Author Bio:
Varsha Seshan is a writer of lists, emails and notes to herself. She also writes children’s stories. Based in Pune, she loves windy, rainy days, full of magic and possibility. Her books have been shortlisted for the AG Bangalore Literature Festival Prize for Children’s Fiction, the Neev Book Award, the Singapore Book Award and the Scholastic Asian Book Award. She conducts online book clubs and writing programmes for ages seven to fourteen. A classical dancer with over thirty years of training in Bharatanatyam, she has performed extensively in India and abroad. Find out more at www.varshaseshan.com
Illustrator:
Mihir Joglekar is an Indian artist with over a decade of experience bringing stories to life through illustration.His award-winning work spans books, covers, advertising campaigns and concept art. With a gift for visual storytelling, Mihir has illustrated more than thirty books for celebrated authors, across genres like children’s literature, memoirs, mythology and fiction. From tender moments to epic scenes, his art captures emotion and narrative with striking clarity. Versatile and intuitive, Mihir continues to create visuals that resonate with readers and audiences alike.
Bharat Bambawale has spent thirty-six years in marketing and advertising, eighteen of which were as a global executive with marketing communications companies Lowe & Partners (formerly Lintas) and J. Walter Thompson (now Wunderman Thompson). He has worked as managing director at Lowe & Partners Middle East North Africa, in Dubai; as Lowe & Partners’ Asia Pacific client leader on Unilever, in Bangkok; and as J. Walter Thompson’s global director on Unilever, in London. On his return to India in 2011, he became Airtel’s first and only global brand director. Since 2013, he has been running his eponymous brand and marketing consultancy, Bharat Bambawale & Associates.
Chandramouli Venkatesan (Author)
The late Chandramouli Venkatesan, author of Catalyst and Get Better at Getting Better, was a corporate veteran with over twenty-six years of experience in the industry. He worked with Asian Paints, Cadbury/Mondelez, Mirc Electronics/Onida and Pidilite. He served in various senior capacities, including as CEO and managing director. While the bulk of his work life had been in business and P&L leadership roles, there was a three-year period when he did a cross-functional stint as the HR head for Cadbury India, which further developed his understanding of what makes people successful.
Chandramouli was a keen golfer and sports enthusiast, and believed in holding his life in balance. This, coupled with his sense of values and spirituality, led him to believe that every person must impact society positively. He conducted numerous speaking sessions, which have benefited over 1000 people, and mentored and guided many others to be successful in their careers.
Vasudha Rai (Author)
VASUDHA RAI is an author, columnist and podcaster who has written on beauty and wellness for more than two decades. Her bestseller, Glow: Indian Foods, Recipes and Rituals for Beauty, Inside and Out, has revived the use of traditional ingredients in everyday living. She is a certified yoga teacher. Her beauty column appears in HT Mint Lounge and her podcast, Holistic Healing with Vasudha Rai-in association with Red FM, India’s leading radio channel-streams on all major platforms. Her work has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Conde Nast Traveller and The Hindu Weekend.
In 2022, she was awarded the Voice of Reason award in beauty writing, as part of the Vogue Beauty Festival. She’s also been the beauty director for Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health, India.
Aditi Singhal and Sudhir Singhal, founders of Dynamic Minds Group, are international memory trainers, mathematics educators, authors and motivational speakers. They have to their credit the Guinness World Record for teaching the largest maths class.
Aditi has also been given the Best Memory Trainer award by the India Book of Records and has been featured in The Limca Book of Records thrice for memory and fast calculation.
Together, Aditi and Sudhir have authored four bestselling books, How to Become a Human Calculator?, How to Memorize Anything, How to be a Mathemagican and The Ultimate Memory Handbook for Students.
SHAKTI SINHA first got to know Vajpayee in 1980, and worked with him very closely for three and a half years in
the 1990s, as secretary to the leader of the Opposition (1996-97) and as his private secretary (1998-99). He was also the director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. He is a distinguished fellow at the India Foundation and is currently serving as the honorary director of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Policy Research and International Studies, MS University, Vadodara.
Ishrat Syed and Kalpana Swaminathan write together as Kalpish Ratna-a near anagram of their names. The pseudonym translates, in a piquant meld of Persian and Sanskrit, as ‘the pleasures of imagination’.
After a BA in Theater from Smith College, USA, Adithi Rao returned to India to work as an assistant director on the award-winning Hindi cult film Satya. She has written several books for children including Shakuntala and Other Timeless Tales of Ancient India and Growing Up in Pandupur, co-authored with her sister, Chatura Rao. Her stories have been published across anthology collections by various publishing houses, and in English school text books across India.
Lila Majumdar was a teacher and pioneering children’s writer. She wrote over 125 books including a collection of short stories, five jointly authored titles, 9 translated books and 19 edited books.
Dr Chandrakant Lahariya is a leading public policy and health systems expert. He has received advanced trainings in epidemiology, vaccinology, immunology and public health. His work focuses upon universal health coverage, primary healthcare and strengthening of health systems. In the year 2012, he received Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) Dr BC Srivastava Foundation Award for his work on translating community-based health research in public policy interventions. He is the youngest fellow ever elected to the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA).
