Biography

I hail from Cuttack, a historical city in India’s eastern state of Orissa and its ancient capital. I was born in 1964 and was brought up in Orissa where my father worked as a civil engineer with the state government. After completing my school and college education in Cuttack, I went to Utkal University in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of modern Orissa. Even as a student, I had started working part time as a sub-editor for various English and Oriya publications. After a few years’ wandering, I moved to Delhi to join The Times of India’s journalism school in 1988.

I’ve made Delhi my home ever since, but for two years that I spent in another historical city, Lucknow, where I worked for The Times of India in my first post-training assignment.

In January 1994, I met Maitreyee through an advertisement that I put out in newspapers looking for a partner. Out of a handful of marriage proposals and applications (!!) that I received, she was the first one I met because she was in the same city, unlike most of the others. And, it was love at the fourth meeting… I broke this girl’s lonely heart when I told her that before we could make firm commitments, I ought to tell her about my past misdeeds, and then went ahead with my sob story. Did she cry, my God! She poured…

And, love was found. What was supposed to be an arranged (through newspaper ads!) marriage turned out to be a whirlwind, with my newfound love shifting back to Calcutta (now renamed as her favourite “Kolkata”), her own city from where she had migrated to Delhi looking for a job. But the love was sustained through letters, cards, l-o-n-g long-distance calls, and l-o-n-g telegrams! When the bills of sharing love became too much to bear, the marriage date got forwarded several times from October 1994 until we had just about a month to prepare! Finally, we tied ourselves with the knot in June 1994.

Maitreyee is a professionally trained teacher, with specializations in Bengali literature and social studies. Besides, she has an excellent voice and has trained for many years in Rabindra Sangeet, the unique music composed by Rabindranath Tagore. She currently teaches Indian music to children and adults too.

Maitreyee is also an excellent cook and homemaker. We bought our own abode – a small apartment just outside Delhi – in 2002 and compliments have been pouring in ever since on its decor and beauty, for which all credit is due to her creativity and innovation.

After rehabilitating me in the regimented and restricted environs of a married man (from the carefree and adventurous bachelor life) and setting up our home, she worked as a teacher, but then left again to bring up our little daughter Sohini.

Sohini came to our world two years after our marriage, in June 1996. A Gemini to the core, she is always busy doing one of these things or, preferably, everything at the same time!: drawing/painting, dancing, role playing, playing with the computer, watching TV, asking questions, reading, doing homework, and you know what else… Sohini is especially creative: she loves dancing and painting, and also crafts, poems and stories. You will find some examples on her web site, SohiniKumar.com.