On Writing, Love & Yoga

Award-winning Journalist. Bestselling Writer. Master of Yoga. Ira Trivedi is probably one of the most interesting writers from India. Even though she earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, her love for writing took centrestage and each book she has written has left people intrigued and enraptured. She was all of 20 when she published her first book of fiction, and ever since has explored various subjects and diverse mediums, some true and hard-hitting while some, insightful and entertaining.

- Shruti Kapur Malhotra

After over a decade, she is back with her most cherished piece of writing, Nikhil and Riya—a beautiful, poignant love story that leaves you celebrating life and death.

I met her on a sunny afternoon on a cold winter day. We sat in her garden sipping mint tea while her dogs listened quietly as we discussed her latest offering, her love for yoga, her most lovable character, Om the Yoga Dog and her love for writing…

What inspired you to write Nikhil and Riya?

I wrote the first draft of this book about five years ago. The entire book was written from Riya’s perspective. It was from the perspective of a girl who was going to die in 30 days. And I think, this was also when I was really beginning my own spiritual journey of sorts, and I began questioning a lot of things in the multiverse. Questions like what is a soul? It was a journey where I was beginning to think about life beyond just our physical bodies. When I was doing that, the next question that came up was, what happens to us after we die? That’s when I started reading a lot of text. If you read the Tibetan or the Egyptian