West Windsor resident Pawan Jain, now retired from the business world, has started a new career writing historical fiction novels. His debut book, “The Wrong Turn,” set in Colonial India, is based on true stories about his wife’s great grandmother. ##M:[more]##
“Set in the turbulent days of the Indian Independence struggle against the British Raj, the book recreates the life in the colonial days, its limitations and prejudices, and the communal strife between the Hindus and the Muslims who lived as two separate societies living side by side with each other but with little or no interaction between the two,” says Jain. A booksigning will be held at B. Dalton in QuakerBridge Mall on Saturday, February 9, from 1 to 4 p.m.
Born in India, Jain translated a few non-fiction science-related books from English to Hindi before moving to the United States in 1968. He also wrote short stories for magazines and newspapers.
Jain has a master’s degree in physics from Allahabad University, in India; an MBA from Rutgers University, and a master’s in computer science from NJIT. He worked at Chase Manhattan Bank for 10 years before opening a one-man software company, the Dynamic Business Group. He closed the operation in 2002.
Since then he has devoted himself to writing full time. It took him close to two years to write his first novel and a longer time to publish it. His next novel, also with a historical background, is in the “structure phase right now.”
Jain, who has also been studying watercolor painting for four years with Barbara March at the West Windsor Senior Center, participated in the exhibition at the center last year.
He lived in West Windsor from 1986 to 1989, and again since 1996. His wife, Nirmal, a former programmer for Merrill Lynch, also retired several years ago.
Their son, Sandeep Jain, graduated from NJIT and is a marketing director for a metallurgical firm in Boston. Their daughter, Madhu Jain, received her medical degree from UMDNJ and her training as an internist and a specialist in rehabilitation medicine from Mt. Sinai and Johns Hopkins University hospitals. She is practicing at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center in Lawrenceville.
“The Wrong Turn” depicts “the moving love story of Chandrakala, a woman of the Gandhian Era who was born and grew up rich; dreamed of a prosperous life, but fell into hard times to struggle in an unfriendly world,” Jain says. “After moving back with her father to escape an unhappy marriage, Chandrakala loses her husband and son and must find the strength to face a society of cultural struggle and pride.”
The book is available through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com, and www.target.com. — Lynn Miller
Author Event, B. Dalton Booksellers, Quaker Bridge Mall, Lawrenceville, 609-799-8198. Pawan Jain, author of “The Wrong Turn,” a historical novel set in Colonial India, is the story of a woman who struggles against tradition. Jain lives in West Windsor. Saturday, February 9, 1 to 4 p.m.
