Himadri Chhaya-Shailesh

Hi, I’m Himadri, the daughter of a writer-librarian mother, who grew up in a house where Gujarati literature outnumbered furniture! Watching my mother write simply for the joy of creating stories and bringing ideas to life, I was naturally drawn into the world of literature.

Living in France, a country that takes its language very seriously, nudged me into rekindling my relationship with my mother tongue. Encounters with fellow literati from the Indian diaspora then did the rest, sparking a growing curiosity about India’s many other languages. Somewhere along the way, while attempting to learn French as my fifth language, maintaining a respectable command of Gujarati, Hindi, and a very modest amount of Sanskrit turned into a personal (and ongoing) linguistic expedition.

I remain deeply grateful to every member of this community who makes ILLE Paris a much-needed escape from my lab-life, its deadlines, and its many glowing screens. And yes, before you ask, I am, in fact, a computer scientist by profession!