Vikram draws his inspiration from Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison quote - If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it and he just did that right at the front end of his career.

One of the most definitive accounts of the Wodeyar Dynasty, Vikrams’s book ‘Splendours of Royal Mysore The Untold Story of the Wodeyars’ sketches the long and fascinating regime of the Maharajas of Mysore replete with wars, palace intrigues, romance, valour and deceit.

The book revisits the ups and downs of the dynasty over 600 years starting from the genesis in AD 1399 to the age of glory under Raja Wodeyar, Ranadhira Kanthirava Narasaraja Wodeyar and Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar down to the times of spineless monarchs who let the reigns of the kingdom slip into the hands of powerful ministers.

The book brings out the details of how Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan emerged as a veritable nightmare for the British East India Company and then moves on with the Wodeyars rule till the time of India’s independence. The highlights of the book include the growth of Mysore as a cultural capital of Southern India along with Tanjore (present day Thanjavur in Tamilnadu) in areas of classical music, dance, folk traditions, painting and literature during the six centuries period.

In a colourful function organized by Humanistic Studies Group and BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA) on 26 April 2008 in the Lecture Theatre Complex of BITS Pilani, Vikram Sampath’s book was launched by Prof L K Maheshwari Vice Chancellor of the Institute.

In his speech Prof Maheshwari said that it was a matter of pride for BITS Pilani, as an alumnus who did his MSc (Hons) Mathematics and BE (Hons) Electrical & Electronics Engineering during 1997 -2002under the dual degree scheme of the Institute, wrote a book on history and congratulated Vikram for the well researched work. The launch function included the screening of the documentary film on the history and ethos of the princely state.

In his speech, Vikram gave an overview of the book and thanked his alma mater BITS Pilani for giving him challenging opportunities during his educational days to groom him into a multi talented personality and he had special words of praise for the magnificent library of the Institute.

During his Pilani visit, Vikram also gave a lecture on Retail Banking to the Management and Finance students of the Institute and took time to chill out at the music night in the auditorium as well as gel with the Ragamalika Psenti semester concert in the Engineering Theatre.

Vikram Sampath is yet another proud to be a BITSian who has integrated himself into the excellence circuit.

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Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Rajasthan which has set the industry university collaboration bench mark as well as having the reputation of pioneering the online examinations for admissions in India today through the path breaking BITSAT offers degrees in various disciplines presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa campuses and in the short future at Hyderabad campus apart from an array of work integrated learning programmes for HRD of a vast spectrum of Indian corporates. The alumni of the Institute are spread across the globe from Australia to America.