and he said to me, ‘In all three books of yours, the relationship between the protagonist and the father is dysfunctional. Writing was my hobby, but I never thought that I could be a career writer. After completing an MBA in 1997, I worked first for Goldman Sachs and then Deutsche Bank, first, in Hong Kong, and the last one year in India, but left them to write full-time in 2009. That is when I decided to take on the challenge and got through, first, to IIT Delhi and subsequently, to IIM Ahmedabad, where I met my Tamilian wife Anusha. I went to the Army Public School and was not a particularly bright student and scored just 76% in Class X. Today, I make a living out of my jokes and storytelling. In typical Indian middle-class fashion, they tell you to forget about the jokes and focus on maths. I was always a curious kid, who was good at two things - maths and telling jokes. I am a Punjabi born and brought up in Delhi.

Excerpts: Talk about the idea of writing the book 2 States. Ahead of the release of his next book that is being made into a film, 2 States, he spoke to us about his turbulent relationship with his father, his love for his mother and what he loves about Tamilians. He is the only Indian author, whose every work has been made into a film. Being a popular artist, he also aspires to change things in his country. He is open and communicative and lives for his family. Chetan Bhagat, 39, loves taking on challenges, is grounded and is happy that he is able to straddle many worlds - be it writing, Bollywood or being a motivational speaker with equal ease.

Chetan bhagat marriage