(From left) State BJP president CP Thakur, former chief minister Jagannath Mishra and MLC Kiran Ghai at the book launch in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, May 22: If your child starts to worship the computer and chant shlokas, don’t be surprised. He has not turned religious overnight — he is just inspired by Computer Chalisa.

That is the name of Kumar Utpal’s new book.

Director of Mother Teresa Educational Trust Utpal has penned 22 books before this. Today, two books written by Utpal — Computer Chalisa and Art of Web World — were released at a function organised by the trust at AN Sinha Library in the city. Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra did the honours.

Elaborating on Computer Chalisa, Utpal said: “Computer has a great impact on our lives. Everyone wants to learn computers but beginners don’t know where to start or what book to read. While computer education is very easy, its presentation in a technical language bore the beginners, as they find it too dry for their liking. This book has been written keeping in mind all these factors so that the readers can develop an interest in learning about computers.”

He added that many authors pen their works on people but he has written this book, as he has great respect for computers. Utpal also confirmed his inspiration behind the book’s name. “This computer chalisa has been inspired by Hanuman Chalisa,” he said.

Is the book’s name a way to garner more readers? Utpal said: “Of course. I want to spread the computer education. Today, the cover of a book is very important, so I was looking for something that could increase the interest of the people. That is how I came upon the name.”

Kumar’s chalisa starts with Sri Computare namaha, followed by a doha, which is rhymed with the Hanuman Chalisa. Kumar Vedant, Utpal’s 13-year-old son, said: “It took him two months to compose this chalisa. I am sure this is going to be popular among kids. I am saying this out of experience, as I like it a lot because of its interesting lines.”

Supriya Bharti, 17, who was present at the book launch today, said: “I love the dohas in the chalisa. This book is not a regular read and it will surely drag someone out of boredom and give him/her a refreshing start.” She added that not only is the book fun to read, it also rhymes with the Hanuman Chalisa.

However, not everybody agreed with Supriya. Ganesh Jha, a former librarian of Patna Medical College and Hospital, said: “It is not good to make fun of religions, as Computer Chalisa is very similar to the Hanuman Chalisa.”

Abhimanyu Prasad Maurya, head of department, Hindi, PNK College, Paliganj, said: “The author has duplicated most of the rhymes in the Hanuman Chalisa and only a few rhymes are of his own, and that too lack rhyming. The writer claims he had taken from the Hanuman Chalisa. He could have been written it without simply following the Hanuman Chalisa.”

On his second book of the day, Art of Web World, Utpal said the book deals with tips on how to launch a website. “Even an ordinary person can make a website if he follows my book,” he said.