Since my childhood, I have been an avid reader. I read almost anything that comes my way- from manga comics to Ellie Weasel’s dystopian account of an inhumane and somber reality to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. I find books to be a great means of conveying our messages through stories to the wider world.

In the last four years of volunteering work with refugees from all over the world, I have realized that there story is often not talked about their lives and the challenges they face in America. In many cases, their stories are often muddled by current political narratives. This inspired me to write my first book about a Nepalese immigrant family and their struggles to get adjusted to life in the U.S.A. I previously had no experience with writing and publishing books, but it was an interesting learning experience that has both forced me to expand out of my comfort zone and has also been rewarding at the same time.
For my first book, From the Himalayas to the James: A Refugee’s Journey to the American Dream, I reached out to local libraries and presented at Author Showcases and told the story of immigrants to a wider audience. To date, I have been able to sell upwards of 70 copies of this book and have donated the sale proceeds to Tusome Pamoja-a non-profit I have co-founded that teaches English, Math, and Social Studies to refugee children who are mostly from East Africa.

My work at Tusome Pamoja has made me realize the major linguistic gaps that are present in refugee communities. In order to bridge this gap, I have experimented with writing Children’s Books that make learning a new language easier and fun. This has also been learning experience for me- in the process, I have learned basic Kiswahili and have reconnected with my own Indian roots and made translations in Bengali as well.

I have also used Children’s Books as a means to connect my statistical research on understanding the reasons behind identity fraud to the actions these new refugees can take to prevent themselves from being the victims of fraud. As before, I have written this book in Kiswahili, French, and English to better connect with this audience.

I hope to write more books on topics that interest me and are relevant to the betterment of society in the future.