Nirmalendu Mohapatra

Alphabets and the Steel City Nirmalendu Mohapatra

Alphabets and the Steel City is a novel by a people management professional from the steel industry.

The writer, living in a steel city since childhood, was enchanted by two worlds; the world of steel and the world of books. The books provided newer perspectives on human nature, and the steel cities provide a tumultuous theatre for understanding those points of view.

He bumps into a magical old man, an omnipresent wizard and they turn into lifelong friends. The old man narrates his reading experience of a set of fifteen classics, and the writer speaks from his life and work in the four steel cities. Through their actions and dialogues spanning nearly a lifetime, together, they struggle to paint a panoramic picture of what it means to be human.