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Ashok Kallarakkal

Goodreads Author

Born

Bangalore, India

Website

http://www.amazon.com/Ashok-Kallarakkal/e/B008Y...

Twitter

ashoktk

Genre

Short Stories

Influences

O. Henry, Saki, Jeffrey Archer, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, C R Omanakkuttan ...more

Member Since

October 2012

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How I came about to be like this...

I was born in a village in Kerala, close to the southern tip of India. This is the same area Christopher Columbus had set out to when he accidentally landed in America. This is just to prove the importance of my birthplace in the world going back hundreds of years. This is also one land where one of the apostles preached in person and Islam got introduced at prophet's time itself. Thus the land I grew up was the cradle of secularist and balanced thought. No wonder we call Kerala ' God's Own Country'.

I was born in a lower middle 'class' family. Infact, the land I grew up is so rich in 'class' consciousness that I need to explicitly display my 'class'. This came about because we sowed and reaped communism as How I came about to be like this...

I was born in a village in Kerala, close to the southern tip of India. This is the same area Christopher Columbus had set out to when he accidentally landed in America. This is just to prove the importance of my birthplace in the world going back hundreds of years. This is also one land where one of the apostles preached in person and Islam got introduced at prophet's time itself. Thus the land I grew up was the cradle of secularist and balanced thought. No wonder we call Kerala ' God's Own Country'.

I was born in a lower middle 'class' family. Infact, the land I grew up is so rich in 'class' consciousness that I need to explicitly display my 'class'. This came about because we sowed and reaped communism as well (along with rice) so much that we boast of the first elected communist rule anywhere in the world. (You can see reflection of my confused mind - having taken inputs from all these thoughts - in my writing as well. I absolve myself thus.)
In the setting I was born, the only path to a better life was education and I was initiated into and mentored for good education by my parents - My mother being a teacher and father working in the education field. They also ensured that I had the freedom to indulge in unbiased and critical thinking on all 'isms' and 'theologies' surrounded me.

I did have the urge to write during school days and had managed to publish a few science fiction stories in vernacular magazines like 'Sastra Keralam'. I even managed to win some short story competitions in my 12th grade days. But I soon corrected that aberration and concentrated on studying hard and getting a job.

I did my graduation in Electronics Engineering from one of the premium institutes in India - NIT Calicut. (Calicut was noteworthy even in the 15th century when Vasco Da Gamma went around the Cape of Good Hope to land there setting off a series of events which changed the history of India and the World). Immediately after completion of the degree, I joined an organization which made use of my limited learning from the university effectively for couple of years.

Before long, I left the field of electronics to pursue a doctoral program in Management in yet another premier institute in India - IIM Bangalore. Management Education also failed to affect my knowledge levels but it launched me into a career in Management in the software Industry. For a short while I thought I had arrived.

Such thoughts are always short lived. I instead of 'arriving', I had just started my journey from one organization to other without ofcourse gathering the 'proverbial moss' in my career. I have played roles of Project Manager, Product Manager, Pre-Sales Consultant, Delivery head, CTO, COO and so on as part of this, in various countries. It is in some of those customer facing roles - especially in proposal preparation - that I re-discovered my fiction writing skills.

Passion overtakes discretion at times in life...

In one such moment, I left my job at IBM in 2012 to write my first book - a collection of short stories named 'Curiosity Kills the KatHA' and the rest I guess is and will be history.

My wife Sandhya - my first critic - is a lawyer turned software professional turned housewife turned construction expert and my daughter Anjali - my stylist - is a third grader in Jnanasweekar Public school. We are all happily settled in Bangalore.

I am a good bathroom singer with interests in historical places in addition to creative writing. I am also a member of MENSA.
...more

17 posts
Ashok Kallarakkal's Blog

A Review of Palette of Love on Amazon.com by noted author Jayant Swamy

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Published on February 23, 2014 03:15

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Combine Editions
Ashok Kallarakkal’s books

Average rating: 3.76 · 95 ratings · 20 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Curiosity kills the KatHA 3.68 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Palette of Love 4.05 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Ashok Kallarakkal (?)

“If you do not see light at the end of the tunnel, consider it an opportunity to create an opening yourself, wherever you want.”
― Ashok Kallarakkal

tags: bottlenecks, break-free, breaking-rules, breakthrough, game-changing, initiative, inspirational-quotes, light, making-your-own-rules, marching, opposition, purpose, roadblocks, tunnel, victory, winning

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“Marriage is the union of two 'I's to form a 'V'. Both 'I's have to tilt equally to make a good 'V'. 'I's standing tall can never make a 'V'.”
― Ashok Kallarakkal