I didn’t start writing because I wanted to be a writer.
I started writing because I loved stories.
When I was young, I devoured books to learn about the world- past and present. I loved and still love historical & fiction stories from the Mahabharata to Ann of Green Gables.
When I read enough, it inspired me to write.
Writing has always been my way of holding two truths at once. Logic and emotion. Strategy and story. Culture and identity.
Writing as a way to document life
My writing has often been experiential stories about what has happened to me.
When I was 10, my parents went to India for a family passing, and I stayed home with friends. My first chapter book was called “May with April” about a girl who has an extended stay with friends, and all the ups and downs.
In college, I branched out to poetry, and wrote about all the different experiences and emotions of those friendships and relationships.
As a young adult, I started writing about South Asian stories - of women, of experiences, of life. I wrote more sporadically after that, with career and life taking over.
Writing for the Next Generation
Then something shifted.
I became a mother, and suddenly the stories I cared about expanded. I started paying attention to what my children were reading, and what they weren’t. I noticed whose cultures were visible and whose were invisible. Which holidays were explained, and which were simplified or skipped.
I began writing children’s books not to teach lessons, but to offer mirrors.
Stories where culture wasn’t exotic.
Where food, family, and tradition were normal.
Where curiosity was rewarded, not corrected.
Books like Celebrate All Colors, Shine a Light on Diwali, Dal Bati with Dadi, and Cooking Up Culture came from a simple place: I wanted children, mine and others, to feel seen without explanation.
Writing Through Change and Constraint
In recent years, my relationship with writing deepened again, the more I do it the more the creativity flows. I am exploring my old work, and creating new work.
I am convinced I have opened up the creative energy/gateway for myself again. And I love it.
How to start your writing journey
My simple message to you, is to start by writing down your ideas.
In a note, a notebook, a journal, a doc. You choose.
The ideas you write down are ones you can remember and build on. Your experiences can launch your first writing project or help you discover another.
Just get started. And see what comes.
if you are someone who wants to learn about crafting your own story, you're launching our first workshop series starting next Saturday. Link here to join.
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