Karan Bajaj

Karan Bajaj was born in India, where he was brought up in a family with military roots.{{cite web|url=http://newsletter.iimbaa.org/karan-bajaj-a-yogi-to-a-millionaire-in-a-rendezvous-with-rahul-singh/ |title=Karan Bajaj: A Yogi to a Millionaire in a rendezvous with Rahul Singh|publisher=LSquare}} He has a master's degree in Business Administration from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and a B.A diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.

In his early career, Bajaj worked for Procter & Gamble, The Boston Consulting Group{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spotlight/Karans-novel-captures-youth-angst-Ben-Rekhi/articleshow/4815036.cms |title=Karan's novel captures youth angst: Ben Rekhi |publisher=Times of India}} and Kraft Foods. In 2016, he moved to Mumbai as CEO of Discovery Networks, where he headed Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and Discovery Kids in South Asia. He left Discovery Networks in 2019.{{cite web | url = https://in.mashable.com/tech/10047/in-conversation-with-former-discovery-ceo-karan-bajaj-need-for-ai-ethics-machine-learning-as-a-skill | publisher = Mashable | title = In Conversation With Former Discovery CEO Karan Bajaj: Need For AI Ethics, Machine Learning As A Skill, And More| date = 2 January 2020 | accessdate = 29 May 2021}}

In 2018, Bajaj started WhiteHat Jr, an online educational company initially aimed at improving children's coding and math skills.{{cite web|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/business/whitehat-jr-adds-music-learning-to-platform-to-expand-offering-to-brazil-mexico-soon-1011912.html|title=WhiteHat Jr adds music learning to platform, to expand offering to Brazil, Mexico soon |date=23 July 2021 |publisher=Deccan Herald}}

In 2020, the firm was acquired for $300 million by BYJU'S{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/byjus-acquires-whitehat-jr-for-300-million/articleshow/77378559.cms|title=Byju's acquires WhiteHat Jr for $300 million |work= The Times of India}} and integrated into their coding teaching division. After the acquisition, he led Byju's International division, Byju's FutureSchool, launching programs in English, Spanish and Portuguese for the US, Brazil and Mexico students with new courses including music, English, fine arts and science.{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/07/indian-edtech-giant-byjus-to-expand-to-international-markets/|title=Indian edtech giant Byju's to expand to international markets |publisher=TechCrunch }} Bajaj left the company in August 2021.{{cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/whitehat-jr-founder-karan-bajaj-quits-a-year-after-acquisition-by-byjus/articleshow/85033048.cms|title=WhiteHat Jr founder Karan Bajaj quits a year after acquisition by Byju's |newspaper=The Economic Times}}{{cite news|url= https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/whitehat-jr-founder-karan-bajaj-moves-on-trupti-mukker-new-ceo-121080400468_1.html|title=WhiteHat Jr Founder Karan Bajaj moves on, Trupti Mukker new CEO |newspaper=Business Standard India |date=4 August 2021 |publisher=Business Standard }} Now Trupti Mukker the head of customer experience and delivery, will take over as CEO of White HatJr.{{Cite news|title=WhiteHat Jr founder Karan Bajaj quits a year after acquisition by Byju's|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/whitehat-jr-founder-karan-bajaj-quits-a-year-after-acquisition-by-byjus/articleshow/85033048.cms?from=mdr|access-date=2021-12-14}}

Bajaj is the author of several books.{{Cite book|last=Ruby|first=Nary|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1248747362|title=Contemporary authors|year=2017|oclc=1248747362}} Keep Off The Grass is Bajaj's debut book first published in 2008, about a psychedelic road trip of a 25-year-old Yale graduate through the length and breadth of India. The journey is made by a youngster protagonist named Samrat, born to immigrant parents in the U.S. who decides to go out in search of his roots. Along the way, Samrat is jailed for possession of marijuana, develops a drug addiction, meditates in the foothills of the Himalayas, has a one-night stand with a hippie in Dharamsala and meets flesh-eating Aghoree saints on the banks of Varanasi.{{cite news|last=Nair|first=Nandini|title=The grass green|url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/05/24/stories/2008052452061400.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822061449/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/05/24/stories/2008052452061400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 August 2008|accessdate=23 June 2012|date=2008-05-24|newspaper=The Hindu}}

Bajaj's second novel, Johnny Gone Down, is a thriller published by HarperCollins in 2010. The novel's narrative is focused on the "bizarre, almost surreal series of events that transform an MIT graduate into first a genocide survivor, then a Buddhist monk, a drug lord, a homeless accountant, a software mogul, and a deadly game fighter over a period of twenty years."{{cite web|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/80546/fast-paced-gripping.html |title=Fast-paced and gripping|date=10 July 2010|publisher=Deccan Herald}}

The Seeker, was a third book published by Penguin Random House in June 2015. The novel is about an investment banker in New York who embarks on a quest to become a yogi in the Himalayas. The plot was inspired by Bajaj's one-year sabbatical traveling from Europe to India, learning Hath yoga in an ashram in India, and practicing meditation in the Himalayas.{{cite web|url=https://www.thestatesman.com/supplements/write-well-before-your-pompous-promotions-82183.html|title=Write well before your pompous promotions |date=13 August 2015 |publisher=The Statesman }}{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/karan-bajaj/the-yoga-of-maxs-discontent/ |title= The Yoga of Max's Discontent |publisher=Kirkus Reviews}}

Bajaj's works have been noted and reviewed by various publications and literary critics, including Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly,{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59463-411-6|title=The Yoga of Max's Discontent |publisher=Publishers Weekly }} Chicago Tribune and Indiaplaza,{{cite web|url=http://blog.indiaplaza.com/2010/04/indiaplaza-editorial-review-johnny-gone.html|title=Indiaplaza Editorial Review: Johnny Gone Down by Karan Bajaj |publisher=Indiaplaza }} among others. His book "Keep off the Grass" reached the semi-finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and was on the shortlist of the Indiaplaza Golden Quill Book Awards in 2008.{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/the-yoga-of-maxs-discontent/|title=The Yoga of Max's Discontent |publisher=Literary Hub}}

Kevin Nance from the Chicago Tribune wrote on "The Yoga of Max's Discontent": "If being a Wall Street banker doesn't seem conducive to a life of stillness, solitude and meditation — if the concept of selflessness, in all its implications, seems foreign to the ethos of New York City — then the course of "The Yoga of Max's Discontent," by the Indian-American novelist Karan Bajaj, will seem natural, if not inevitable."

• {{cite book |title=Keep Off the Grass |date=2008 |isbn=978-9-350-29287-7|last1=Bajaj |first1=Karan |publisher=Harper Collins }} by HarperCollins{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1FLDQAAQBAJ|title=Keep Off The Grass |date=December 2013 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=9789350292877 }}
• {{cite book |title=Johnny Gone Down |date=2010 |isbn=978-9-350-29494-9|last1=Bajaj |first1=Karan |publisher=Harper Collins }} by HarperCollins{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ql6XECxdt0EC|title=Johnny Gone Down |date=13 April 2010 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=9789350294949 }}
• {{cite book |title=The Seeker |date=2015 |isbn=978-9-352-14037-4|last1=Bajaj |first1=Karan |publisher=Penguin Books Limited }} by Penguin Random House{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5mcCQAAQBAJ|title=The Seeker|date=15 June 2015|publisher=Penguin Random House |isbn=9789352140374}}
• {{cite book |title=The Yoga of Max's Discontent |date=2016 |isbn=978-0-698-19204-1|last1=Bajaj |first1=Karan |publisher=Penguin }} by Penguin Random House{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGVYCgAAQBAJ|title= The Yoga of Max's Discontent |date= 3 May 2016 |publisher=Penguin Random House|isbn= 9780698192041 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/yoga-maxs-discontent|title=The Yoga of Max's Discontent: A Novel |work=New York Journal of Books }}
• Translated into Czech as *Max a hledání vyšší pravdy{{cite book|url=https://www.knihydobrovsky.cz/kniha/joga-maxovy-nespokojenosti-26525507 |title=Max a hledání vyšší pravdy' |year=2017 |publisher=Edice Knihy Omega |isbn=9788073906368 }}

The copyrights for the Keep off the Grass screen adaptation were sold to Mosaic Media Group in 2009 with Ben Rekhi signed up as director. In 2017, Ronnie Screwvala and Ashi Dua were signed on as co-producers for the screen adaptation of Johnny Gone Down.{{cite web|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/ronnie-screwala-ashi-dua-to-make-a-film-on-karan-bajajs-book-johnny-gone-down/articleshow/61760925.cms |title=Ronnie Screwala, Ashi Dua to make a film on Karan Bajaj's book|publisher=The Mumbai Mirror}}

Karan has two daughters.{{cite web|url=https://www.mid-day.com/lifestyle/travel/article/Indian-origin-novelist-and-his-wife-s-soul-trip-around-the-world-16506195|title=Indian-origin novelist and his wife's soul trip around the world |publisher=Midday }}

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.karanbajaj.com/ Author's website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090204092359/http://www.naachgaana.com/2009/02/01/it-is-all-about-quality-content/ Film Interview]

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Category:Living people

Category:1979 births

Category:Boston Consulting Group people

Category:American novelists of Indian descent

Category:Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra alumni

Category:Indian Institute of Management Bangalore alumni

Category:American management consultants