KEEP OFF THE GRASS by Bajaj, Karan

Keep Off The Grass covers the story of a 25 year old Yale valedictorian who chooses marijuana over a million dollars, and traces his story from there.

Summary Of The Book

Keep Off The Grass is about a brilliant 25 year old Non Resident Indian (NRI), who is stuck with an identity crisis. A Yale graduate who makes half a million every year as an investment banker at Wall Street, Samrat Ratan chooses to return to India to discover his roots,happiness, and everything else that seems elusive.

His quest in his homeland starts with one of the most popular business schools in India, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Bangalore. Contrary to the person he was before he enrolled himself into IIM-Bangalore, his grades and self-esteem fall as he gets high on marijuana frequently. His life becomes nothing less than a roller-coaster ride thereon.

Samrat remains perpetually stoned and experiences bizarre adventures, including sharing a smoke with and being almost consumed by flesh-eating Aghori saints on the banks of the river Ganges in Benares, meditating on the foothills of the mighty Himalayas, and indulging in a one-night stand with a Danish hippie in Dharamshala.

This hilarious and introspective debut novel by Karan Bajaj traces Samrat’s journey and keeps the readers intrigued till the very end.

Keep Off The Grass was a semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and was also nominated for the Indiaplaza Golden Quill Award.The film rights of the book have been sold to Mosaic Media Group, and Ben Rekhi has been signed up as the director for it.

About Karan Bajaj

Born in 1979, Karan Bajaj is an Indian American author whose debut novel Keep Off The Grass (2008) became a bestseller. His travel adventures have greatly motivated him to write.

Following the success of his debut novel, his second novel titled Johnny Gone Down came out in the year 2010. Both his books have together sold over two lakh copies in India itself.

After completing his engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, in 2000, Bajaj went on to graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore in 2002. He has worked as a Brand Manager for Procter & Gamble, and as a Management Consultant for Boston Consulting Group. He is presently a Brand Manager with Kraft Foods, New York and continues to write as well. He has been given awards for his professional endeavours too.