THE MISTRESS OF STORIES

Author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni gets candid about writing her first non-fiction book on Sudha Murty and Narayana Murthy.

- SMITA TRIPATHI

When Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the author of over 20 fiction books including, Palace of Illusions, The Forest of Enchantments, The Last Queen, and The Mistress of Spices, among others, was approached to write the biography of one of India's most iconic couples-Sudha Murty and Narayana Murthy-she was sceptical. "I told Chiki Sarkar of Juggernaut that I could not do it because I had never written nonfiction. But she said, give it a try. I think you will find this story fascinating," says the 67-year-old Indian-born American author and poet. And that's how An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy came about after over two years of research that included Chitra spending a lot of time in Bengaluru with the Murthys.