Author Amish Tripathi reveals how his book changed his life and how he's now a hardcore Shiva bhakt

'I was an atheist'

When author Amish Tripathi had an idea about eight years back — a theory to be more specific — to write a book on Gods, his family asked him to pen down his thoughts. What followed was a 'pure philosophical thesis' and his family tagged it 'boring' and a 'cure for insomnia'. But if Amish had sulked and stopped then, his book The Immortals of Meluha wouldn't have been an overnight literary sensation and his latest offering, The Secret of the Nagas, would have remained just another idea. The MBA author, who self-published his book, says, "Every single publisher rejected my manuscript. I stopped counting after 20. All of them told me that book had no chance of success; it wasn't a chick lit or a self-help book. They said it had no sex scenes, no romance and that I was trying to alienate every single segment of readers. Then I got an agent." Amish took up the marketing himself through social media. As a kid, Amish used to write poetry, but confesses that they were really "pathetic". "I was a sports guy in school. I had no creative bone in my body. I bought many self-help books, which suggested the three-act structure to write a book. I made a plan on Excel sheet, made character sketches. It didn't help at all, boss! Then my wife told me I was being my corporate self and asked me to stop controlling my story. My story eventually started flowing after I took the advice." Now with a new publisher, Amish is gearing up for another chartbuster fiction. "I've tried to keep away from gyan patti. That doesn't work. It is fundamentally about philosophies that I wanted to convey, but not in a serious manner." A turning point in his life is that he's now a hardcore Shiva bhakt. He admits that he has idols of Gods across all religions at home. "I was an atheist. I used to swing between being an agnostic and an extreme atheist. But I was always surrounded by a religious but liberal family. My grandfather was a pundit," Amish recalls, adding, "I'm a devoted Shiva bhakt now, I wear an Om Namah Shiva kada, a rudraksh mala, chant the Mahamrityunjay jap, visit a Shiva temple every Monday. And I'm much a calmer person today. Now that I look back, I'm sure my team must have hated me during my corporate days!"