Algebra of Hope

About the Book

This is a tale which has been waiting to be told. The story of the Indian expat community in the Arab world. It is not always about wealth and happiness as is often dreamt at the beginning of the journey. It is not always about prosperity and comfort as is believed by the society back home. It's also about sacrifice and pain, of frustrations and confusions. “Algebra of Hope” tells the story of Indian expats through the eyes of Rakesh, a doctor who takes a job in Riyadh.

 In the social and family fabric that we live in, the obligatory fibers are plentiful. However, for ill-defined reasons an Indian expat has been told that he should strip the obligation to himself. He does this proudly in the giving years and gets intoxicated by the tag of a giver. Grey hair and wrinkled face later on tells him, “Why did you not look after yourself”? Regret takes over hope as his best years have already been surrendered.” Why should his sweat always be some ones balm?

But for some that tangle had to be ripped off at the right time..!

Amidst the frustration and despair that so often characterize the expatriate's existence, there is also the uplifting story of determination, of fighting for what you believe is right, and of self-belief. And that is what this story too, is all about.

The Author Dr.Ranjit Divakaran, a maxillofacial surgeon, is a native of Indian state of Kerala and has served in many gulf countries for almost fifteen years.

About the Author

I am a native of the Indian state of Kerala. Professionally, I am a maxillofacial surgeon serving at a university hospital in Bahrain. I have lived in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain, for almost fourteen years. This time has given me ample opportunity to see and feel the pulse of the Indian expat community and inspired me to write this book. Though this may be fiction, it is a deep reflection about Indians in Gulf countries.

Pleasure cannot exist without pain, and pain has a unique way of enhancing pleasure. But when someone’s pleasure has to arise from another’s consistent pain, something is fundamentally wrong. This is the norm for hundreds of thousands of expatriate Indians living in the Gulf countries. Their families and societies back home derive financial pleasure from an expat’s struggle, the regularity of which blurs the line between need and greed. At work, an expat’s employer squeezes every bit of his sweat and blood from him, blurring the line between use and abuse. Indians have been going to the Middle East in search of financial success for the last three or four decades. That search, though started with hope, turns out for many to be a trap with no easy exit. As years are added to a colourless life, regret replaces hope. Against this backdrop, one man struggles to achieve his dreams in Algebra of Hope.

Writing has always been something I really enjoy. I have contributed to college magazines, professional journals, and newspapers, and this is my first book. I also enjoy painting.

I obtained a degree in art from Penn Foster in Pennsylvania. I have participated in many group and solo painting exhibitions both in India and in the Middle East.

My father, who passed on in 2011, was a highly decorated army officer, and my mother was a homemaker. My wife, a dentist, works in a defence hospital in Saudi Arabia. We are blessed with two kids, Nikitha, who is studying English literature, and Nihal, who is enjoying life in ninth grade.