Karna, the ill-fated hero of ' ', was killed by Arjuna in the final battle. (Karna-Arjuna rivalry was much like Hector vs. Achilles.) 5000 years later, we have a man named Vasu, who is quite like Karna - born illegitimate, very talented but denied all credits in life, rejected in love. He begins to identify himself with Karna. Vasu misses a medal in the Asian games, gets caught for telling an innocent lie and is overlooked for promotion. And interestingly Karna appears to him after every debacle to assuage and encourage him. It seems Vasu is Karna's alter ego; but will he, finally, break the jinx? Will he win the endgame? This is not a mythological tale but a contemporary take on mythology. SOME PRAISE: A work of fiction that tries to connect millennia past with our age, Surendra Nath's Karna's Alter Ego deserves tributes that should go to imaginative handling of an unusual plot. - I have been wondering what the genre of this book is. Is it mythological? Or is it social, with a quotidian theme? Perhaps, spiritual or philosophical? Maybe, a thriller! It's better you read it and find out for yourself. - See Reviews of this book on (https: //www.goodreads.com/book/show/26142328-karna-s-alter-ego)