Amitabh Satyam is from Sheohar, Bihar. Having studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur for 5 years, he moved to the United States of America to pursue an MBA in finance.
Amitabh has a work experience of ten years in financial services and fifteen years in Telecom. Having worked in the US for a number of years, he later shifted back to India and worked in various companies like Reliance Communications, MobiApps and Siemens.
Amitabh has also taught at the Ohio State University in Columbus, USA and Rider University in New Jersey, USA for four years. Having worked in various capacities and in various industries combined with the fact that he has lived in multiple cities like Mumbai, Bhagalpur, Bangalore, New Jersey and Columbus, Amitabh Satyam is passionate about a lot of things one of which is writing.
He has authored 2 books – The End of Romance and The Smart City Transformations.
His latest book, The End of Romance is a collection of thoughts on the increasing men-women conflict. The book talks about important issues like patriarchy and feminism, rights and privileges, abuse and content, and culture and laws that seem to have an impact on the matter at hand.
We at bookGeeks got a chance to interact with the author. Here’s what he has to say about his love for books and reading, his take on feminism and patriarchy and about his latest book.
| bookGeeks: | Tell us something about yourself. |
| Amitabh: | While I enjoy parties and a company of friends, I am essentially a loner. I like sitting in crowded markets, parks and airports, and enjoy observing people. Social science and psychology have been my interests since college. I love playing Squash and Golf. Going on vacations and eating at nice places with my daughters and watching movies are the most fun. I also love new gadgets and devices. |
| bookGeeks: | What inspired you to write the book, The End of Romance: Lessons in Patriarchy, Feminism, Rights and Privileges? |
| Amitabh: | During my young adulthood, I discovered that women started behaving differently than they did as children and gender-roles and behavioural patterns started bifurcating. While appreciating the concepts of sexual awareness, I realised the mindset relating to aspirations, desires, career, and success was dictated by cultural training they received rather than anything inherent genetic or natural. The subject of gender relations has always been a subject of my interest since then. Now, there is a new impetus to the subject driven by popular media and the feminist movement. This movement, while appearing to demand fairness has essentially turned into a demand for reparations. Man, as a gender, in general, are vilified, assaulted and harassed. Innocent men are jailed merely by an accusation of a woman. In addition, the western view of gender relations finds no similarity in other cultures—Indian, other Asian and African cultures are widely different from Western and Middle Eastern cultures. The western form of feminist is not relevant in these cultures as gender relationships are different. |
| bookGeeks: | What are the key messages in your book, The End of Romance? |
| Amitabh: | There are several 1. The differences between men and women relate primarily to the reproductive process. Many societies fraudulently extend the gender differences to emotional and intellectual levels. These differences are also used to subjugate women in those societies. 2. Driven by the feminist movements, it is acceptable and even desirable to hurt and humiliate men. 3. Men are vilified in the name of patriarchy whereas patriarchy has been a considerable responsibility for men. 4. Feminism has become physically and verbally violent. Men are withdrawing relationships. 5. Using fraudulent data, many foreign cultures have been denigrating Indian cultures and Indian men. Many laws against men have been made, practically taking fundamental human rights away from men if they get into a conflict with a woman. 6. The demand for privileges and entitlements in the name of gender is not sustainable. |
| bookGeeks: | Tell us something about the other books that you have written. |
| Amitabh: | The Smart City Transformation was the first book based on my profession, also by Bloomsbury. It is now a global bestseller. This book establishes a comprehensive framework with the needed definitions, concepts, strategies, approaches and technologies to develop and manage a greenfield or brownfield Smart city. |
| bookGeeks: | Your professional journey has been quite an inspirational one. How difficult it has been to balance an illustrious career such as yours along with writing? |
| Amitabh: | I believe that career and thinking on social topics are not conflicting skills. Though, most successful executives need not be articulate in the fields other than theirs. A book requires thousands of hours of effort, and therefore the challenge is the focus and commitment to commit the time. I took time away from my regular profession put together the books. |
| bookGeeks: | Do you read often? What are some of the books that have inspired you along the way? |
| Amitabh: | I am not an avid reader. I find non-fiction books are too long and most of them do not have a specific message. So, I get restless. I like reading fiction but have read only eight or nine books in my life. These include four books of Dan Brown and one The Godfather. |
| bookGeeks: | Who is your biggest critic and why? |
| Amitabh: | For The End of Romance, I am receiving criticism from several women who believe that the book supports men and therefore it must be against women. The world is so polarized today that it is becoming harder to have a logical and factual conversation without being branded. I have indeed brought perspectives that are usually not discussed openly. I love to present my thoughts to my friends to refine them and get alternate perspectives. I enjoy these discussions. |
| bookGeeks: | Where do you see yourself as an author ten years from now? |
| Amitabh: | I have several projects planned. In the next ten years, you would find several books on social topics, business management and a couple of technology. |
| bookGeeks: | What are your other interests apart from writing? |
| Amitabh: | Mostly sports and visiting new cultures. I keep on top of developments in my core profession relating to technology. In my university in the USA, I used to be President of the Students Association and of Squash Club. I loved teaching as well and used to encourage my students to seek me out well beyond the scheduled hours. |
| bookGeeks: | Any other writing projects that you are currently working on? |
| Amitabh: | I am completing a project relating to the class structure in India based on religion and language. |
| bookGeeks: | What’s your favourite quote from the book, The End of Romance? |
| Amitabh: | The following two: 1. Oppressive societies do not survive, whoever it may benefit at the moment. 2. The aspirations, the sense of self-worth, and the desire to succeed, to be independent, to be liked or to look good are the same in both men and women. |
Visit amitabhsatyam.com for more details.