Professor Shivaram was born in Trivandrum and was brought up in Mumbai by his parents Meena and Hariharan. He acquired his Bachelors' degree (B.Pharm) from the Bombay University and his Masters from the LM College of Pharmacy in Ahmedabad. Subsequently Shivaram moved over to the US and completed his Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of North Dakota. Thereafter he did his post doctoral part at the University of Arkansas in the USA. Prof Shivaram worked at Australia for some years before moving over to Coimbatore. He is currently offering his services as a teacher in the P.S.G College of Pharmacy. The Professor is an amazing singer who has over 200 songs of the famous Kishore Kumar by heart. He does not use the lyrics books while performing at private functions and he is popularly known as Sydney Kishore among the music lovers of the city and he makes it a point not to repeat the numbers rendered by him from concert to concert. This pseudonym given by the people has impelled him to take on the pen name Dr.Syd K. His better half Priya Iyer teaches Carnatic music and the couple live at Nanjundapuram with their school going child Harikrishna who recites by heart, both - The Sri Vishnu and Sri Lalitha Sahasranamams. Dr Syd K or Prof Shivaram has done four other books in the past and they are - Pride, E 2121, Bees - Hive of Short Stories, Rumble and now Semmanthaka the fifth which has been published by Zorba Books.
"Semmanthaka" is a fast paced work of fiction based on mythology. According to Shivaram, "The book got conceptualised by the end of 2013 and saw the release this year. I used the Srimad Bhagavatham as the reference for I was always fascinated by the story of the gem - Semmanthaka from my childhood. I had originally intended to do a version of the mythological incident but then I did a Second Quest for the first quest by Lord Krishna was too well known. The motivation was simply the first quest of Lord Krishna who went in search of the gem after being accused of having stolen it by the owner of the gem Satrajit. The Semmanthaka was a gem that was given by Lord Surya to Satrajit and it used to yield huge quantities of gold day after day. Lord Krishna wanted the gold to be used for the benefit of the denizens of Dwaraka but Satrajit thought otherwise. Meanwhile, Prasenajit the brother takes it while going on a hunt to the forests infested with lions and gets killed by one of them. Jambavan, the ancient bear who fought the war against Ravana along with Lord Rama kills the lion and the gem gets into the hands of his daughter Jambavati. Eventually Lord Krishna who was accused by Satrajit of having harboured evil intentions with regard to the gem goes to the forest in search of the gem only to discover that it was with Jambavathi. Lord Krishna seeks the gem but faces the anger of Jambavan and therefore gets into a fight with him and defeats him in the duel. Jambavan realises that both Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are the same and gives away his daughter to the Lord of Dwaraka who later returns the Semmanthaka to Satrajit. Eventually Satrajit offers his daughter Satyabhama to Lord Krishna and he graciously marries her. The Semmanthaka attracts the attention of Akrura, Kritavarma and Shatadhanwa who finish off Satrajit in order to take possession of the gold giving gem. Finally the truth comes out and Lord Krishna leaves it with Akrura. I have taken the threads from here and thereafter used my liberty as the author of a fictional work and taken the story forward."
Dr.Syd K the author has finely crafted the story and the plot thickens in a fast paced manner. One treasure hunter Stalin Malhotra appoints one Dr. Shiva Balan and Yogesh Yadav to look out for the Semmanthaka gem in Gujarat. The author begins the plot with the hunter Jaarra who shoots an arrow into Lord Krishna while he was relaxing with his flute at the dawn of Kali Yuga while the bickering Yadavas were being consumed by a large tsunami along with the historic city of Dwaraka. The hunter Jaarra feels bad that he has done terminal damage, but Lord Krishna says that it was pre ordained and asks him to take one half of his flute to a safe place and pass it over to his lineage and ask them to wait for the right moment while also getting the other half placed in a temple in Kutch. The hunter Jaarra incarnates as Satyavan Yadav who saves Chandragupta Maurya with the aid of the flute coupled with the recitation of the Mahamantra "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare". His second incarnation, Shambhu Yadav saves Chattrapathi Shivaji and the third incarnation Sridhar Yadav saves himself in the twentieth century while serving under Subhash Chandra Bose in the Indian National Army or the INA. Later on he becomes the Jaarra Baba who happens to be the protégé of the Himalayan Guruji who is none other than Subhash Chandra Bose aged over 100 years in this work of fiction. Its fascinating to observe that the author has made Akrura incarnate as Dr Shiva Baalan, Kritavarma incarnate as Yogesh Yadav and Shatadhanwa incarnate as the treasure hunter Stalin Malhotra. The author takes us through Kutch and gets us to see the wild asses of the place and gets us to move over from place to place in search of the Semmanthaka, the gold yielding gem. The two parts of Lord Krishna's flute are supposed to get together in the sacred spot which houses the fabulous gem and the same can be handled only by the chanting of the Mahamantra coupled with a pure heart which seeks the grace of the Lord. It was the Shatamanyu, the commander of Lord Krishna who had taken the distal part of the flute to Pataliputra and his descendants maintained both the secret and the flute for thousands of years.
The story revolves around the concept that huge fortunes should be put to public use and private possession of the sources that yield enormous wealth can cause harm to the extent that they may get labelled as unlucky. It is in this setting that the plot thickens due to avarice and finally the suspense is broken when the gem is discovered in a very sacred place known for its unlimited wealth in the form of gold, gemstones and also the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Narayana who is known by a thousand names as per the Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam shared by Grandsire Bheeshma to the Pandavas. The book reaches the climax with Dr Shiva Baalan chanting the Mahamantra "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare".
Prof Shivaram is happy to supplement further, "I had a number of positive experiences while writing this book and the proof reader Radhika felt the same way too. I was particular to keep the narrative free from passages which spoke about sex for it is important to make the work acceptable to one and all. The famous critic Vishnu Chevli has given a five star rating for Semmanthaka in Goodreads and so have a number of others. The principle of Saranagati to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna and the benefits of using large fortunes for public well being are elucidated in the book through the plot."
The multi faceted Prof Shivaram is also an expert in Vedic chanting and has a huge network of people who have assimilated it through him over the years. He took to martial arts post the age of 40 and has really done well with Kung Fu. The Indic Book Club is launching "SEMMANTHAKA" at Coimbatore on Saturday the 29th of July between 12 & 2 pm in the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts & Science for Women. Swathy Rohit, the Founder of Seeksia.com has consented to be the Chief Guest while Prof P.Kanakasabapathi will be the Special Guest as per the information shared by Dr.Pramod.
"SEMMANTHAKA" is sure to motivate many more Coimbatorean authors to bring out the best in them.
"Semmanthaka" is a fast paced work of fiction based on mythology. According to Shivaram, "The book got conceptualised by the end of 2013 and saw the release this year. I used the Srimad Bhagavatham as the reference for I was always fascinated by the story of the gem - Semmanthaka from my childhood. I had originally intended to do a version of the mythological incident but then I did a Second Quest for the first quest by Lord Krishna was too well known. The motivation was simply the first quest of Lord Krishna who went in search of the gem after being accused of having stolen it by the owner of the gem Satrajit. The Semmanthaka was a gem that was given by Lord Surya to Satrajit and it used to yield huge quantities of gold day after day. Lord Krishna wanted the gold to be used for the benefit of the denizens of Dwaraka but Satrajit thought otherwise. Meanwhile, Prasenajit the brother takes it while going on a hunt to the forests infested with lions and gets killed by one of them. Jambavan, the ancient bear who fought the war against Ravana along with Lord Rama kills the lion and the gem gets into the hands of his daughter Jambavati. Eventually Lord Krishna who was accused by Satrajit of having harboured evil intentions with regard to the gem goes to the forest in search of the gem only to discover that it was with Jambavathi. Lord Krishna seeks the gem but faces the anger of Jambavan and therefore gets into a fight with him and defeats him in the duel. Jambavan realises that both Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are the same and gives away his daughter to the Lord of Dwaraka who later returns the Semmanthaka to Satrajit. Eventually Satrajit offers his daughter Satyabhama to Lord Krishna and he graciously marries her. The Semmanthaka attracts the attention of Akrura, Kritavarma and Shatadhanwa who finish off Satrajit in order to take possession of the gold giving gem. Finally the truth comes out and Lord Krishna leaves it with Akrura. I have taken the threads from here and thereafter used my liberty as the author of a fictional work and taken the story forward."
Dr.Syd K the author has finely crafted the story and the plot thickens in a fast paced manner. One treasure hunter Stalin Malhotra appoints one Dr. Shiva Balan and Yogesh Yadav to look out for the Semmanthaka gem in Gujarat. The author begins the plot with the hunter Jaarra who shoots an arrow into Lord Krishna while he was relaxing with his flute at the dawn of Kali Yuga while the bickering Yadavas were being consumed by a large tsunami along with the historic city of Dwaraka. The hunter Jaarra feels bad that he has done terminal damage, but Lord Krishna says that it was pre ordained and asks him to take one half of his flute to a safe place and pass it over to his lineage and ask them to wait for the right moment while also getting the other half placed in a temple in Kutch. The hunter Jaarra incarnates as Satyavan Yadav who saves Chandragupta Maurya with the aid of the flute coupled with the recitation of the Mahamantra "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare". His second incarnation, Shambhu Yadav saves Chattrapathi Shivaji and the third incarnation Sridhar Yadav saves himself in the twentieth century while serving under Subhash Chandra Bose in the Indian National Army or the INA. Later on he becomes the Jaarra Baba who happens to be the protégé of the Himalayan Guruji who is none other than Subhash Chandra Bose aged over 100 years in this work of fiction. Its fascinating to observe that the author has made Akrura incarnate as Dr Shiva Baalan, Kritavarma incarnate as Yogesh Yadav and Shatadhanwa incarnate as the treasure hunter Stalin Malhotra. The author takes us through Kutch and gets us to see the wild asses of the place and gets us to move over from place to place in search of the Semmanthaka, the gold yielding gem. The two parts of Lord Krishna's flute are supposed to get together in the sacred spot which houses the fabulous gem and the same can be handled only by the chanting of the Mahamantra coupled with a pure heart which seeks the grace of the Lord. It was the Shatamanyu, the commander of Lord Krishna who had taken the distal part of the flute to Pataliputra and his descendants maintained both the secret and the flute for thousands of years.
The story revolves around the concept that huge fortunes should be put to public use and private possession of the sources that yield enormous wealth can cause harm to the extent that they may get labelled as unlucky. It is in this setting that the plot thickens due to avarice and finally the suspense is broken when the gem is discovered in a very sacred place known for its unlimited wealth in the form of gold, gemstones and also the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Narayana who is known by a thousand names as per the Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam shared by Grandsire Bheeshma to the Pandavas. The book reaches the climax with Dr Shiva Baalan chanting the Mahamantra "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare".
Prof Shivaram is happy to supplement further, "I had a number of positive experiences while writing this book and the proof reader Radhika felt the same way too. I was particular to keep the narrative free from passages which spoke about sex for it is important to make the work acceptable to one and all. The famous critic Vishnu Chevli has given a five star rating for Semmanthaka in Goodreads and so have a number of others. The principle of Saranagati to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna and the benefits of using large fortunes for public well being are elucidated in the book through the plot."
The multi faceted Prof Shivaram is also an expert in Vedic chanting and has a huge network of people who have assimilated it through him over the years. He took to martial arts post the age of 40 and has really done well with Kung Fu. The Indic Book Club is launching "SEMMANTHAKA" at Coimbatore on Saturday the 29th of July between 12 & 2 pm in the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts & Science for Women. Swathy Rohit, the Founder of Seeksia.com has consented to be the Chief Guest while Prof P.Kanakasabapathi will be the Special Guest as per the information shared by Dr.Pramod.
"SEMMANTHAKA" is sure to motivate many more Coimbatorean authors to bring out the best in them.