Nikhil Arya's journey

Life has its own ups and downs, but what if one has to face only the downs and whenever he finds a small ladder to move ahead in life, to get over from the lows, he is bitten by a snake and finds himself down and out, behind where he started last time!

This is the story of the main protagonist in Karan Bajaj's 'Johnny Gone Down'.
Bajaj's book is in a way, a handy manual on how to survive through crisis,again and again but never be down and out.
An above average Indian kid, manages to crack through MIT and sees it as an opportunity to escape the country he has no good memories in, where he lost his parents at a tender age. In MIT, he sticks with his childhood friend Sam, who persuades him to a Cambodia trip in the midst of an ongoing civil war and ends up protecting his friend at perhaps the cost of his own life!
Two years in captivity later, which cost him his right hand, he is rescued by a buddhist monk in whose words he finds solace and decides to stick with him knowing that his NASA job won't be waiting for him anymore.
But some years down the line, he finds himself attracted to oppoite sexes more than nirvana and ends up in Rio, Brazil as the accountant of a local 'Donos'.
He fulfills all his wishes and even marries a supermodel, whom he once met in a flight but as is his fate, life takes a cruel turn and he has to run away, leaving everything and his wife and son behind!
Next stop, Minnesota, US, where he finds a friend and mentor in another MIT graduate not making very big and helps him make big, but again fails to continue and this time ends up in India, the country of his birth, after more than twenty years!
Here things start turning his way, slowly and eventually he manages to find everything back, his friends Sam, Marco and Phillip and his wife and son.

For someone down and out, this is a perfect guide, how not to write off life and love, how valuable true friends are and how to keep the spirit of life alive!
Bajaj, in many ways has written a masterpiece which so many authors have tried and failed before(Read The monk who.. and You can win). His book is a perfect description of what are the capabilites of an travelling nomad, who is a non-achiever which a office going cubicle honcho can't.
Kudos to Karan, i loved his book and i am sure most people will, atleast it is much better than this blog, believe me!