His no-frills visiting card proclaims but one of his dual work identities: Chetan Bhagat, vice-president, Strategic Investment Group, Deutsche Bank. That is not the reason why the financial whiz kid is currently in the news though. It is his real life alter ego that has hogged headlines. For while novelist, Chetan Bhagat's first offering, Five Point Someone - What Not To Do At IIT! (FPS) - a fresh take on his student years - had been a national best-seller and even got a thumbs-up from author, Amitav Ghosh for its easy style and mild irreverence, the global rights to his second creation have been sold by publishers, Rupa & Co, to Transworld for a phenomenal $250,000 plus. Interestingly, though One Night @ The Call Center (ON@TCC) received mixed reviews, the book sold an unprecedented two lakh copies in the first two months of its release late last year.

Born and brought up in New Delhi, the 32-year-old professional hails from a typical middle class Punjabi background. The Army Public School student later graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) and the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad). Bhagat now lives in Hong Kong with his wife, Anusha, a former IIM-A classmate, and his twin sons. One eye firmly on the often wildly fluctuating stock markets, he manages to take time off to follow his inner calling - writing.

In Mumbai on work, Bhagat emerges - suited and booted into the swanky lobby of a South Mumbai business hotel - a far cry, by his own admission, from the trousers and Tees he usually dons in the images that adorn the book covers of his creations. Making time early in the morning for a breakfast confabulation, the two-novel old wordsmith talks about the thrills of straddling two different worlds...

Unlike other contemporary Indian novels, neither of your books have any overtly Indian elements in it.
I don't do the typical literary stuff. There are many brilliant writers in that category anyway. I feel that modern India is interesting enough and frankly more relevant. My stories are usually about people and their inner conflicts - so what they wear and eat is less relevant than what they think and feel.

Who are your target readers?
Anyone who is Indian - young or young at heart. I address the youth - their concerns - because I have a connection with them. I am now a generation ahead but not that old that I cannot connect with them. After FPS and ON@TCC were published, the feedback I received showed that I have a power over them because I have found what drives them. They read my books and think I am cool. Young readers like what I say and the way I say it; their parents read my novels to find out what their kids like...or are like.

How Indian would you say you are?
A 100 per cent Indian! I was born and brought up in India - I can never lose my emotional connection with India. I will be returning to the country, perhaps, to Mumbai soon. My characters and situations though are not stereotypically Indian as those in novels aimed at Western audiences. They are essentially Indian in their thoughts and motivations.

Would you say your characters in FPS and ON@TCC are representative of the younger generation?
They are partially representative. Each youth is an individual and to that extent stereotyping them is not fair. However, my characters do represent some aspects of their life.

You were the editor of the hostel magazine at IIT. When did the writing bug bite you?
The writing bug put its tentacles deep inside me when I was in Class V. Our school was launching a students' magazine and no one was keen on contributing to it. Our class teacher forced us to submit an article. I gave a small joke and it soon came into print. Back then, there were no computers and seeing your name in print was a rare thrill.

Why fiction?
My writing came at a point in life where I had achieved what everyone around me had wanted me to achieve but there was still a gaping hole in my 'life satisfaction'. I decided to listen to my inner call and wrote. That inner call moment, in fact, became the climax moment for ON@TCC. Why I write fiction is because I love entertaining people.

The 'heroes' - Hari, Ryan and Alok - glory in their fivepoint identity. Do you endorse the view that points do not matter and that the system should be changed?
It is hard to say that points do not matter - if it was that clear, then there would be no story. However, I do think points matter less than what one might think. I have been fortunate to meet a lot of successful people across industries and while intelligence does help, high class scores have only helped people so far. Other factors like creativity, confidence and drive are also important.

How much of your life is in FPS?
The feelings in the book are quite true. The characters are based upon some of my friends there. I was a student, somewhat like Hari. There are some fictional liberties taken for the sake of drama, but Indian readers pardon you for that as long as it is for the sake of a good story.

Do the relationships between Hari and Neha and Shyam and Priyanka also reflect your personal experiences?
Yes, my relationship with the female species has always been a source of immense wonder for me. There was a Neha and yes, there was a Priyanka.

Where did you glean the details for ON@TCC?
For ON@TCC I relied on my cousins, many of whom work in call centres. Without them, there would be no book. I initially toyed with the idea of meeting the management of a call centre but that would not have worked. My cousins sneaked me into their workplaces, saying that I was joining but that my ID was not ready.

An external factor, God, is the cathartic element in ON@TCC? What made you bring in God?
I would say I am more spiritual than religious. I have had some fantastical events happen to me, so it is hard not to turn that way. I have always been drawn to God as a means of achieving mental peace. Through my writing I want to gain a better understanding. Of all the 40,000 books in Crossword, why did God choose my book to be selling the most for so long - that is pretty fantastical to me!

Your youth are complex human beings driven by their dreams, anxieties and despairs. Are you consciously focussing on the bleaker aspects of the younger generation?
I am trying to present well rounded characters. Each of us has the bleaker elements which is why I asked the question at the start of ON@TCC. Today, the youth may not be ritualistic; they may hang out in cafes and indulge in hookahs but there is more to them than what meets the eye. They are India's only hope. Grown-ups have made a mess of the country.

The language, the settings make the novels contemporary and relevant. Any possibility of turning them into films?
We have signed movie deals for both the books. ON@TCC will be made by film-maker, Rohan Sippy and FPS also has a prominent production house (to be disclosed in due course). Both stories have high entertainment quotient so will work well as movies.

What next? A book on investment bankers?
No, not on banking or bankers yet. I am not revealing my topic yet as I love to keep the suspense.

You write to....
Entertain and change the world. Writing to me is my offering to God and my readers.