Arnab Ray is an Indian novelist, blogger, podcaster who currently lives in the United States. While finishing his PhD at Stony Brook University, he started his blog with the name ''Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind,'' in August 2004, using ''Greatbong'' (''bong'' is an Indian slang for

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

) 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 ''May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss'' is the first book of Arnab Ray, an Indian blogger. The book is an extension of his blog. It deals with Indian pop culture, Bollywood, satire and his own life experiences. He makes sarcastic comments on the Indi ...

'', 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 and crime-thriller genres. His last novel ''The Mahabharata Murders'' was adapted as a web series ''

Mahabharat Murders ''Mahabharat Murders'' is a Bengali thriller series streaming on Hoichoi from 13 May 2022, based on the book ''The Mahabharata Murders'' by Arnab Ray. The series is directed by Soumik Halder and stars Priyanka Sarkar, Arjun Chakrabarty, Saswata ...

'' on the

OTT platform

Hoichoi Hoichoi is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned and maintained by SVF Entertainment Pvt Ltd with headquarters in Kolkata, India. It was launched on 20 September 2017. Hoichoi is currently available ...

. In 2019, Ray renamed his blog as ''The Greatbong Blog'' and started a podcast called ''Attention Pliss!''.

Career

Ray was born and brought up in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. His father Alok Ray is an ex-professor of

IIM Calcutta Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta or IIM-C) is a public business school located in Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was the first Indian Institute of Management to be established, and has been recognized as an Insti ...

. He graduated from

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked four ...

as a Bachelor in

Computer Science and Engineering Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) is an academic program at many universities which comprises scientific and engineering aspects of computing. CSE is also a term often used in Europe to translate the name of engineering informatics academic p ...

and went on to finish his PhD in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

from

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

. 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 and 2008. He has written for several media outlets such as ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

', ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...

'' magazine and ''

Live Mint ''Mint'' is an Indian financial, financial daily newspaper published by HT Media, a Delhi-based media group which is controlled by the K. K. Birla, K. K. Birla family that also publishes ''Hindustan Times''. It mostly targets readers who are bu ...

''. He is an agnostic with moderate political beliefs as he has written about in his many blog posts. His first book ''

'', published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

, was on ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new on ...

s Bestsellers list. 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 Juggernaut Books (informally Juggernaut) is digital book publishing house headquartered in New Delhi, India. The publisher emphasizes on short length books written by new writers. It also allows writers to self-publish their books through thei ...

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 ''

'' on the

OTT platform

Novels

* ''

'',

, 2010 * '' The Mine'', Westland (

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

), 2012 * ''Yatrik'', Westland, 2014 * ''Sultan of Delhi: Ascension,''

Hachette India Hachette India is the Indian arm of the publishing company Hachette, which is owned by the French group, Lagardère Publishing. It started operations in India in 2008, and is currently the second-largest publishing house in the country, behin ...

, 2016 * ''The Mahabharata Murders,''

'', 2017''

References

External links

The Greatbong Blog and Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Arnab Indian bloggers Living people Jadavpur University alumni American novelists of Indian descent Indian agnostics Indian emigrants to the United States Stony Brook University alumni Male bloggers Year of birth missing (living people) Indian writers Indian male writers Women podcasters Indian podcasters Writers from Kolkata 21st-century Bengalis 21st-century Indian writers Bengali Hindus People from Kolkata