Sharath Komarraju lives in Bengaluru, surrounded by an ever-swelling collection of books. He began his professional life as a software engineer but has now renounced it all in favour of a writing desk and a word processor. (He's happy to report that his head has stayed above water so far, though he's flapping like crazy underneath. ) His first novel, Murder in Amaravati, was longlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize 2013. His best known work is The Winds of Hastinapur, the first book in a series that attempts to tell the Mahabharata story from the viewpoints of all the prominent women characters. Sharath loves chocolates but can't have them because they make him fat. He loves cats but can't keep them because he's allergic to fur. For these two reasons he's almost always in a state of restless discontent, some of which he tries to dispel by writing stories. On occasion he succeeds. Money Wise is his first attempt at non-fiction.