Arnab Ray is an Indian novelist, blogger, podcaster who currently lives in the United States. While finishing his PhD at Stony Brook University,[1] he started his blog with the name Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind, in August 2004,[2] using Greatbong (bong is an Indian slang for Bengali) as his pen name. The blog focuses on satirical social and political commentary.

Ray embarked on his writing career with May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, a non-fiction book that came out in 2010, and contained much of the commentary that Ray was known for by then through his blog. This was followed by The Mine, a psychological horror novel that came out in 2012, followed by books in the drama[3] and crime-thriller[4] genres. His last novel The Mahabharata Murders was adapted as a web series Mahabharat Murders on the Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi.[5][6]

In 2019, Ray renamed his blog as The Greatbong Blog and started a podcast called Attention Pliss!.[7][8][9]

Career

Ray was born and brought up in Kolkata.[1] His father Alok Ray is an ex-professor of IIM Calcutta. He graduated from Jadavpur University as a Bachelor in Computer Science and Engineering and went on to finish his PhD in Computer Science from State University of New York at Stony Brook.[10]^{[better source needed]}

He is known for his sarcastic takes on the Indian film industry, Indian politics and society in general. His blog, then called Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind, was awarded the "Indiblog of the Year" at Indibloggies in 2006[11] and 2008.[12] He has written for several media outlets such as The Washington Post'',[13] Outlook magazine[14] and Live Mint.[15]

He is an agnostic with moderate political beliefs as he has written about in his many blog posts.[16][17] His first book May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, published by Harper Collins, was on India Today's Bestsellers list.[18] His second book, The Mine, has also been well received. His third book, Yatrik was published in September 2014. His fourth book Sultan of Delhi: Ascension, first of a two-part crime-drama, was released in October 2016.

The print version of fifth book The Mahabharata Murders, published by Juggernaut Books was released in August 2017, even as the e-version of the book was released through the publisher's app in India. It was adapted as a web series Mahabharat Murders on the Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi.

Novels

• May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, Harper Collins, 2010 ISBN 9788172239374
• The Mine, Westland (Amazon[19]), 2012 ISBN 9789381626382
• Yatrik, Westland, 2014 ISBN 978-9384030506
• Sultan of Delhi: Ascension, Hachette India, 2016 ISBN 9789351950929
• The Mahabharata Murders, Juggernaut Books, 2017 ISBN 9789386228369

References

External links

• The Greatbong Blog and Podcast