# Nirmala Govindarajan | Award-Winning Novelist, Journalist & Documentarian (Bengaluru) > Weaving Truth, Rhythm, and Resistance through the Written Word. ## Posts - [Hello world!](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/2018/11/30/hello-world/): Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing! - [MEDITATION MADE EASY](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/2018/10/23/meditation-made-easy-2/): I used to swim daily in the warm ocean waters of La Jolla California. I remember my body felt light, buoyed by the salt water and the lapping waves. As I turned my face into the cold ocean I saw tendrils of seaweed reaching towards me from the dark recesses of the ocean floor. The rhythm of my breath was the prominent sound and my mind became singularly focused on reaching the buoy in the far distance. For years I practiced this daily ritual and yet if someone asked if I meditated I would say, “no, I can’t sit still long ... Read more - [4-STEP MORNING RITUAL](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/2016/07/16/4-step-morning-ritual/): I spread my prayer rug, light a candle and sit. I watch, a curious spectator, observing patterns of thought and following my breath. I begin a micro motion at the base of the spine. 1. Begin the day with gratitude. Turning over in my bed I watch the light of the sunrise fill my room with golden light and murmur my thanks for this new day, a thank you for my healthy body and my comfy bed. I rise in the still, semi-dark, a hushed time before most people stir and a time that feels sacred. meditating2.Meditate. I spread my prayer ... Read more - [GROWING YOUNG](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/2016/07/16/growing-young/): Aging gracefully has always been my mantra. How you feel is how you look but at fifty five my outside self no longer reflected my inner self. Who is that fifty five year old woman in the mirror? Why, I don’t feel a day over twenty four! I have always been afraid of getting a facelift. In the spa we see many botched results and even the so called successful ones can leave a strange, frozen expression with shiny, over polished skin. I wanted better results without undergoing the knife and finally decided on a procedure called Ultherapy. Ultherapy is a ... Read more - [WHAT IS SPA LIFESTYLE](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/2016/07/16/what-is-spa-lifestyle/): I think that sometimes there is a misconception about spas. Granted we live in a workaholic society that thinks taking time for a massage or facial is an indulgence, but I can assure you that the majority of us in the business see the primary benefit is to offer a healing experience. Touch and relaxation are powerful tools for getting back to one’s authentic self. Spa Lifestyle integrates this sense of healing and well being into all aspects of our life. For example, by changing my perception that I was the boss to realizing that I was in service to my ... Read more - [5 BEAUTY INDUSTRY MYTHS](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/2016/07/16/hello-world-2/): Twenty-five years in the beauty and health industry have made me wary of promises made by manufacturers selling miracle cures for aging. The industry has very little regulation and in our pursuit of youth, we could be harming our skin and our health. At the very least we are wasting time and money. How to be a savvy buyer in an industry that is notorious for potions and lotions promising eternal youth? These are just some of the things to watch out for when visiting a spa or esthetician. Myth # 1 You get what you pay for. The more you ... Read more ## Pages - [](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/): Author & Documentarian Nirmala writes at the intersection of social justice, memory, and place. Her books travel India’s margins — from trafficking networks in the Himalayas to potato farmers in the Sahyadris — turning documentary rigour into literary form. My Books My Story Selected Works Taboo Shortlisted for Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize & Atta Galatta Book Prize 2020 Erendira, the protagonist of this heart-rending tale of exploitation and the imagination of freedom is symbolic of the under-aged trafficking networks and its resilient survivors across India. In Taboo, metred into rhythm in her inimitable style, Nirmala plunges into the context of disturbing ... Read more - [The Batata Farmers of Khed](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/the-batata-farmers-of-khed/): SYNOPSIS OF ‘THE BATATA FARMERS OF KHED’ (ETC Consultants India, 2023) Wandering through the hamlets of the verdant Sahyadri ranges, journalist Roopa Raag finds herself in the company of potato farmers who watch the wet skies day after night in anticipation of sunshine. Meeting the indigenous people of the villages in the clusters of Khed, Satgaon Pathar and Wafgaon in the potato intense belt of Maharashtra, Roopa rides the highs and lows of the “batata” cultivating cycle, and the wavering fortunes of farmers in this rain-dependent region. With the Covid pandemic raging, the journalist ultimately returns to her hometown Bangalore in ... Read more - [YOGA WITH NIRMALA G](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/yoga-with-nirmala-g/) - [Press Room](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/press-room/): Bangalore Lit Fest: Jeffrey Archer and a quiver full of arrows New Age Archer When the Headline is the Story Jeffrey Archer engages audience in his inimitable style at Bangalore Literature Festival - [Taboo](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/taboo/): Taboo (Picador India, Pan Macmillan India) Erendira, the protagonist of this heart-rending tale of exploitation and the imagination of freedom is symbolic of the under-aged trafficking networks and its resilient survivors across India. In Taboo, metred into rhythm in her inimitable style, Nirmala plunges into the context of disturbing crime, trafficking and unfreedom. Flying high in the Himalayan ranges, weaving a trail through  Coimbatore, Ooty, Chandigarh, Khandala and the shipping town of Alang, diving down to the southern-most tip of India and onwards to Sri Lanka,  Erendira, through many languages and cultures unearths the forbidden identity of a sex worker on a footpath.  Finally you emerge questioning the intent of our society ... Read more - [Events](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/events/):   —————————————————————————————————————————–   - [Curatorial Repertoire](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/curatorial-repertoire/): Curatorial Repertoire The Times of India Literary Carnival, 2014  Bangalore Mirror: A literary soiree The Hindu:20 Years of Harry Potter The Times of India: Harry Potter magic hasn’t waned in 20 years Deccan Chronicle: Rowling Stones of magic! Bangalore Mirror: Chinwag with… Nirmala Govindarajan Deccan Herald: A nostalgic look at the city   - [Social Sector Documentation](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/social-sector-documentation/): A book of non-fiction for ETC Consultants India in 2023: The Batata Farmers of Khed Annual Reports for Greenpeace India: 2017-2018, 2016-2017 50 Years of Bethany High Child Marriage CBFL Program by TCS Fuel-Efficient Stove Apna Desh Aruna Apna Desh Prema Sex trafficking She, the forest home gardener Survivors of Sex Trafficking Fashion Jewellery For A Living       - [Journalism](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/portfolio/): Journalism  The Sunday Guardian: ‘Questions of identity are at the heart of all literature’ The Hindu: As his guitar gently slides Deccan Herald: A classical takeaway The Times of India: Getting up close to a world of wings The Times of India: The Truth About Life Goethe Institut: Blunders, Inspiration, and Lasting Literature Goethe Institut: Err Fashionably, and Look Hot!             - [Reader's Yatra](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/readers-yatra/): READER’S YATRA™ Dramatised Readings from Select Indian Novels in English with Nirmala Govindarajan (Author/Journalist/Social Sector Documentarian)   Relax… Listen   Internalise   Dialogue   Know India through her Writers…   Get acquainted with fine writing from India, via Nirmala Govindarajan’s selection of Indian writing in English rendered in dramatic style, interspersed with music and insights into the story and the author. Take home a repertoire of fine Indian writing in English, and delve into the soul of the country’s eclectic diaspora via her literature.  Past workshops were held at Café Delmar-Beatles Café in Rishikesh. Watch out for announcements in other places on ... Read more - [Writer's Yatra](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/writers-yatra/): WRITER’S YATRA™ A sensorial writing experience with Nirmala Govindarajan (Author/Journalist/Social Sector Documentarian) Refresh… See. Touch. Smell. Listen. Taste. Journey Outwards and Inwards.   Align with your senses.   WRITE…   A FREEWHEELING JOURNEY Nirmala Govindarajan has designed Writer’s Yatra to kindle your sensory perceptions – sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste to enable you to respond to the world with a free spirit, and write. Write what you like – a blog, a travelogue, a short story, a novel, a social-media message, a script, a poem, a song, a dreamy love letter, a quirky resignation letter…almost anything you feel like expressing on paper. Write ... Read more - [The Community Catalyst](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/the-community-catalyst/): The Community Catalyst – a novel inspired by the life experiences of a civil servant. (Sapna Book House, 2016) Foreword by Padma Vibhushan Justice MN Venkatachaliah This is the true story of a young man from a small village in Rajasthan who joins the Indian Administrative Services, and is posted in Karnataka State. He achieves exemplary results in each of his different official postings, while also inspiring and motivating the people whom he serves to create self-help groups and NGOs that can transform their villages and towns, for the betterment of all. A skilled weaver of narrative, Nirmala Govindarajan blends time ... Read more - [Mind Blogs 1.0](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/mind-blogs-1-0/): Mind Blogs 1.0 (Write Wing Media, 2010) Sunshine, rain, bombs, bridges, mothers, friends, bikes, distances —- sorrow, joy, hope, love, celebration — cheap thrills, poignant observations and an intense desire to make this world a better place, bind these pieces by three writers of diverse, yet conjoined personality. Laugh, cry, reach out… and savour those small, many times unnoticed moments through the experiences of these writers. Mind Blogs 1.0 — a collection of heartfelt ramblings from Bangalore co-authored by Nirmala Govindarajan, Zahid H Javali and Christina Daniels. Nirmala has also conceptualised this concept, and hopes to, along with her co-authors, grow ... Read more - [Hunger's Daughters](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/hungersdaughters/): Hunger’s Daughters (Om Books International, 2018) She lives in a forest hamlet in Orissa. With a father presumed dead and a mother gone missing, Susanthi Bodra is compelled to become a breadwinner at the age of twelve. Eight-year-old Nelli runs away from her mistress’s home, but is kidnapped and sold into a brothel in Nagpur. Two decades have passed, and she is yet to return to her hamlet Kithapur. Gowravva, her mother, is on the hunt to find her precious daughter. From the home of the Lesser Known Goddess to the chilli fields of a mother who has long lost her ... Read more - [MY STORY](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/about-me/): about myself I am Primarily a writer Intuitively a poet Formally a journalist Temperamentally an author Vocationally a social-sector documentarian. I am Secondarily a facilitator Of literary events Also discussions Theatre And writing workshops… I am Importantly at that juncture Where I seek to breathe life into emotions Also places and people And voice all that goes unheard In the din of development. I am Whole-heartedly for equality And equitable living. I am Inspired by what the great poet Ben Okri writes in his book ‘Mental Fight’: You can’t remake the world Without remaking yourself Each new era begins within. We ... Read more - [Privacy Policy](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/privacy-policy/): Who we are Our website address is: http://nirmalagovindarajan.com. What personal data we collect and why we collect it Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context ... Read more - [Contact Us](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/contact-us/): CONTACT ME CONTACT ME Twitter Instagram Facebook nimzak@gmail.com - [About Us](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/about-us/): N.G I. ME. MYSELF. NIRMALA GOVINDARAJAN is a journalist, social sector documentarian, curator of literary events, facilitator of writing and reading workshops, and an author. Nirmala has authored The Community Catalyst – a novel inspired by a civil servant (recommended reading for Indian Administrative Services aspirants, commissioned and published by Sapna Book House in 2016), and conceptualised and co-authored Mind Blogs 1.0 (the first blog to book format, published in 2010 by Write Wing Media). Her novel Hunger’s Daughters (Om Books International, published in 2018) is born out of her experiences as a social sector documentarian.  Nirmala debuted the Times Literary Carnival, Bangalore. She debuted the Literary Lounge series at the British Council Library (BCL), and presently introduces classics ... Read more - [Blog](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/blog/) - [Home](https://nirmalagovindarajan.com/home/): MY BOOKS TABOO (DECEMBER 2019) Shortlisted for Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize & longlisted for Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize 2020 Erendira, the protagonist of this heart-rending tale of exploitation and the imagination of freedom is symbolic of the under-aged trafficking networks and its resilient survivors across India. In Taboo, metred into rhythm in her inimitable style, Nirmala plunges into the context of disturbing crime, trafficking and unfreedom. Flying high in the Himalayan ranges, weaving a trail through  Coimbatore, Ooty, Chandigarh, Khandala and the shipping town of Alang, diving down to the southern-most tip of India and onwards to Sri Lanka,  Erendira, through many languages and cultures unearths the forbidden ... 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