Extra-curricular writing is the favourite pastime of Bangalore-based Karun Divij Balachandar (16). On January 13, his debut 65-page novel The Teenager’s Guide to the Universe (Notion Press, Chennai) which explores the mysteries surrounding the cosmos, was released at the CIE (UK)-affiliated Trio World Academy, Bangalore where he is a class XI student. Renowned astronomer and director of Kolkata’s M.P. Birla Planetarium, Dr. Debiprasad Duari and former director of ISRO’s satellite communications programme, K. Narayanan, were the guests of honour.

The older child of Jayaraman Balachandar, a senior executive with Siemens AG, and food stylist mother Rupa, Karun unsurprisingly attributes his writing skills to “voracious reading”. “Huey, Dewey and Louce in Outer Space was my first introduction to the world of astronomy which over the years developed into a passion,” recalls Karun, who spent his formative years in the US making frequent visits to the Chabot Space Centre in Oakland, California and NASA, Florida in particular. 

A chance meeting three years ago with Dr. Duari during a family vacation in Kolkata was a defining moment for Karun. “Impressed with my knowledge of space and desire to educate youth about the universe, Dr. Duari suggested I write on the subject. My mentor and guide since then, he also made valuable suggestions after vetting the initial draft,” says Karun, who began writing his novel in 2013 which took four months to complete. The writer attributes his lucid narrative style to his mother and English teacher Richard Old.

Despite a tight schedule of preparing for his school-leaving class XII exam next year, Karun sets aside two hours everyday for general extra-curricular reading. “I don’t watch television like other kids but prefer to gather information from online sources and social media sites,” he says. Currently, he’s working on his second novel which “is an investigation into old myths worldwide”. 

About his future plans and career path Karun is keeping his options open. “I have shortlisted pediatric diagnostics, cosmology, philosophy and immunology as career options. But continuous writing and ideation is common to all of them,” he says.

Paromita Sengupta (Bangalore)