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HarperCollins presents MARIA, JUST MARIA by Sandhya Mary

Translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil

Published by Harper Perennial

Paperback | Fiction | 244 pp | INR 499

Releasing 10 January 2024

NEW DELHI, Jan. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — An insightful and humorous take on ideas like normalabnormal, naturalhuman, lovehate, etc. that define contemporary society, and the exuberant and moving story of a woman trying to find her place in this world.

“A rare novel.” — S. Hareesh, author of Moustache, winner of the 2020 JCB Prize for Literature

“A must-read!” — Daisy Rockwell, translator of Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize

About the Book

Following the death of her grandfather, Maria has stopped speaking — not because she can’t, but because she doesn’t want to. 

Now in a psychiatric hospital, as she begins the process of ‘reconnecting with reality’, Maria recalls her journey of being ‘just Maria’ — a girl born into a Syrian Christian family in Kerala, whose companions were a grandfather who took her along to wander around the village and its toddy shops; a great-aunt with dementia who challenged Maria’s position as the youngest in the family; a dog with a penchant for philosophy; and various long-dead family members, including a great-grandmother with a knack for prophecies, a patron saint who insisted on interfering in people’s affairs, and Karthav Eesho Mishiha with whom Maria has regular conversations.

Sandhya Mary’s novel Maria, Just Maria — masterfully translated by the award-winning Jayasree Kalathil — is an insightful and humorous take on ideas like normalabnormal, naturalhuman, lovehate, etc. that define contemporary society, and the exuberant and moving story of a woman trying to find her place in this world.

Author Sandhya Mary says, “For me the process of writing Maria, Just Maria was a celebration of everything ‘not normal’! It was a process so full of craziness, humour and creativity!”

Jayasree Kalathil, translator of Maria, Just Maria, and award-winning author, says, Maria, Just Maria, is, in my opinion, unique in Malayalam literature. Maria’s story is not the universally shared story of women everywhere, and yet, in her, we will find a piece of ourselves. Sandhya Mary’s telling of this story is humorous and poignant at the same time. The moment I finished reading the original, I had no doubt that I wanted to translate it.”

Rahul Soni, Associate Publisher – Literary, HarperCollins India, says, “This is a surprising, joyous, tender and moving work about subjects that are often, stereotypically and almost by default, meted out sombre and grave treatment. I’m ever so grateful to Jayasree for having introduced us to Sandhya Mary’s work — and for so unerringly translating it, that readers of English, such as myself, can savour it. And I hope this is only the first of many works in Sandhya’s unique voice that we will have the pleasure of reading.”

Praise for Maria, Just Maria

“Will there be anything left if madness is taken away from life and from art? Madness is creativity as well as an effort to escape from the shackles of society, even as the mad person remains ‘just’ another human being. A self-inquiry steeped in materiality makes Sandhya Mary’s debut, Maria, Just Maria, a rare novel and Maria, a literary character with a difference. Jayasree Kalathil’s brilliant translation adds to its richness.” — S. Hareesh

Jayasree Kalathil brings her expert ear to this flawless and confident translation of the complex voice of a mad woman. A must-read!” — Daisy Rockwell

About the Author and the Translator

Sandhya Mary is a writer and media professional. Her first book, published in 2011, was a collection of short stories titled Chittikkaran Yudas Bhoothavarthamana Kalangalkkidayil (Chittikkaran Yudas, in Between Past and Present). Maria Verum Maria (2018) is her debut novel. The book, currently in its third edition, established her as a storyteller who engages with serious, topical issues in a light-hearted and humanistic voice. As a media professional, Sandhya’s writings on contemporary social and political issues have been published in various forums, including TruecopyThink and Mathrubhumi weekend supplement. After receiving her master’s degree in communication and journalism, she worked with Indiavision, Kerala’s first 24/7 news channel. Currently, she is a producer with Mathrubhumi Club FM. Sandhya grew up in a predominantly Christian village in Ernakulam district in Kerala and currently lives in Kochi. She loves to cook, eat, and wander around.

Jayasree Kalathil is the author of The Sackclothman, a children’s book that has been translated into Malayalam, Hindi, and Telugu. She shared the JCB Prize for Literature in 2020 with S. Hareesh for her translation of his novel, Moustache. She is a recipient of the Crossword Book Award for Indian Language Translation and the V. Abdulla Memorial Translation Prize. Her translation of Sheela Tomy’s Valli (2022) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature, the American Literary Translators Association’s National Translation Award in Prose, and the Atta Galatta–Bangalore Literature Festival Book of the Year Award. Originally from Kottakkal in Malappuram district, Kerala, Jayasree currently lives in a small village in the New Forest in England.

About HarperCollins India

HarperCollins is celebrating its 31st 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.

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Reliance Digital Introduces High-Performance iQOO 15R to its Nationwide Store Network

MUMBAI, India, March 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Reliance Digital announces the offline retail availability of iQOO, the high-performance smartphone brand built for today’s youth and tech-forward consumers. Following strong traction in online channels, iQOO is now extending its presence into physical retail, allowing customers to experience and purchase its devices first-hand at Reliance Digital stores across India.

Known for pushing the boundaries of speed, and power, the iQOO 15R is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, delivering exceptional speed, responsiveness, and sustained performance throughout the day. It packs iQOO’s biggest battery yet in an ultra-slim 7.90mm design, making it India’s slimmest smartphone with a 7600 mAh battery.

The device features a 6.5K IceCore VC Cooling Chamber for stable performance and runs on OriginOS 6.0 based on Android 16 out of the box, supported by 4 years of software updates and 6 years of security updates. It is also equipped with a Sony LYT-700V OIS camera, a 1.5K 144Hz AMOLED EyeCare display, and IP68 & IP69 dust and water resistance, making it a dependable daily partner for professionals on the go.

The brand’s offline expansion marks an important step in deepening consumer engagement by offering hands-on access to its devices, enabling customers to explore iQOO’s powerful performance, advanced display technology, and flagship-grade camera capabilities in a real-world retail environment.

The availability of iQOO at Reliance Digital brings together two brands driven by innovation and consumer experience. While iQOO continues to build its reputation as a performance-led smartphone brand, Reliance Digital strengthens its portfolio by offering customers access to cutting-edge technology brands through its extensive nationwide retail network.

Through engaging in-store experiences, knowledgeable staff, and immersive product demonstrations, Reliance Digital aims to help consumers better understand iQOO’s performance-first DNA. This move further reinforces Reliance Digital’s commitment to staying ahead of evolving consumer preferences and serving as a preferred destination for discovering new-age technology.

With this expansion, Reliance Digital continues to play a key role in shaping India’s consumer electronics landscape by bringing future-ready brands closer to customers, while enabling smartphone brands like iQOO to build stronger connections with a growing, performance-driven audience.

The all new iQOO 15R is now available at Reliance Digital stores nationwide.

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Kotak Alts announces winner of the inaugural Katalyst Awards

Ms Himani Choudhary named Katalyst for the year – India’s Best Financial Content Creator; wins Rs. 25 Lakhs

MUMBAI, India, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Kotak Katalyst Awards, a national initiative instituted to recognise excellence and responsibility in financial content creation has announced the winner of its first Katalyst edition. Kotak Alternate Asset Managers Limited (“Kotak Alts”) today announced Himani Choudhary as the winner. The winner was awarded a prize of INR 25 Lakhs, positioning Katalyst among the most meaningful recognitions for financial content creators in India.

Srini Sriniwasan, Managing Director, Kotak Alts, said, “The Kotak Alts Katalyst Awards were instituted to recognize content creators who are contributing meaningfully to financial literacy in India. As investor participation deepens, audiences are seeking clarity, context, and credibility. The response from creators was overwhelming and points to the new generation of financial educators.  As the inaugural winner Ms. Himani Chaudhary, exemplifies the standard of financial communication that Katalyst seeks to encourage.”

The first edition of the Kotak Alts Katalyst Awards received over six hundred entries from across 19 states and in 8 languages, reflecting the growing role of digital creators in shaping financial awareness. Conceived in response to increasing clutter and misinformation in the financial ecosystem, Katalyst is designed to recognize creators who place accuracy, transparency, and investor interest at the core of their work.

The winning content, ‘Personal Finance & Major Finance Updates’ by Himani Choudhary, was recognised for its clarity, originality, and credibility. The jury noted the content’s ability to explain complex financial concepts in a clear and measured manner, supported by strong research and a consistent focus on investor education over virality.

To ensure a robust and transparent evaluation process, the awards framework was designed and audited by EY. The top thirty entries were assessed by an academic jury.

The top 10 finalists were subsequently evaluated by a grand jury comprising Kunal Shah, Founder and CEO of CRED; Radhika Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund; and Alpesh Shah, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, and chaired by Ananth Narayan, former Whole–Time Member of SEBI with extensive capital markets and regulatory experience.

The Katalyst Awards recognise financial content creators who priorities financial literacy, substance, and long–term investor interest. Through this initiative, Kotak Alts aims to encourage responsible financial communication and support the development of informed and confident investors across India.

About Kotak Alternate Asset Managers Ltd: Kotak Alternate Asset Managers Limited (‘Kotak Alts’), a part of Kotak Mahindra Group (‘Kotak’), focuses on Alternate Asset Management and Investment Advisory businesses. Kotak Alts was set up in early 2005 and has raised, managed, and advised over USD 22 billion across different asset classes, including Private Equity, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Special Situations, Private Credit, and Investment Advisory. The asset management business and investment advisory vertical are managed by independent specialist teams. For more information, visit https://www.kotakalternateasset.com/

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Paperpal for Life Sciences Establishes HIPAA Readiness, Strengthening Enterprise Adoption of AI in Regulated Medical and Scientific Writing Workflows

MUMBAI, India, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Paperpal for Life Sciences, an enterprise-grade Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform by Cactus Communications, purpose-built for Medical Affairs and Life Sciences organizations, announced the completion of an assessment evaluating its operational and technical safeguards to support Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. This milestone reinforces Paperpal’s commitment to meeting the rigorous standards of security, data protection, and regulatory readiness required for regulated scientific workflows.

Growing AI use in medical affairs writing and publication workflows is intensifying scrutiny on data privacy, governance, and regulatory accountability. To support these evolving needs, Paperpal for Life Sciences has undertaken an assessment of its systems and processes to evaluate readiness to support HIPAA compliance, where applicable, and now proudly offers the option to execute a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This offering gives customers the confidence that PHI or PII, if received, is handled securely and responsibly, in line with regulatory expectations and enterprise risk management practices.

Paperpal for Life Sciences provides AI writing, literature search, source-grounded summarization with citation support, and critical publication checks, powering medical affairs content creation under stringent data privacy and governance controls. The platform accelerates research-to-publication timelines by upto 25%, supporting faster dissemination of clinical evidence and earlier commercialization of new drugs and therapies.

Nishchay Shah, Group CTO and EVP, Products and AI at Cactus Communications, said, “As AI becomes foundational to regulated scientific and medical workflows, compliance and trust are no longer optional. Paperpal for Life Sciences’ HIPAA readiness measures reflect our secure-by-design approach to AI, strong data governance framework, and alignment with real-world enterprise and regulatory requirements. This milestone enables organizations to adopt AI at scale with confidence that their data, processes, and compliance obligations are protected .”

Elvira Dsouza, President, Cactus Life Sciences, added, “Medical Affairs and Life Sciences teams operate in highly regulated environments where scientific rigor, data privacy, and compliance are non-negotiable. HIPAA readiness positions Paperpal for Life Sciences as a trusted AI partner, one that enables organizations to accelerate evidence generation and scientific communication without compromising regulatory integrity .”

With this announcement, Paperpal for Life Sciences reinforces its position as a purpose-built, enterprise-ready AI platform for medical affairs content generation that supports innovation while meeting the highest standards of privacy, ethics, and regulatory compliance.

Media Contact:

Nidhi Amin

nidhi.amin@cactusglobal.com 

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