From the best-selling author of the Ramayana Series comes a book that can change your life.

Maxing our career is our ‘dharma’ in this age of Kali. But at what cost? Working parents don’t see enough of their children, couples barely spend time with each other, young men and women become strangers to their families and friends. And here’s the irony–most of us mention our families and loved ones as the main reason for why we strive towards success, without realizing that we stand to lose them in this very quest.

So how do we strike a balance between our careers and our families?

In his first major work of non-fiction, bestselling author Ashok K. Banker goes back to Puranic sources to address this question. He writes of Ratnakaran the bandit, who made a living out of killing and looting to support his family, and his transformation into Valmiki, the sage. Using his story and contemporary stories from today, he shows us how they contain the answers to today’s most pressing issue: how to prioritize, manage, and enhance our personal as well as professional lives.

Insightful, thought-provoking, and utterly inspiring, The Valmiki Syndrome is a map to the most elusive treasure of modern existence–personal fulfillment.

Ashok Banker worked as a successful freelance journalist and columnist for several years, breaking front-page news for publications such as The Times of India, Mumbai, and cover stories for Outlook magazine, New Delhi.Banker is a contemporary Indian novelist often counted among the significant literary names in post-colonial Indian literature. His work is the focus of several academic studies for its cross-cultural themes and realistic portrayals of Indian urban issues. He was earlier also known as a reviewer and commentator on contemporary Indian literature, and as a candid essayist with a particular focus on media hypocrisy in India, and the western racial bias against South Asian writers. Banker has published in several genres, ranging from contemporary fiction about urban life in India to multi-volume mythological epics, as well as cross-genre works. Three of his early novels to be published were crime thrillers, claimed to be the first written by an Indian novelist in English. They gained him widespread attention. The stories of his "Devi" series are short works featuring avatars of the Hindu goddess Devi, and have appeared in various science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazines.
Three of his novels contain autobiographical elements and are closely related to one another. His first novel (though the fifth published) Vertigo is about a man struggling to make a successful career and home life in Bombay (the former name of Mumbai). Byculla Boy takes its name from the Byculla suburb of Bombay where he and his mother grew up. Beautiful Ugly and the complementary documentary of the same title are a tribute to his mother, portraying the tragic events of her life. He was a prolific literary critic and reviewer, known for his candour and bluntness in reviewing books by Indian authors. His views often veered from the outright derogatory to effusive praise.
He is one of few contemporary Indian authors writing in English to be included in prestigious anthologies such as The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature and The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature