Currently relocated in Dehradun, editor and freelance writer/journalist Indrani Talukdar has written and edited thousands of articles for national and international magazines and dailies. So when she sent her first novel When the Lamps were Lit for publication to 4indianwoman.com, a California-based website, they were quick to award her a contract. A global writing platform for Indian women around the world, 4indianwoman.com is published every Friday evening featuring serial novels, short stories and blogs.
Thus far 23 chapters of this novel, inspired by the imagery of the Ganga-Jamuna sangam (confluence) at Allahabad, have been published. Meanwhile Talukdar has already started work on another novel Afternoon Raga.
Released on the website in September last year, When the Lamps has already recorded over 50 hits per chapter and has attracted the interest of readers in Australia, Singapore, the UK and US, apart from India. “The website is always on the lookout for premium literary contributions, and I decided to submit my novel primarily because I was sure it would provide me greater visibility,” says Talukdar, a psychology postgraduate of Allahabad University.
Fluent in English, Hindi, French, Spanish, and Bengali, Talukdar started her career as a music teacher at the Spastic School, Allahabad in 1984 even as she was reading for a Masters in music. Simultaneously she freelanced for the north India edition of Amrita Bazar Patrika, Kolkata and the Hindi daily Amrit Prabhat. Changing tracks a few years later, she joined the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) where she was instrumental in launching NIVM Spectrum — a first-of-its-kind audio digest for the blind in Asia, producing, editing and voicing it single-handedly.
A series of journalistic stints later, and academic interests still alive, Talukdar read for a Masters in communications studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. She lived Down Under for six years studying and simultaneously writing for India Abroad and India Empire magazines as well as the Sydney-based India Link.
After returning from Oz, Talukdar has set up base in Delhi, editing and writing for various publications in India and abroad. “I’ve written for publications almost all over the world barring the African continent. I’ll also be pushing for print versions of my novels,” says Talukdar, whose current passion is e-writing.
Natasha Pathak (Dehradun)