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HarperCollins is proud to announce the publication of ‘The Day I became a Runner’ A Women’s History of India through the Lens of Sport by Sohini Chattopadhyay

A Fourth Estate book



Hardback | 360 pp | INR 599



Releasing on 23rd October 2023



“One of the finest works of non-fiction I have read in years.”

Ramachandra Guha

NEW DELHI, Sept. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Day I Became a Runner starts on a striking premise—that, since running is a solitary activity conducted in the public sphere, women who take up this sport pose a more direct challenge to patriarchy than those who play sports such as badminton, cricket, tennis and so on. To support this thesis, award-winning journalist Sohini Chattopadhyay presents the compelling stories of athletes spanning the entire history of independent India and involving women from a wide range of social and geographical backgrounds. Whether it is Ila Mitra, who could have been the first Indian-origin woman at the 1940 Olympics, or Mary D’Souza, who ran and played hockey for India through the 1950s, Kamaljit Sandhu, the first Indian woman to win an individual gold outside India in Bangkok in 1970, or P.T. Usha, who redefined the 1980s and the decades that followed for women in sport across the country, each of the women in this book is a remarkable figure of post-independence India.

Written with remarkable insight and poignancy, The Day I Became a Runner is an alternative account of the Indian republic chronicled through its women athletes. In that sense, it is a women’s history of India.

“I wanted to attempt a story of India through the embodied experiences of women: what it is like to inhabit this nation as a woman citizen. From the start, my ambition was that this would be a history of the republic, a history told through the lens of sport and the lives of women. This is probably why it took me a while to write it—more than eight years, to be precise. I am truly thrilled that HarperCollins shared this vision with me—that this is a story of India, seen through what is hopefully a fresh lens—and enabled me to bring this book to you.“

Sohini Chattopadhyay, Author

“Written with stunning felicity, Sohini Chattopadhyay’s The Day I Became a Runner is a brilliant work of narrative non-fiction. This is a history of modern India, seen through the unusual but very insightful lens of women’s sports, and it reveals uncanny truths about our society and culture. A book like this comes along only once in a while. We at HarperCollins are hugely excited to be able to bring Sohini’s first book to readers under our prestigious Fourth Estate imprint.“

Udayan Mitra, Executive Publisher

“The Day I Became a Runner is a spectacular debut, not only because it is an extraordinary narrative, but because it brings so many diverse strands deftly together—history, gender, sports, reportage and personal experience. We publish this important work at a time when conversations around women and sport are becoming increasingly urgent and relevant.“

Swati Chopra, Associate Publisher

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sohini Chattopadhyay is a journalist and National Award-winning film critic. Her work has been translated into German, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam. She is a recipient of the New India Foundation fellowship, and has been bestowed the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award and the Human Rights Press Awards citation, among others. Her writing is archived on her website.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

Anjum Hasan says, “With curiosity, sensitivity and agility, Sohini Chattopadhyay creates a sisterhood of Indian runners.”

Jairam Ramesh says, “A hobby runner herself, the author weaves together the lives of nine notable Indian women runners to “trace the arc of citizenship in the Indian republic”. Each of them has left their imprint on not just our athletic but also our social history—one is now my colleague in Parliament. Their achievements could not have found a better chronicler and analyst. The book is delightfully written, and it has been an education to read it.”

Mukul Kesavan says, “The Day I Became a Runner isn’t just the best book ever written about Indian women in competitive sport, but it is the best book about India that you’re likely to read this year.”

Nida Kirmani says, “Sohini Chattopadhyay’s The Day I Became a Runner is a beautiful tribute to Indian women in sport. She skilfully interweaves her own relationship with running with stories of Indian women athletes from the 1940s to the present, demonstrating how women have creatively used professional sports as a way of creating space for themselves in the Indian republic. The Day I Became a Runner is a history of India told through the lives of these incredible, boundary-pushing women. It is also a touching personal story of a woman struggling to connect with her body despite the odds.”

Shobhaa Dé says, “A searing comment on the harsh realities that women athletes face as they try to make their way in the sporting world. But The Day I Became a Runner is not only about sportswomen, it is about all of us who struggle against stereotypes and the world’s expectations of how women should live.”

Sonia Faleiro says, “A beautifully written and thoroughly captivating ode to the power of dreams and the pursuit of excellence.”

Srinath Raghavan says, :This remarkable and highly readable book braids together the lives of Indian women runners and the history of sport in a deeply gendered society. In so doing, Sohini Chattopadhyay also offers us a subtle and moving account of the meanings of freedom in India since its Independence.”

Sumana Roy says, “It is possible that many of us—particularly a generation of women— have willed this book into existence. Sohini Chattopadhyay gives us a history of Indian women in a manner never attempted before, without ever letting go of an opportunity to share a joke.”

Nilanjana Roy says, “This is what the ‘Big India Book’ used to be, only better and more fascinating. Through running, Chattopadhyay traces a map of the country’s dreams, fault lines and struggles, of gender, sport and nationhood. A work of incredible research, engrossing and powerful.”

Ramachandra Guha says, “I have had the great pleasure of having read, in manuscript form, Sohini Chattopadhyay’s wonderful book on women runners in India. Sohini is both a superb reporter and a beautiful writer. While the motif of struggle and sacrifice runs through the book, each story is moving in its own distinctive way. This is one of the finest works of non-fiction I have read in years.”

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS INDIA

HarperCollins is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, having begun publishing in India in 1992. HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award, including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world, including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet. HarperCollins India has won the Publisher of the Year Award four times at Tata Literature Live!, in 2022, 2021, 2018 and 2016, and at Publishing Next in 2021 and 2015. HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers.

PRE-ORDER NOW: https://amzn.to/4530tpL 

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Reliance Digital Launches ‘Baaptaa’, a Father’s Day Campaign Celebrating the Many Expressions of Fatherhood

MUMBAI, India, June 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Reliance Digital has launched ‘Baaptaa’, a Father’s Day campaign to celebrate the many expressions of fatherhood. Built around a simple cultural observation, while “Maa ki Mamta” has long been a part of India’s collective vocabulary, there has never been a word that captures the distinct ways fathers express love, the campaign introduces ‘Baaptaa’ as a tribute to the many shades of fatherhood.

Conceptualised as an original music-led campaign, Baaptaa celebrates fathers not as idealised figures, but as they are experienced in everyday life, protective, dependable, emotional, quirky, practical, occasionally embarrassing, and always present. Through a relatable narrative, the campaign acknowledges the countless ways fathers care for their families, often through actions rather than words.

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/9XyUsJB33Ds?si=PM67vhxrzth1JEkz 

At the heart of the campaign is an original music video told from a father’s perspective, capturing the different roles he plays across life’s moments and milestones. The film brings to life the humour, warmth and unspoken affection that characterise father-child relationships, while giving a name to a form of love that many recognise but few have articulated.

The campaign stems from a simple insight: while motherhood has often found expression through familiar phrases and popular references, the unique language of fatherhood has remained largely undefined. Baaptaa seeks to fill that gap by creating a term that reflects the everyday gestures, practical wisdom and quiet sacrifices that fathers make.

Father’s Day communication often leans into familiar emotional territory, but Reliance Digital’s campaign celebrates fathers in a way that feels more culturally authentic and relatable. The idea for ‘Baaptaa’ came from a simple observation — mother’s love has been immortalised in a number of heartfelt, emotional songs, there needed to be an anthem dedicated to dad’s love. And thus was born Baaptaa – a love language that is often awkward, practical, protective, humorous and deeply felt, even if rarely verbalised. It’s a celebration of fatherhood in all its wonderfully imperfect forms immortalized by a song that you won’t be able to stop humming.

Shop for the widest range of electronics at Reliance Digital and thank your father for his Baaptaa.

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Harper Collins Publishers India is Delighted to Announce the Recent Publication of ‘People We Love’ by Preeti Shenoy

NEW DELHI, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — HarperCollins Publishers India is delighted to share the recent publication of People We Love by bestselling author Preeti Shenoy. At once tender and sharp, this collection of stories offers intimate, truthful and relatable portraits of the people we cherish, the ones we lose, and the people we become.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The people we love never truly leave our story…

In these tender yet piercing stories, Preeti Shenoy returns to some of her most beloved characters to reveal who they were before they appeared in her bestselling novels It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have.

Aniket, a coder, carries the weight of a longing for Trisha that he cannot bring himself to act on. Nidhi abandons her corporate life to teach pottery, only to discover that clay is far more forgiving than the people she loves. A quiz competition sparks an unlikely romance between Aman and Shruti, one that must withstand parental disapproval and class divides. And Anjali, a journalist, is so busy chasing stories that she almost misses the one unfolding in her own life.

Set against the pulse of contemporary India, People We Love explores the tug-of-war between duty and desire, family and freedom, who we are and who we dare to be. Intimate and deeply felt, these are stories about love that stays, leaves and almost slips away … love that quietly and irrevocably shapes the people we become.

Preeti Shenoy, author, says, “People We Love is a collection of three long stories, prequels to my bestsellers It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have. If you have read those books, you already know how these characters’ stories unfold. But what you don’t know yet is where it all began, the loves they carried, the choices they made, and the people they were before life shaped them into who you met on those pages. Writing these prequels felt like returning to a home I hadn’t realised I missed, and discovering rooms I had never been in before.”

Rashmi Menon, Associate Publisher – HarperCollins India, adds, “Preeti Shenoy has an extraordinary gift for finding the heartbeat of ordinary lives. People We Love is a warm, wise and deeply humane collection of short stories that reunites readers with favourite characters from her bestselling novels It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have, weaving them into fresh, deeply satisfying narratives. These characters feel like people you know, and their journeys will move, comfort and surprise you. This uplifting, thought–provoking collection reminds us why we turn to stories in the first place. We couldn’t be more excited to share it with our readers.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Preeti Shenoy is among the highest-selling authors in India. She was featured on the Forbes longlist of the most influential celebrities in India. Her books include When Love Came Calling, Wake Up Life, Is Calling, Life Is What You Make It, The Rule Breakers, A Hundred Little Flames, It’s All in the Planets, Why We Love the Way We Do, The Secret Wish List, The One You Cannot Have and many others. Her work has been translated into many Indian languages. Preeti is also a motivational speaker, an avid fitness enthusiast, and an artist specializing in portraiture and illustrated journalling. Preeti lives in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS INDIA

At HarperCollins Publishers India, we believe in telling the best stories and ensuring they reach the widest readership. We publish around 250 new books every year across 10 imprints, adding to a diverse catalogue of more than 3,000 titles in print and digital formats, with an array of genres and voices that ensure there is a book for every reader. Our authors have won some of the most prestigious literary awards, and we are proud to publish many acclaimed writers, alongside new and emerging voices shaping contemporary literature. We are also the publishers of The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, winner of the Booker Prize 2008, and Girl in White Cotton by Avni Doshi, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, and HarperCollins India itself has been awarded “Publisher of the Year” several times. In addition, we represent some of the finest global publishers such as Harvard University Press, Lonely Planet, Oneworld, Nosy Crow, Usborne, and National Geographic Children, bringing Indian readers access to world-class books and ideas. We are also proud to be certified as a Great Place to Work for two consecutive years, a recognition of our culture, people, and values that make HarperCollins India a truly inspiring workplace. 

PRESS CONTACT:

Nandini Tripathi, Manager – Marketing (Commercial)

Email: nandini.tripathi@harpercollins.co.in | Mobile: +91 9718928839

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Fulfilling PM Modi’s Dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat: India’s AI Writing Startup Kreativespace Incubated at IIT Kharagpur

  1. Kreativespace, an Indian AI-powered writing platform founded by Vinet Kakadea, has been incubated at IIT Kharagpur and recognized by SVNIT University, Ministry of Education under Bodhan AI Conclave also through the NVIDIA Inception Program, AWS Startup Program, and DPIIT under Startup India.
  2. The platform unifies 8 AI-powered writing tools, along with AI Humanizer and Message AI feature being the latest addition into a single ecosystem, so you can generate and refine content all in one place.
  3. The company reports more than 50,000+ signed-up users, 75,000+ anonymous users, and roughly 100,000 monthly website visitors, positioning itself as the only Indian company operating at scale in the global AI writing market.

SURAT, India, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Kreativespace, an AI-powered writing platform, is building out its position as the only homegrown alternative in a market long dominated by international tools such as Grammarly and QuillBot. Founded by Vinet Kakadea and incubated at IIT Kharagpur, the company has aligned its growth with the broader push behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) initiative, which encourages indigenous technology development capable of competing on a global scale.

Kreativespace Incubated at IIT Kharagpur

As AI adoption accelerates across India’s education, research, and enterprise sectors, Kreativespace is among a small group of Indian startups building writing technology designed to compete directly with established international platforms.

Kreativespace’s progress has been recognized by several institutions central to India’s startup and technology ecosystem. The company has been incubated at IIT Kharagpur, selected under SSIP 2.0 through SVNIT University, and chosen by the Ministry of Education to present its work at the Bodhan AI Conclave. It has also been accepted into the NVIDIA Inception Program and the AWS Startup Program, and holds DPIIT recognition under the Startup India initiative.

Where many writing-tool users rely on separate subscriptions for content generation to refinement for grammar correction, paraphrasing, plagiarism checking, citation generation, and editing, Kreativespace brings these functions into a single platform as a super-app for AI writing tools. The company says its approach centers on affordability and accessibility alongside performance, aiming to make advanced AI writing assistance available to a wider range of users regardless of geography or budget.

The idea for Kreativespace took shape while founder Vinet Kakadea was studying at New York University and Marymount University in the United States, where he experienced firsthand how students, researchers, and professionals often need multiple paid subscriptions to cover writing-related tasks. That fragmented experience led him to build a super-app offering each of these capabilities together, at a more accessible price point.

Kreativespace combines 8 AI-powered writing tools with AI Humanizer and Message AI feature being the latest addition, allowing users to generate, rewrite, refine, and humanize content without moving between separate platforms. The product is available via web platform, mobile apps on the App Store and Google Play, browser extensions for Chrome, Mozilla, and Edge, and a Google Docs add-on.

Vinet Kakadea, Founder of Kreativespace, said, “Kreativespace’s vision is to digitalize the entire Indian education ecosystem to support PM Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.”

About Kreativespace

Kreativespace with the Motto of Making Writing Accessible for Everyone: Kreativespace is an AI-powered writing platform built to make AI writing tools accessible, affordable, and effective for students, researchers, educators, professionals, content creators, startups, and enterprises. Founded by Vinet Kakadea, the company is incubated at IIT Kharagpur and has been recognized by AWS Startup Program, the NVIDIA Inception Program, and DPIIT under Startup India. For more information, visit kreativespace.com.

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