<p>A day before addressing young executives at a famous consulting firm in Gurgaon, Parul A Mittal, author of Arranged Love, had received 75 responses on the topic – ‘the perfect soulmate’ – over emails from the employees of the firm. At the book-reading session which was held the following day, she gifted a few self-signed books to the ones who gave most interesting responses. <br /><br /></p>.<p>It was not a one-off session but a part of half a dozen interactive workshops in past one month at Gurgaon-based-offices of MNCs including Hughes, Aricent, iYogi, Serco and Deloitte. Parul like several other authors of chic-lit romantic fictions has addressed a number of prospective readers to garner interest among the 20-something employees of IT companies and consulting firms.<br /><br />“I will attend 10 similar sessions in the coming weeks as I have got an overwhelming response at the corporates,” says Parul.<br /><br />Gunjan Veda, author of Beautiful Country, believes that such workshops help readers connect with the author and also introduces himself/herself with the youngsters who would not otherwise hear about the book. “Young readers don’t have the time to browse a book store every week or 10 days as a lot of new books are launched frequently,” says Gunjan. <br /><br />Corporate executives, however, find these workshops ‘rejuvenating’ and a creative break from mind-numbing working hours. “It gives our computer engineers a chance to come out of their virtual worlds. We had invited Chetan Bhagat also to hold a talk with our employees after one of his books released,” says Prashant Upadhyaya, director technology, Aricent.<br /><br />On the face of it, there doesn’t appear any similarity between book-reading and making computer programmes, however, Upadhyaya begs to differ.<br /><br />He says, “Just like in writing fiction, we make a part of the computer program, move forward to come back later to finish the segment we left unfinished earlier.”<br /><br />These sessions also help inject a dose of motivation in the young executives. “Most of these authors have something inspirational to share about their lives which helps boost the morale of our workforce,” says Upadhyaya.<br /><br />Manshu Singh, human resource head of iyogi – a technical support company – says, “though only a few people turn up at such events but this helps fulfill passion of those who are voracious readers. Ekta Kalra, an engineer from Hughes Systique calls these sessions a happy break from monotony.</p>
<p>A day before addressing young executives at a famous consulting firm in Gurgaon, Parul A Mittal, author of Arranged Love, had received 75 responses on the topic – ‘the perfect soulmate’ – over emails from the employees of the firm. At the book-reading session which was held the following day, she gifted a few self-signed books to the ones who gave most interesting responses. <br /><br /></p>.<p>It was not a one-off session but a part of half a dozen interactive workshops in past one month at Gurgaon-based-offices of MNCs including Hughes, Aricent, iYogi, Serco and Deloitte. Parul like several other authors of chic-lit romantic fictions has addressed a number of prospective readers to garner interest among the 20-something employees of IT companies and consulting firms.<br /><br />“I will attend 10 similar sessions in the coming weeks as I have got an overwhelming response at the corporates,” says Parul.<br /><br />Gunjan Veda, author of Beautiful Country, believes that such workshops help readers connect with the author and also introduces himself/herself with the youngsters who would not otherwise hear about the book. “Young readers don’t have the time to browse a book store every week or 10 days as a lot of new books are launched frequently,” says Gunjan. <br /><br />Corporate executives, however, find these workshops ‘rejuvenating’ and a creative break from mind-numbing working hours. “It gives our computer engineers a chance to come out of their virtual worlds. We had invited Chetan Bhagat also to hold a talk with our employees after one of his books released,” says Prashant Upadhyaya, director technology, Aricent.<br /><br />On the face of it, there doesn’t appear any similarity between book-reading and making computer programmes, however, Upadhyaya begs to differ.<br /><br />He says, “Just like in writing fiction, we make a part of the computer program, move forward to come back later to finish the segment we left unfinished earlier.”<br /><br />These sessions also help inject a dose of motivation in the young executives. “Most of these authors have something inspirational to share about their lives which helps boost the morale of our workforce,” says Upadhyaya.<br /><br />Manshu Singh, human resource head of iyogi – a technical support company – says, “though only a few people turn up at such events but this helps fulfill passion of those who are voracious readers. Ekta Kalra, an engineer from Hughes Systique calls these sessions a happy break from monotony.</p>
