I held silent communication with my diary because I could not disclose my secret thoughts and feelings to the friends of my age group. They used to be just my playmates. My diary was my best friend😊

My English teacher encouraged me to write for my school magazine. She appreciated my participation in Debate and Elocution on various issues. I found the courage to express myself to a bigger audience by writing for my school & College magazines.

After a long battle of will against the opposing forces, I finally completed my Post Graduation in English from University. I had to quit my in-law’s house with my little daughter to sit for the exam.

It was the landmark year when I discovered myself as an English teacher facing the Senior Secondary Students in my classroom. My first job was in a prestigious Central School affiliated with the CBSE board.

Over nine years, I found the opportunity to learn about phonetics & phonology; usage of the English language in varied fields. I also learned about the rich nuances of the English language. Teaching English to Engineering & Management students at Indira Gandhi National Open University proved to be a pretty enriching experience for self-growth.

I found a job as a pre-university teacher in the city of Kolkata. I enjoyed introducing my students to the plays of Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw & Eugene O ‘Neill. I also loved teaching poems of different ages. I introduced them enthusiastically to classical novels as with modern fiction and nonfiction. I formed the Debate club and helped them stage humorous English plays like Charley’s Aunt or Labor of Love😊

These years opened up my door to publication in Ezine Articles. I learned to edit my writing through nightlong practice before the successful publications of my essays, humorous papers, a snapshot of memoirs, articles on social issues, short stories, book reviews, film reviews, and short-read travelogue.

Ezine honored me with an Expert Author Certificate which perked me to improve my writing style in my author’s journey. I feel incredibly grateful that they encouraged me by awarding various badges of honor for my different publications later.

It was the most colorful year in my life when I traveled solo to Thailand to complete my TEFL course as an English Teacher. It opened up almost the whole world to me because I met my batchmates from different corners of the Globe. It gave me exposure to International teaching methods in English. I am glad that we had to play, sing and dance, and make the class laugh by active role-plays. They awarded me a certificate with an A+

It was a turbulent year for me in my professional life, which affected my peace of mind. I decided to put in my papers and open up my tutorial to coach the students independently. My venture proved to be quite successful. Life restored its balance once more.

I joined the Creative Writing classes started by the British Council, Kolkata. These classes exposed me to different writing types and styles. We had hands-on experiences in the classroom through active participation in brainstorming ideas, group discussions, and random writing in a fixed time. We had surprise tests every other day. The activities opened up new perspectives to me. I completed my course with an A+

It is another landmark year in my author’s journey. It was beyond my imagination that my first published book on Amazon would happen during the Pandemic. But the pain of existence drove me, perhaps, to self-publish my book “Even Caged Birds Sing.”

I wrote my True Crime Thriller/ Dark Romance novel “Her Untamed Soul” in three parts. The seed of the book’s content was sown in my mind in 2013-14 when I watched a BBC Report on crimes in South- East, focusing on women. One woman from India stood out of the crowd in the clip of 10 minutes.

I fictionalized her story with in-depth research into her socio-political background in Tamil Nadu. “Her Untamed Soul” is the saga of love and crime that resonates universally. The thrill & suspense keep you hooked in all three parts.

In 2022, I fine-edited my book “Her Untamed Soul” (3 parts). I removed the redundancies; and published it in one piece as “PHOENIX” in November’22.

The book is a Thriller & Suspense (True Crime Thrillers) that transcends all genre boundaries. It is multi-dimensional and multi-layered in its appeal. The language is fluid and lucid.

The book is entertaining, though rich in content.

The author thought about creating something unique. The idea is to merge pure English Gothic Horror in an Indian setting and color. She imagined the main protagonist as a powerful and enchanting tribal woman from Orissa and her thirty-three years of intriguing life journey in Longs’ Mansion during the post-colonial time in Bombay.

A year of challenges and snags she faced to interweave an Indian girl’s story with pure gothic tropes of an English horror story. Besides, she had to create evocative language and symbolism to evoke the psychological terror and mystery of human life. She had to make the nuances and essence of her language suit the ambiance of modern gothic horror in post-colonial India.

Mandira’s Modern Gothic Horror/ Psychological Thriller Novel, the first of its kind in India, is in the pipeline. Previously, some of the gothic horror tropes were used to write short stories, poems, and films.

This genre-mixing novel is in the process of publication.