Hi! So glad you decided to stop by and get to know me.
The lines actually start blurring when I think about my career. Am I a journalist-turned-children’s author? Or a book clubber-turned-school mentor? Maybe a writer looking for new avenues to explore? Let’s put it this way. In my chequered career of over 25 years, writing has been a constant, the love for children overwhelmingly huge and the passion for books deep seated.
I have been writing ever since I held my first pencil (that’s what my parents said) so what if those were scribbles and doodles! My tryst with newsprint began while in college. I started writing in 1997 for Bombay Times and went on to freelance for The Times Of India. Since then, I have worked with Business Standard, The Week, The Hindu, and Deccan Herald, writing features on a smorgasbord of subjects including business, education, cinema, lifestyle, and parenting.
In 2017, Duckbill Books published my first book for children, Kittu’s Very Mad Day, which went on to win the FICCI Best Children’s Book Award (English) 2017. My second book, Friends Behind Walls, was published by Penguin Random House. It was on the Parag Honor List that year. My next, The Story Quilt, was published by HarperCollins. In 2022, it was Royal Fantasy Stories with Amar Chitra Katha and Rupa. The next year, yet again with Amar Chitra Katha and HarperCollins, I brought out Inspiring Tales from Indian History Volumes 1-3. I have also written for various anthologies, including Hug Yourself!, Dance Nani Dance, Flipped 2 | Adventure Stories, On Your Marks, Thank God It’s Caturday, and more.
In between writing all those stories, I have always been closely involved with kids through Book Trotters Club that I have taken across India—Pune, Deolali, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai for children aged 3-16 years. Together with my partner-in-crime and in life, Jagdish, I am now taking Book Trotters Collaborative, an extension of the book club to schools and communities across the globe to build rich reading spaces and train educators to enhance the reading skills of children.
