True to Life

Johnny Gone Down is the story of an ordinary man Nikhil,now Johnny,who sets off on a 20-year-old journey following a chance event during a vacation. Its theme is centred around success,comparing a stable but ordinary life to an interesting one with towering ups and abysmal lows. Bajaj,an alumnus of IIM-Bangalore,has travelled extensively since he graduated in 2002,visiting places in South and Central Asia,South and Central America,eastern and western Europe and the Indian subcontinent. The book draws on these experiences,as Bajaj describes the protagonist’s incredible journey from being a genocide survivor in Cambodia to a Buddhist monk in Thailand to a drug lord in Brazil to a Silicon valley millionaire. “At its core,the story is about the way the journey transforms him,” says Bajaj,in an email interview.

Bajaj says his writing is driven by the ideas that he wants to share. “I work the idea out in my head before I put pen to paper,” he says. Backpacking between jobs and travelling on a dime,Bajaj saw and heard anecdotes that were the stuff of fiction. Again,when he got caught in a violent protest in the Philippines,it made him aware of the fragility of life,how an unexpected incident could set off a chain of life-altering events. “Some of these impressions endured,like the Pol Pot genocide in Cambodia,the favelas of Brazil,evolution of Buddhism in South East Asia,drug mafia of Colombia and they found their way to the novel,” he says. Films too added an extra dimension to his research through the personal stories they narrated. “Having a visual sense helped me place my characters in a realistic environment,” he adds.

Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump remains Bajaj’s favourite adventure novel. It symbolises for him what he likes about the adventure genre,the act of an ordinary man being caught in a series of extraordinary situations and the way it changes the protagonist. “Emotionally,all novels are autobiographical,so in that sense,I deeply relate to the displacement,loss and failure that the protagonist experiences,as I can to the unconditional love and friendship that he receives,” he says.