Mangaluru Techie is a budding novelist now.

Mangaluru Techie is a budding novelist now.

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Dec 30, 2015: Shashank Uppalike, a graduate in Electronics and Communication and an employee at ITC Infotech, Bengaluru, has come up with his first novel ‘24’, with a distinctive style of narration.

Shashank, who spoke to media said that the name of the novel refers to the 24 hours in a day and also the 24 narratives that appear in the novel. “The situations that appear in the novel are inspired from real life, where many  perspectives play a crucial role in holding one responsible for a crime,” explained Shashank, and added that he has mainly taken into account the various mindsets that are involved with communal riots, murders, ragging and other acts of crime. A total of 18 characters speak and defend themselves in their own perspectives, he said.

“The story progresses in a chronological order as other characters analyse the situations from their own viewpoints. There may be instances where people become judgemental regarding the wrongdoings of others. If, however, the same person tries to place himself in the others’ shoes, he would understand what the other persons have gone through.

That is what I have tried to convey through the novel,” Shashank explained. The characterisation is based on persons from various backgrounds, such as students, police, politicians, labourers and shop vendors, he said.

“If we take a closer look at the incidents around us, we learn that they are all related to each other. Every person has a significant role to play in the society. But, something which is good for one community will be bad for another,” the writer reminded.

Shashank started writing the novel when he was in the second semester of his engineering studies at St Joseph’s Engineering College and it took nearly three years for him to complete the work.

Shashank’s native place is Kukke, while he was born in Mangaluru and was raised in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bengaluru.

He met people in many  places and had a keen sense of observation on the culture of the respective places, which gave a depth to his reasoning. He added that he had been nurturing a passion for reading and writing since his PU college days.   Apart from taking part in literary activities, he takes time out for hip-hop dancing, cartooning, anchoring and sports.

Shashank is the son of Kadaba Police Station Sub Inspector Umesh Uppalike. He said that his father was his first reader and critic, who helped him out in polishing his work. Meanwhile, he recalled the contribution of his friends Rahul A R and Nidhi B R, who did the editing of the novel.

The 375-page English novel ‘24’ was released during the valedictory function of the district-level police tournament at police grounds in Mangaluru on Tuesday. Benaka Publishers have published the book and it is the first English novel by the publisher too. The novel is also on Amazon online store.

IGP (Western Range) Amrith Paul, SP Dr S D Sharanappa and Commissioner of Police S Murugan were present.