Amidst the surge of social media, here is a refreshing story of a man encouraging youngsters to read and write books. Introducing Ajit Menon – Author, Philanthrope, and a unique Nation builder in his own right. Ajit Menon has contributed at CXO levels in over five Industries in the last three decades. He worked in very senior leadership roles both in Operations and the functional departments before deciding that he had had enough of his cushy corporate job and decided to follow his passion for writing.
Today, author Ajit Menon is rated in the ‘Top 12 inspiring writers of 2023’.
Ajit grew up listening to stories from his father, who is a retired intelligence officer. Inspired by the stories he had heard while growing up, he now classifies his books under the ‘Real Reel Book’ category as the stories he writes are inspired by ‘real’ life incidents, and his book’s narration feels like watching a ‘film reel’. His new book, ‘The Panther’s Ghost – The Beginning’ published by Bloomsbury India, is a best seller in the Indian Spy genre. Rated as the ‘Top -15 must-read books’ for 2023, the book is inspired by real-life incidences of Indian covert operatives who proactively execute false flag missions in enemy states following India’s new Defensive Offence doctrine.
The Panthers Ghosts, a six–part spy series, is dedicated to the unsung heroes of India who follow India’s new doctrine of ‘Defensive Offence’ and dedicate their lives to the nation. Being covert operatives, they never get recognized or heard of by the citizens of India. Hence Ajit has chosen to bring these people to life by giving them names.
Ajit’s thrillers take you on an absolute roller coaster ride through different countries, situations, and scenes even as they unveil one mystery after another but never let you know the end unless you reach the end.
Though his stories are well-researched, the beauty of his books is that they are dramatised & fictionalised to ensure the unsung heroes get the larger-than-life status they deserve.
The Governor of West Bengal, Dr CV Ananda Bose, launched Ajit’s first book in the Panther’s Ghosts series and was so impressed with the plot, pace and narration that he decided to write the Foreword for his second book, Panthers Ghost – The Puppeteer” which he has co-authored with the author, Lyricist and Screenplay writer Anil Verma.
Ajit’s books take the spy verse genre to another level where much realism is blended with fiction. His books have all the ingredients of a potboiler: suspense, drama, action, and an underlying feeling of patriotism, which the readers have much appreciated. Even mainstream media took notice of his unique style of writing. TOI Gurgaon and The Bombay Times featured him as an author who churns out spy thrillers with a ‘real–reel’ punch.
A true nationalist, Ajit is now into nation-building in his own way. With a vision to make India the Literary Hub of the world, Ajit is encouraging more Indians to start writing. He recently launched the first-of-its-kind story writing contest with ‘The Stories People’ at a pan India level called the ‘Write Street Project’, where they invited short ‘Spy thriller’ stories from budding writers. The top ten best writers will be rewarded Rs 25000 each and their stories published, thus recognising them as authors.
“In the next ten years, with 3 crore writers, India should become the literary hub of the world and generate the largest amount of content for storytelling and movies across the world.” Says Ajit
Ajit Menon is also a Philanthrope who, his wife Geetha and Daughter Anushka, run an NGO called Anugraha Foundation, which funds homes for abandoned and destitute senior citizens. He dedicates all the earnings from his books to this foundation. Ajit and his family live in Gurgaon.
The contract he has signed with West Land Publishing is such that he has to deliver a story every year for the next five years, which means we can expect a new racy spy thriller from him every year till 2030. All his books are available on Amazon.