Finally The Book Is Here! - Malabika Ray Choudhury's Blog

Dear Soupers,

Sometime in October/November of 2022, I wrote a blog letting you know about my upcoming project - a story/book in my home-language “Bengali”. Many of you were really interested to know what it was about, and when it was going to be released.

At that point I was not sure when I would be able to finish writing the story - it’s close to 200 pages, and I have divided it in 18 chapters. Each week I was writing one chapter - honestly, I was quite organized about completing the book. 

There were a few practical issues - I was not able to download Bengali keyboard on my laptop - I use MacBook - I asked the support people at Apple’s how I could! Different people suggested different ways, but the problem was not solved!

So, what I did - wrote each chapter on my phone, and then transfer it to google drive. The process was not easy - many times I had to write a whole paragraph again to fix one word.

Still I kept on going…and at last, although unbelievable to me, I completed the story in December. This is an autobiographical story based on the life of my family after they were uprooted, and migrated to a different location/country. Their life was completely shattered ! I was born after this tragedy happened, but l used to listen to the detailed stories of their life from my mother, and imagined myself being there!

The main voice in my book belongs to my aunt, who lived courageously in spite of a disability she had from birth. In those days, in India, not many women were allowed to go to school, or work, but she completed university, and became a successful educationist. She loved trekking to the  mountains in the Himalayas - that’s another important part of the story - the title of the book is "Mountains Call Me".

 I am very excited to let you know, my book has been published, and ready for sale in the book stores from today.  I travelled to my birthplace, Kolkata, India, in January and February, and submitted my manuscript to a publisher. I came back to Canada in March, but we were in touch, and he was kind enough to arrange publishing the book this month, actually on my birthday.

Thank you, Dear friends…I am in Cloud Nine right now, but I understand, this is only a small step in my path, my writing journey. Living in Canada for last twenty-five years, and teaching in Canadian schools, I was writing only in English. After a long time, I attempted this challenge, and really delighted that it was accomplished.

Thank you so much, Dear Dear Friends - you are not only amazing poets, but kind-hearted human beings who inspire me every day! Your appreciation is truly precious!

Mala