Ratna Rajaiah

Ratna Rajaiah graduated from Lady Sri Ram College with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. Nevertheless, if anyone had suggested to her at the time that she would write a book one day, she would have probably scoffed at them. Indeed, the road that led to this book was a circuitous – if intriguing – one. First, a post-graduate MBA degree from IIM, Calcutta resulted in a longish stint with Rediffusion Advertising, one of India’s top advertising agencies. Later, Ratna left her career in advertising to explore the world of television and cinema. She started by working with Shekhar Kapur, and went on to direct Meri Awaz Suno, a singing talent contest produced by Yash Chopra’s television software company. At the same time, she began writing a column for Mid-Day, a humorous, irreverent take on anything and everything, which, much to her delight, became very popular. More writing assignments followed for publications like The Hindu and India Today. And so a writer was born.

The Mid-Day column, which had run for five years, ended soon after Ratna relocated from Mumbai to Mysore, but another weekly column was in the offing, this time in the New Indian Express. Called ‘New Age Living’, it was an attempt to revisit ancient wisdoms like Ayurveda, yoga, spirituality and traditional foods and make them relevant to modern living. The success of that column led to the conception of this book.