The Tales Pensieve

It is Engineer’s Day today – 15th September – and we asked our buzzing community of book lovers to tell us about their favourite Engineer turn writers. Presenting to you India’s 10 most favourite engineers who found their calling in spinning stories:

Durjoy Dutta

A mechanical engineer from the Delhi Technological University, he is a novelist, screenwriter and entrepreneur. He has written four shows, Sadda Haq – My Life, My Choice, Million Dollar Girl – From Banaras to Paris on Channel V India, Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi on Sony TV and Ek Veer Ki Ardaas…Veera on Star Plus. He has authored 13 novels and 2 short stories books will date and is one of the top best selling romance writers in the country. He is also a regular at TEDx talks.

Chetan Bhagat

The man who changed modern India’s reading habits…The man who got Indian youth reading again…Chetan Bhagat has much more to his credit. A mechanical engineer from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, he is an author, columnist, screenwriter, television personality and motivational speaker. He has authored 9 novels till date and remains as quoted by The New York Times “the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history”.

Anand Neelakantan

An engineer from Government Engineering College, Trichur, he is a an author and a screenplay writer. His debut novel – Asura was a surprise bestseller on 2012 and with that Anand created a new genre for himself in Indian writing. The genre of counter narration of mythology. He has authored 3 novels till date and also 4 television TV series – Siya Ke Ram on Star TV, Ashoka on Colours, Hanuman and Adalat 2 on Sony television. He also draws cartoons and writes short stories for Malayalam publications.

Ravinder Singh

A computer science engineer from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College in Karnataka, he has authored 7 novels till date. A national bestselling romance author Ravinder adapted his real life love story into his first book – I Too Had A Love Story – and thereafter he has written 6 more varying angles of love. He is a romance writer and a much loved one. No wonder The Tales Pensieve community readers have voted him as one their favourite engineer wordsmiths.

Sudha Murthy

A M.E. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science, Sudha Murthy is a prolific Kannada and English writer and a social activist. She has authored 16 books in Kannada and 15 books in English. A story written by her has been adapted into a movie in Marathi and another story – Dollar Bahu – was adapted into a TV series. She is also the founder & chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and a member of public health care initiatives of the Gates Foundation. Murthy’s stories smell of the earth that she talks of & she remains one of India’s favourite writers to look for stories with a moral.

Sharath Komarraju

Bangalore based ex-software engineer and now full time writer, Sharath Komarraju has authored 16 books till date in various genres. While most of his books talk of a tightly woven thriller plot, he has also forayed into mythology from a female protagonist point-of-view as well as into non-fiction. He also hosts a writers meet up in Bangalore called – Write Club. Many of his stories are based in rural Karnataka and give the reader’s a glimpse of life at the root levels. He remains one of the sought after, not over hyped fiction writers of India.

Rasana Atreya

A M.S. in Computer engineering from Marquette University, US, Rasana is a true ambassador of self publishing in India. All her 4 works till date have been self published; she even declined a traditional publishing contract in order to self-publish. While her first three novels talk about woman-centric issues, with her latest she has ventured into the thriller genre. She is also the India ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors. She founded The India Readathon, a platform which aims to introduce readers to self-published books (ebooks and audio) set in the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal and Maldives).

Sudeep Nagarkar
An Electronics Engineer from Datta Meghe College of Engineering, Mumbai, Sudeep is a best selling romance writer. He has 7 published novels under his name, till date. He too wrote his first 2 novels based on his own life. He is also a motivational speaker and has written scripts for a few Marathi television series. His first book is soon slated to be adapted into a Marathi feature film. He was also nominated for the list of “Top 100 influential celebrities of India of 2014” by Forbes India.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

An Aerospace engineer, from  Madras Institute of Technology, and a scientist, Dr. APJ was Indian’s favourite President apart form being a prolific writer. He wrote 18 books, much of which are aimed at inspiring India and they firmly serve the purpose. He is known for his inspirational life and equally inspirational words. Dr. Kalam remains one of India’s favourite engineer turned writers, much more now when all that remains are his words.

Harsh Snehanshu

An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Harsh is a bestselling Author, Pan-India Solo Traveller, TEDx Speaker and Mobile Entrepreneur. He founded Flatabout and co-founded MyFootPrint, WhereAbout. Author of 5 books till date, Harsh is also a prolific freelance writer, having been published in The Caravan, The Hindu, Tehelka among others. He is also a Young India Fellow – a prestigious one-year fellowship in the liberal arts.