Final book of Vineet Bajpai's Harappa trilogy launched

"Kashi: Secret of the Black Temple", the final book of Vineet Bajpai's Harappa trilogy, was launched here Friday.

The three books in the series combine mythology, history, fantasy, crime and the modern-day thriller element. The first two books are "Harappa: Curse of the Blood River" and "Pralay: The Great Deluge".

At the launch there was a discussion on how historical and mythological fiction is helping millennials and the modern generation rediscover their roots.

Neeta Gupta, publisher of Yatra Books, moderated the discussion among former Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia and the author.

Chawla said in contemporary times when the young Indians are busy consuming content via digital media, books have the potential to keep the diversity and richness of Indian heritage relevant.

According to Bhatia, books are an important medium through which India's rich culture and ideologies can be passed on to the youth.

Bajpai spoke about how literature and content have always been potent forces in shaping the fabric of the nation. He cited the examples of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's 16th century Bhakti movement and Swami Dayanand's Arya Samaj and how initiatives like these were powerful cultural revivalist movements.

He said authors of today need to shoulder a similar responsibility and take Indian culture, heritage and epics into the hands of the young reader in the form of books.

The three books have been brought out by Bajpai's self-publishing platform TreeShade Books.

Bajpai said that Audible, an Amazon company, has bought the audio rights of the Harappa series and one of the biggest production houses in the country has made an offer to buy its film or series rights too.

Bajpai is the founder and chairman of the Magnon Group, a digital and advertising agency.