Behind the Story: Pratik Shah

Like Justin Walker, the character of Pratik Shah was developed for my unpublished novel, The Wolverine. In the novel, Pratik was a star football player at The Ohio State University. He and Justin became close friends, and the two occasionally visited Justin’s family in north-central Ohio.

During one of those visits, Pratik confessed that he often felt like an outcast among other Indians. Standing 6’8” tall, Pratik was an imposing young man, and many shunned him because of his size and ferocity on the football field. Justin’s family welcomed Pratik with open arms, and for the first time, Pratik felt accepted for who he was.

My goal in developing Pratik’s character was to show that brains and brawn are not mutually exclusive. A football player can be a monster on the football field while being an intelligent and kind person off the field.

I also wanted Pratik to be a business-savvy intellectual. At Ohio State, Pratik majored in philosophy and business. He understands the importance of ideas, as well as the life-sustaining values businesses create. He combined the two and conceived the idea of starting a business as intellectual bodyguards.

In short, Pratik defies stereotypes. He is an intellectual but not nerdy. He is a star football player, but football is not his highest value. Like all the heroes in The Intellectual Bodyguards series, he excels in both mind and body.