Living alone and having a full-time job, among other stuff, didn’t leave a lot of choice for me to pick a better time to do this, but I’ll tell you what—when the clock strikes midnight the only things we worry about are the things we really love and care about. And that forms a beautiful link to work its way into a project you’re investing in.
For me this isn’t just another project; to me this book is #LOVE in 288 pages. It’s the magic, chaos, happenings and instances from everyday life channelled into words you may relate with.
Apart from thanking my dad, mom, brother, grandmother and three cousins back home for motivating me in the process, special thanks go to Mr P for constantly pushing me and motivating me to dream and achieve bigger.
To my oldest friends, Joice Cherian and Mahima Jain, for being the first ones besides immediate family to shape my self-esteem so well since childhood. Look at what you’ve done, you two!
To all the contributors in this book, my mother Sushma Upadhyay, Dia Mirza, Bobbi Brown, Sanjeev Kapoor, Dr Barbara Sturm, Shrankhla Holecek, Roja Dove, and my editor, Swati Chopra, who gave me all the creative freedom I needed and welcomed all my ideas I had for this book, and also dragged me back to the right path whenever it needed to be done.
Not to miss Mriga Maithel and Bidisha Srivastava at Penguin Random House who helped edit the book and Devangana Dash who designed the fabulous cover.
I would like to thank Alyona Kapoor, Traccy Miichael, Esha Makwana, Sonica Sunderram, Jack Hewitt and Belinda Arnold—you know what you’ve done for this book, and I’m super grateful to you. Last but not the least, Ashish Sahu who clicked my author photo that fit right into the theme of the cover.
To all the bitter and sweet experiences in my life that have led me to being the person I like so much.
To everyone (good and bad) I’ve ever known—you always play your part perfectly.
THE BEGINNING
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EBURY PRESS
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Ebury Press is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
This collection published 2019
Copyright © Nikita Upadhyay 2019
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Jacket images © Devangana Dash
This digital edition published in 2019.
e-ISBN: 978-9-353-05590-5
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Roots to Radiance Page 18