From Cradle to Grave and Back

On the 7th of January 2007, I found myself seated between Shri Kapil Sibal, who was then the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology and my publisher, the owner of A. H. Wheeler and Co., for the launch of my first book, Letters to my Baby. 

Letters to my Baby is a collection of approximately 85 letters, written by a fictional mother to her unborn child, from the 6th week of pregnancy, right up to the baby's first birthday.  Weaved into the letters is invaluable advice for women embarking on the journey called Motherhood. The book was received quite well by critics and readers alike and kickstarted my writing career. 

However, a year or two later, shortly after the second edition of the book had been published, disaster struck. 

Some of you might remember, ten years back, all the bookshops in the railway stations in India were called Wheeler and Co. Yes, that's right. My publishers ran all those bookshops. Unfortunately, they got embroiled in a bitter controversy with the railway ministry. 

I heard it started with the Railway Minister at the time. Apparently, he was appalled by the English name of the bookshops. "Hamre raj mein ingrezi dukaan? Kahe babua? Hatwao inko." Am not sure how much of this is true. But if it is, all I can say is, it happens only in India. 

In the meantime, totally unaware of all this, I was confident of the book doing well as a lot of positive feedback, not just from mums, but also from dads and grandparents had started pouring in. As also some good reviews in various journals and papers like Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express and Dainik Bhaskar. While one review called me the baby whisperer another reviewer was reminded of the letters written by Rani Mukherjee to her daughter in the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. 

This particular review, written for Women's Feature Service was picked up by at least 20 leading newspapers in the country - Decoding Difficulties... Mama Mia - Deccan Herald  

My publishers however, were not doing so well. They lost the case in Supreme Court against the Railway Ministry and had to shut down their publishing house as well as all their shops across India. 

Overnight, my book, my baby, became homeless.

I was devastated. I bought back a few hundred copies. The rest were trashed. I kept trying to find a distributor to put the books back in the market again. It wasn't easy as I live in London and Indians are notorious for not answering emails or returning calls. By the time Flipkart started in India and I struck a deal with them, it was too late. The books had started looking old and worn and I had to abandon the idea of selling them altogether.

They are still gathering dust in my parents' garage in India. Neither they, nor I, have the heart to dispose of them as raddi. It was my labour of love after all. It hadn't been easy. My daughter was just one when I started writing the book, our entire house was being renovated and I didn't even know touch typing.

LTMB - 2nd edition

Then, few months back, out of the blue, I got an email from the vice chancellor of a university in India. He had come across my book and wanted to publish it in Hindi, to be used as a text book by his university students. I was elated. 

Inshallah, things will work out better this time. And even if the translation into Hindi doesn't happen, after speaking to the VC, I feel vindicated. All these years, I've been ridiculed, made to feel responsible, guilty even, that all those copies lying in the garage are somehow my fault and a personal failure.

But if the Vice Chancellor of a University thinks Letters to my Baby is good enough to educate young minds, then that's all that matters. As for the detractors, I don't give a damn!!!

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