According to a self-introduction on his personal website, Mainak Dhar sells shampoos for a living in Singapore. The IIM-Ahmedabad alumni and son of former top sleuth Maloy Krishna Dhar, he seems to like making such classic understatements in a sort of wry sense of humour that seeps through his novel, The Funda of Mix-ology: What Bartending teaches that IIM doesn’t.

Dhar, in his early 30s, is a top executive in an MNC. But as he confesses, if he is a “cubicle dweller” by day, he turns into a writer by night. It is this trait that has resulted in several fiction and non-fiction books. But this latest book is somewhat closer to his heart as he tells the story woven around someone like him, who is an IIM alumni. Dhar speaks to Utpal Borpujari of Deccan Herald. Some excerpts...

Deccan Herald: The title seems like a protest against IIM’s education system.

Mainak Dhar: No. It is actually a protest against how people use the system. It is meant to be first a story that hopefully will engage people and then to be a bit of a wake-up call for people — telling them that there is so much more to life than academic and professional lives.

DH: What about the bartending business in the book?

Dhar: It is to highlight a couple of things. Firstly, the point I am trying to make is that the answers to some questions in life are not serious. They are already known to us but we don’t notice them as we get too busy. It has nothing to do with work or IIM.

Second, mixology or bartending was the immediate inspiration for the book. About three-and-a-half years ago, I was at home and was having a cocktail, when I thought that life is like a glass of cocktail that you have to mix up properly for good results.

A cocktail has many ingredients, just like life has — work, family, hobby, society. If you have only one of those, you won’t be happy, you need all of them.

DH: Is the protagonist a reflection of yourself, since he is also an IIM alumni?

Dhar: It is really fictional. The idea for the book came up as I was talking to a lot of classmates and friends, from whom I realised that a lot of people from our generation have similar issues — more work and no time for other things.
And, like every author, I also tapped into my own experiences as well. So, the final character in the book maybe a fraction of myself.

DH: This could have been a non-fiction work. Why did you take the fictional route?

Dhar: Inherently, I like fiction more, though I have written three non-fiction works earlier. This is not meant to be a serious book. This has an easy tonality and is a very easy read. My intention was not to do a big self-help book, who am I to do that?

DH: There have been quite a few books in recent times by IIT and IIM graduates. How to you see this trend?

Dhar: There are a couple of reasons for this. One is the business angle; the whole genre is campus literature, which has a market.
But the second and bigger reason is that a lot of these books are not about campus, nothing to do with IIT or IIM.
It is just that even if you are reasonably articulate and talented, you end up in the rat race and then realise that there are better things in life.
Also, in recent times, there is increasing acceptance in society of people expressing themselves, and that is why you are having more and more such books. It is a healthy trend that more people think there is more to life.

DH: Any feedback from fellow IIMians about the book?

Dhar: A few of my friends from a similar background have read it and a lot of them could instantly relate to it. A lot of time in our parents’ generation was spent in saving money to buy a house, for children’s education, etc, while in our generation, your material needs are fulfiled when you are in your 20s or in early 30s because of the economic opportunities.

So, you probably have a car and a house and start asking yourself, for what else I am working for. I think many young people today ask this question to themselves.
That is why I think many relate to books like this.