Home Authors Interviews Interview With Nipun Varma, Author Of ‘Adventures of an Indian Techie’

Interview With Nipun Varma, Author Of ‘Adventures of an Indian Techie’

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Interview With Nipun Varma, Author Of ‘Adventures of an Indian Techie’

About the author 
Nipun Varma is a wannabe writer masquerading as an IT professional for the past 16 years. An avid public speaker, movie fanatic, voracious reader, stand-up comedian, part-time actor and social worker; he is a classic case of ‘jack of all and master of none’. Known for his witty tongue and humorous writing, it’s no wonder that his debut book sounds just like him.

His short stories and essays have won numerous prizes in various creative writing competitions.

Nipun calls himself a ‘916 Mallu’ who hails from Vaikom- a town in the outskirts of Kottayam district in Kerala. He lives with his parents, wife Sumaja and two kids: Mythili and Aniket. 


Chit Chat Session

Tell us a little about yourself and your background

  • From 9 to 6, I am an IT professional working with UST Global, a leading digital solutions company
  • I am a public speaker and stand-up comedian during the weekends
  • A social worker, movie enthusiast and family man round the clock.

I have tried various other roles like that of a teacher, call center executive, HR professional and TV news reader during various stages of my life so far.

The title of your book “Adventures of an Indian Techie” is really intriguing. What is your view on the same and what is it all about?
This chronicles the journey of a 1-gram techie (the one who is in the world of technology just to earn a living and not because of his passion towards technology) or a ‘talk’-nologist who finds himself in tricky situations just because he has a techie tag attached to him. It’s a breezy read that explains how he escapes from these unforeseen situations unscathed using his skill to cook up stories at will.

What made you to turn a writer?
I have always been a voracious reader. Regardless of the genre, I try to read as much as possible. According to me, the desire to be a writer is a very common side-effect associated with anyone who is suffering from the reading-mania.

How much research and efforts were required on your part to complete this masterpiece.
Calling this a masterpiece is like calling me Salman Khan. This is just a humble attempt and the rest is to be determined by the reader’s community. About the research, not something done explicitly. Whatever I have seen and come across for the past 16 years in this industry can be called as the research material for this. About the effort, it took me more than one year to compile these thirteen chapters.

How do you manage writing along with your profession?
In life there are certain things that you want to do and the ones that you have to do. Profession is something that I have to be part of, to earn my roti and daal. So the regular daytime and most of the evenings are dedicated to my profession. The rest of evening for my family. Now for writing, nights are always young. Between sleep and writing, I would always choose the latter.

Which writers inspire you most?
As I said earlier, I try to read across genres. Let me list out the names genre-wise/work-wise.

  • Frederick Forsyth, Jeffrey Deaver (thrillers)
  • Stephen Leacock (humor)
  • Milan Kundera (love everything he has written)
  • Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger), Shashi Tharoor (The Great Indian Novel), Chetan Bhagat (the first three books), Twinkle Khanna (Mrs. Funnybones)

What according to you in unique about your book?
It’s an insider’s account of everything happening within an IT company- something that is hitherto unexplored. For techies, it’s as relatable as their daily chores, for non-techies, this gives a glimpse of the challenges, insecurities and fears faced by a normal techie.

How do you view the future of young authors in India?
Today, young authors have a lot of opportunities in connecting with the readers’ community. The advent of social media and the self-publishing revolution have opened up a whole new world. However, content still remains the king. Reaching the target audience through the right kind of marketing is as important as the content.

Before going ahead with the idea of a book, it’s important to ask ourselves the question on what is unique about the book. If we can answer that satisfactorily, then only we should go ahead. Today’s world is teeming with new books. If we plan to add one more to this sea of books, there should be a valid reason for doing so.

Would you like to share some writing tips with our audience?
According to me, there is no good time or place to write. Any time is good time and write whatever that pleases you. When you write, don’t edit, or even think twice, just let it flow and have it saved. Once done, take a break and come back to what you have written after one or two days. Read it as a reader and then based on your feelings, make the necessary edits. Do this exercise again and again till there are no more changes to be made. Then show/read it to your group of close friends and get their suggestions and feedback. Based on the responses, enhance the writing and get it to the next stage.

It’s almost like completing a software project. You develop the code, give it for testing, fix the bugs, then give it for business user testing, fix the bugs and finally send it for production.

The mantra is simple- Believe in yourself and just keep going.