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Interview with G B Prabhat


He is a veteran of the Indian consulting and IT industry and is widely regarded as the pioneer of the offshore consulting revolution. He is the founder of Anantara Solutions Private Limited. Prabhat has an indefatigable passion for reading and writing fiction and poetry.

He is the author of three novels and his short stories have appeared in Asia Literary Review, The Hindu, and The Indian Express. His debut Tamil poems collection, Engirundho Vandhavai, was published by Cre-A: in October 2020. He lives in Chennai with his family.


Q.1 When did you first realize you wanted to become an author?
A.
I wrote my first short story when I was five.

Q.2 Is there any book you’re currently reading?
A.
Yes. I am re-reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Q.3 When did you decide to write Maximum Person?
A.
The idea of Maximum Person struck me in February 2015 and I completed the book in early 2020.

Q.4 How many books have you written? Which one is your favorite?
A.
I have written 3 novels, Chains (2000), Eimona (2006), and Early Indications (2012). My book on competing in the new economy, The 3D Competitive Space: Managing in the New Economy, was published in 1997. Intimate Moments and Other Stories (2008) is a collection of my father’s Tamil short stories that I translated into English.

I am a bilingual writer. A collection of my Tamil poems, Engirundho Vandhavai (Of Unknown Origin) was published in 2020. Paraphrasing a famous painter, my favorite book is my next.

Q.5 What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
A.
Banter with my family, read, and walk.

Q.6 Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with good and bad ones?
A.
I believe I am possessed of the artistic temperament that if you put your work out, it becomes a matter of public review. I deal with the good and bad reviews with equanimity. Often there is something to learn from critical reviews. I ignore bad reviews that I am convinced have sprung from malicious intentions.

Q.7 What’s unique about your writing style?
A.
That’s for readers to say.

Q.8 As an individual, how much do you grow on a Max-P level? How was your life before you delved into this subject?
A.
When the idea of the Max-P was concretized in the form of a book, I realized that I had been unconsciously practicing many of the principles I have espoused therein. However, I remain far from perfect. The Max-P ideal is as much aspiration for me as it could be for the reader.

Q.9 What do you say are your strengths as a writer?
A.
Again, that’s for readers to say. I attempt syncretism of eclectic themes, write with spontaneity, and edit it many times for clarity.

Q.10 Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?
A.
I didn’t. Quoting Robertson Davies, the famous Canadian writer, I didn’t get the idea; the idea got me. The genre was determined by the book’s idea.

Q.11 What strategies do you use to proofread your work?
A.
Good old printing and correcting with a red ink pen.

Q.12 Do you believe in writer’s block? If yes, how do you deal with it?
A.
Yes, I do experience writer’s block occasionally. There are days when my output is copious and others when my output is poor. I realized that poor output is a result of a lack of clarity in what I want to state. I break the spell of writer’s block by spending more time contemplating what I want to say. Once that’s clear, my speed returns.

Q.13 What makes your book stand out from the crowd?
A.
The inversion of traditional learning. Usually, we learn from life and apply it in business. My book does the reverse. It urges you to learn from business and apply it to life to enrich it. 

Also for the first time, I believe, my book has proposed a comprehensive model of the Quality of Life (QoL) based on both subjective and objective factors. No other book that I know of also lists out exhaustive reforms to the institutions that are required to support an individual’s pursuit of a high QoL.

Q.14 What is your favorite book from other authors and why?
A.
The list would be endless. Works of Thi. Janakiraman, Thiruvalluvar, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Herman Hesse, R. K. Narayan, Adi Sankara, Richard Dawkins, Hegel

Q.15 What does the title, Maximum Person mean?
A.
Most people do not realize their complete potential for leading a high-quality life. “Maximum Person” simply means being the maximum person you can be.

Q.16 What would you share with folks who are skeptical of reading Non-Fiction?
A.
Non-fiction offers as much stimulation and edification as fiction does.

Q.17 Can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb?
A.
The book has an undercurrent of philosophy, both Oriental and Occidental.

Q.18 Where do you draw inspiration from?
A.
Casual utterances, writers who have gone before me, and nature.

Q.19 Is writing your full-time career? Or would you like it to be?
A.
Writing isn’t my full-time career. I need relief from writing too.

Q.20 Share the experience of your journey so far?
A.
Reviews both private and public until now have been exceedingly complimentary. Most reviewers have remarked on the simplicity, yet profundity, of the idea of the Max-P. The book’s message is both urgent and important and is for everybody.


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