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The Exorcism Of Sathish Kumar: 1
Arjun Palani has been fired thrice in his brief career; is he going to be fired for a fourth time? That is the question in his mind as he walks into the offices of his company, which has been struggling ever since the CEO seems to have gone insane at a NASSCOM conference and then disappeared from public view. Instead of being fired, though, Arjun is assigned to a team of top managers that seems to be hiding a dark secret. Who is the man they are holding captive in the room on the top floor? Arjun discovers that, to keep his job, he has to fulfil duties his education degree didn t quite prepare him procure ganja, kidnap a girl descended from warrior chieftains, and confront the mercenaries of a private equity giant. A hilarious, dark satire, The Exorcism of Sathish Kumar, MBA is the story of an unlikely hero who accomplishes the most daunting of tasks, with courage and honesty.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2014
2 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Ramiah Ariya
2 books8 followersI am an author (now), hugely interested in politics; and use that as material for my writing. If making political ideas into fiction does not work, I just write plain, straight political opinion. It is much shorter that way. Much less painful.
I have written short stories in Tamil, from time to time, published in both print and online. Now writing in English too - primarily a mix of genres - fantasy/sci-fi/humor/thriller.
I hope to be an activist, so that all of this writing fiction and political opinion actually matters in real life.
I have written short stories in Tamil, from time to time, published in both print and online. Now writing in English too - primarily a mix of genres - fantasy/sci-fi/humor/thriller.
I hope to be an activist, so that all of this writing fiction and political opinion actually matters in real life.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 17, 2018
3.5 stars
The start was really good. The story lost its hook after half way.
Very different. Writing is neat. Plot should have been edited short. The whole Ahi was unnecessary.
Great experience.
The start was really good. The story lost its hook after half way.
Very different. Writing is neat. Plot should have been edited short. The whole Ahi was unnecessary.
Great experience.
April 27, 2016
It is difficult to categorise ‘The Exorcism of Satish Kumar MBA’ by Ramiah Ariya into any particular genre. The book starts off as typical corporate lad-lit fiction with a lowly software engineer trying to find out if he is next in the list of employees to be laid off, and swiftly picks up pace to metamorphose into a part satire, part science fiction and part paranormal thriller laced with office politics, international conspiracies, sorcerers with postgraduate degrees in neurology, mercenaries of a private equity giant, car chases along the traffic-clogged Chennai roads and a sequence of bizarre quests including a voyage into the underworld.
An unlikely protagonist, Arjun Palani is anything but a hero, even to his timid self. Having been fired three times previously, all he wants is to hold on to his job in BSD Technology which has started to lay off its employees in batches ever since the CEO disappeared. But when his friend Raj hacks into the company’s laying off list, Arjun is surprised to find that not only there are specific instructions not to terminate him, he has been singled out for the first time in his career for a special assignment.
The new project requires him to complete a series of strange tasks such as fetching cannabis and kidnapping a young woman descended from a warrior clan. Determined to keep his job, Arjun takes up one challenge after the other, noting that he is the only one to actually work while the management team members sit in a conference room and talk among themselves in worried tones, even as mysterious screams and crashing sounds issue forth periodically from the adjacent room which is kept locked. At some point, he realises that both he and the CEO were pawns in a game which itself was part of a much larger conspiracy linked to a software program that could affect the world, which then triggers his journey into the underworld and his adventures thereafter.
There are several things that I enjoyed about the book, most of all the humour which pervades almost every other page. Arjun Palani is a genuinely funny narrator. His philosophical reflections on life and the corporate world invoke laughter even as he goes through difficult and dangerous situations. There are several hilarious scenes such as the dosa shop for sad programmers where Arjun and his friends trick the rival company’s men into getting beaten up by worn out techies, Arjun’s crush on Malini and his jealousy when she prefers Raj over him and his description of the Technology Evangelist Muthiah’s motivational therapy classes.
The human bonding between programmers over technology comes out in the interaction between Raj, Legolas and Akram, which reminded me more than once of the geeks selflessly helping each other in Robin Sloan’s ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour bookstore’. Raj comes across as a true friend, who saves Arjun’s life through his technical skills. He was my favourite character in the novel. The book takes the reader on a tour through the city of Chennai before the action moves to Ahi, the other world. Most of the characters are sketched out in detail, and come alive, even the long dead warrior chieftain Vellaya Thevan.
The second part of the book is somewhat surreal and a few loose ends are left open – presumably to the reader’s imagination, though this does not take away anything from the story. There are several though-provoking lines within the lighthearted prose which allows the book to be read at various levels – as a fast-paced, humorous thriller or a satire which ruminates on unpalatable realities in the corporate world.
Note: Ramiah is my colleague and I have also enjoyed reading his Tamil short stories on his blog http://ramsrants.blogspot.in/. I look forward to read his next book.
An unlikely protagonist, Arjun Palani is anything but a hero, even to his timid self. Having been fired three times previously, all he wants is to hold on to his job in BSD Technology which has started to lay off its employees in batches ever since the CEO disappeared. But when his friend Raj hacks into the company’s laying off list, Arjun is surprised to find that not only there are specific instructions not to terminate him, he has been singled out for the first time in his career for a special assignment.
The new project requires him to complete a series of strange tasks such as fetching cannabis and kidnapping a young woman descended from a warrior clan. Determined to keep his job, Arjun takes up one challenge after the other, noting that he is the only one to actually work while the management team members sit in a conference room and talk among themselves in worried tones, even as mysterious screams and crashing sounds issue forth periodically from the adjacent room which is kept locked. At some point, he realises that both he and the CEO were pawns in a game which itself was part of a much larger conspiracy linked to a software program that could affect the world, which then triggers his journey into the underworld and his adventures thereafter.
There are several things that I enjoyed about the book, most of all the humour which pervades almost every other page. Arjun Palani is a genuinely funny narrator. His philosophical reflections on life and the corporate world invoke laughter even as he goes through difficult and dangerous situations. There are several hilarious scenes such as the dosa shop for sad programmers where Arjun and his friends trick the rival company’s men into getting beaten up by worn out techies, Arjun’s crush on Malini and his jealousy when she prefers Raj over him and his description of the Technology Evangelist Muthiah’s motivational therapy classes.
The human bonding between programmers over technology comes out in the interaction between Raj, Legolas and Akram, which reminded me more than once of the geeks selflessly helping each other in Robin Sloan’s ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour bookstore’. Raj comes across as a true friend, who saves Arjun’s life through his technical skills. He was my favourite character in the novel. The book takes the reader on a tour through the city of Chennai before the action moves to Ahi, the other world. Most of the characters are sketched out in detail, and come alive, even the long dead warrior chieftain Vellaya Thevan.
The second part of the book is somewhat surreal and a few loose ends are left open – presumably to the reader’s imagination, though this does not take away anything from the story. There are several though-provoking lines within the lighthearted prose which allows the book to be read at various levels – as a fast-paced, humorous thriller or a satire which ruminates on unpalatable realities in the corporate world.
Note: Ramiah is my colleague and I have also enjoyed reading his Tamil short stories on his blog http://ramsrants.blogspot.in/. I look forward to read his next book.
September 9, 2014
I completed this book in say less than 4 hours. Eventhough certain things in this book didnt make any sense you will never get bored. kind of funny actually.
February 1, 2015
Gripping idea but fizzles out after a while
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews