As a literary effort, "Gospel of Jesus – Tallest Tale Never Told" is a historical fiction or religious fiction covering the historical life of Jesus Christ – from birth in Bethlehem till his death at a ripe old age of eighty in Kashmir, India and his subsequent burial there. The story is based on seven years of meticulous research of documents and folklore present in the regions Jesus ever set foot in his prodigious career. The story does straddle Judea (Israel/Palestine), Assyria (Syria/Iraq), Egypt, Central Asia, Persia (Iran), Tibet and foremost the Indian subcontinent (Bharat). It steers clear of any official religious or sanitized version and sticks to historicity as it plays out incident after incident objectively. The story telling format is somewhat unique as it is written mostly in autobiographical format alternating with third party narrative. While as a writer I have taken some liberties but nowhere is history compromised. In fact all details are researched and as true to reality as we know it – whether it challenges official sanitized version or not. Gospel of Jesus – Tallest Tale Never Told, my latest literary output, is a bold attempt at answering some of the mysteries and gaps that have been unanswered for ages in Jesus Christ's life, one of the foremost prophet and avatar in world history, and also revealing facets not known to the world at large. Not only does Jesus Christ spend his formative years (age thirteen to twenty-nine) studying in India and traveling through Central Asia, he survived crucifixion and lived till the ripe age of eighty to be buried with due honors in Rozabal, Kashmir. This is his month by month account of his life.

I have always been an avid reader myself and certain historical characters who have left an indelible footprint on mankind's historical tapestry fascinated me even more. Jesus Christ is clearly head over shoulders among the prophets and avatars who have dotted our historical landscape. His influence has been monumental and has been a much studied character in history. Yet there are periods of his life which seem to be shrouded in history and the Church somehow gives the impression that it does not matter. There has been no clarity on the silent period or lost years of Jesus – from age thirteen to twenty nine on which all four Gospels are deafening silent all through the ages. Somehow all the research on historical Jesus seems to have focused on Middle east – to be precise Israel and Palestine. But there has been so many claims about Jesus being in India, Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Tibet and even Britain. All have been either summarily dismissed or disdainfully consigned to the garbage bin of history. The independent Indian government has released numerous documentaries about Jesus' time in India with proof in Sanskrit and Pali language based manuscripts. I have researched even in my native Bengali language with Swami Abhedananda, a Hindu monk – an earth mover in his own right who established Vedanta movement in Europe and USA, doing somewhat similar research as mine ahead of me in time. Books have been written by Muslim authors in Pakistan, Persia (Iran) too. None have been refuted in a scholarly sense – rather they have been ignored. The ointment used to revive Jesus after crucifixion is known in the Arab/Muslim world even today as Marham-i-Isa. It not only revived him but allowed him to lead a life post crucifixion till the age of eighty. The chronicle of Jesus' post crucifixion life is there in Pakistan and Kashmir (where he settled, married, even had kids and died) and documented by the locals. One of them is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – the founder of Ahmadiya sect which has Pakistan's first Nobel laureate physicist Abdus Salam as a follower and Prof Fida Hassnain from Kashmir, India. The ability to ignore anything which is contrarian to Vatican or Church's mainstream version is mind boggling but a sad reality. So as I researched over seven years and put it all together as a month by month narrative of Jesus' life with all its vicissitudes, I had a tough time threading the needle as the historical evidence while available is patchy from a chronological point of view. Once having done the hard yards and pieced the story incident by incident, I went about writing it with as much clarity and eloquence I had at my command. I chose the format of historical fiction with an autobiographical format alternating with third party narrative to make the personality of Jesus leap out of the pages and become part of us. The story covers the span of his life from his birth, travels in the East for studies, return to homeland, crucifixion, survival and fleeing back to East till his death and burial. It is as historical as it gets with little to no embellishments unless I had to use my writer's license to connect certain events. Also it was important to make it eminently readable and enjoyable for readers in the same breath as almost all the academic chronicles and research papers are the driest of reads and sometimes dense.

Chris Real, an MBA from Indian Institute of Management and a qualified mechanical engineer, is the Associate Director of Shure Inc global supply chain applications after having worked in Infosys Ltd and Deloitte Consulting. Recently he completed a senior certification in Green Supply Chain too from Indiana University, USA. A career professional in process consulting, he has nearly two decades of experience across a spectrum of industries from pharmaceuticals, publishing, retail, consumer goods etc. He happens to be an avid reader and traveler in the same breath. Of late his travels have taken him through the land of the Incas in Peru, the swamps and rain forests of Amazon and also the ruggedly beautiful Mayan ruins in Guatemala and Mexico. He is a meticulous researcher on historical topics that have gaps or mysteries awaiting explanation. One such was Jesus Christ's life and the stories about him being in India twice in his lifetime. Being of Indian origin, he has spent some dedicated time going through native literature and chronicles of Jesus in India and referenced other writers or chroniclers in Central Asia and Iran. Having done the hard yards, he had been able to piece together a month-by-month account of historical Jesus' life and write it in a novel format. It is called Gospel of Jesus – Tallest Tale Never Told. Having grown up in a multi-religious environment with missionaries, oriental and occidental, and heavily influenced by rationalists and freethinkers, he has also written on religion-related blogs and has been a keen follower of the recent surge in religion related literature. He has been unusually able to fuse his religious studies into his first published literary venture called God At Last based on the end of the world as described in all religious scriptures and boldly answers the questions whether Kallki or Jesus or Mahdi or Maitreya will come to save the world. It is being sold in bookshops and online retailers. It is also on Amazon.com and available for worldwide distribution. He also regularly delivers talk on religion and eschatology in various gatherings, maintains the site www.Godatlast.com and sells his digital copies through it. He has also written about his experiences in process consulting in the form of a tongue-in-cheek novel called LIVING ON THE DIAMOND EDGE. Presently he lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter.