Marathon Baba  (English, Paperback, Kohli Girish)

Marathon Baba, written by Girish Kohli, is a funny, irreverent novel that touches on most aspects of modern society.

Summary Of The Book

The plot centers around Karna, who finds everyday life hard to deal with. So, he runs. He runs to understand life, he runs away from life, he runs and keeps on running. Karna runs for seven long years through the country. At one point, he suddenly turns red, for no apparent reason. He then decides to set up an Ashram, and calls it the Marathon Ashram. The novel relates Karna’s story from his young days, living with his quarrelling parents in a fictional city. Later in life, he is dumped by his girlfriend. He also finds his IT job unbearable.

So, at the age of 23, he runs away from his life, leaving everything behind. He runs through several fictional cities, keeping himself alive by eating at temples and other places of worship. On his journey, he makes an acquaintance with a rock-star dope peddler name Bawa. On being released from jail, Bawa changes his name to Java and joins Karna. Karna, after turning inexplicably red, is now setting up an Ashram.

The Marathon Ashram promises to give refuge to people who are runaways. It attracts several disciples like the beautiful Karishma, whom Karna calls Ma. Another disciple is a superstar who turns the spotlight on the Ashram and Karna is soon referred to as Marathon Baba. A pair of shoes that Karna found during his legendary run play an important role in the story.

Witty, irreverent and wacky, Marathon Baba is fast paced and focuses on the absurdities of life.

About Girish Kohli

Girish Kohli lives in Mumbai, India. Kohli is a software engineering graduate and previously worked for an IT company, before working in his father’s business. He demonstrates his love for absurdities in his statement that he was born on the day a dog in the US was convicted and executed for barking too much. He has written two novels, which have not yet been published. Girish has also directed a music video and two short films. Among other things, he is a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino, Rahul Dravid, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, McDonalds and Muhammad Ali.