Scharada Dubey

Scharada Dubey is a writer particularly devoted to the cause of non-fiction, which forms the bulk of her work. Scharada lived in Faizabad-Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, India, from early 2008 to early 2011. This period of her life resulted in the book ‘Portraits from Ayodhya: Living India’s Contradictions’, (Tranquebar Westland 2012), as well as ‘Monkeys in My Backyard: Living in Harmony with Animals’ (Scholastic India, June 2011).

Besides her full time commitment to writing, Scharada was a Tarot columnist and practitioner for many years, with her column appearing in the Times of India, and an immensely successful and popular Tarot practice in Chennai from 2001 till 2008, when she relocated to Uttar Pradesh. As a mature and gifted writer of non-fiction, who always focuses on the human or people’s perspective, Scharada Dubey is uniquely positioned to write and comment on many aspects of contemporary reality in India. She has lived for extended periods in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, besides northern India, where her family comes from. This gives her an ease of approach and understanding of communities, their language and culture that is a considerable asset in her work.

Scharada was born in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India on February 14, 1961, and showed an early aptitude for writing, winning First Prize in an essay competition conducted by the Royal Commonwealth Society across the Commonwealth countries for her essay on the Indian farmer in 1973-74, when she was still in school in Mumbai. She later graduated from St. Xavier’s College, writing articles for various magazines and newspapers, and working briefly in the publishing industry before getting married and moving to Chennai in 1984. She has also briefly lectured in Sociology after her post-graduation, first in Mumbai, and then at Stella Maris College, Chennai.

She began writing stories for children as Scharada Bail shortly after the birth of her daughter in 1986, and these appeared regularly along with other articles for children in the Young World section of The Hindu in Chennai from 1990 to 1993. She won the Travelogue category of the National Competition for Writers of Children’s Books conducted by the Children’s Book Trust on three consecutive occasions when it was held, namely 1994, 1997 and 2000. These prize-winning entries were then published as her first three books, Footloose on the West Coast, Malwa on My Mind. and A Necessary Journey.

Scharada worked on video reports for various producers of Doordarshan, or national TV, from 1994 to 2000, shooting short films on Narikuruva gypsies, indigenous dog breeds, and regional cuisine, among other topics. From 2000 to 2002, she traveled extensively in India, supported by a grant from the India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore, researching the lives of toymakers who make and sell their toys on Indian streets. Her essay on these men and women, called The Bits and Pieces Artists, came second in the Outlook-Picador Non Fiction Contest in 2000, the first year it was held.

Scharada’s books for children continued to appear at regular intervals. Icons of Social Change (Puffin and Scholastic, 2004), The Hanuman Heart (Rupa and Co. 2005). A book of verse, Seeking Sanjeevani and Other Poems, was released by the Prakriti Foundation, Chennai in 2005. Her other books are Growing Up: Dealing with Tiresome Teachers, Picky Parents and Foul Friends (Scholastic, 2006), The Best Days of My Life (Scholastic, 2008), when Scharada was divorced and re-married and had reverted to her maiden name Scharada Dubey. The Toymakers: Light from India’s Urban Poor (New Horizon Media, 2008. Two volumes of profiles of the Presidents and Prime Ministers of India were published by Westland in 2009.