Iravati is an engineer and a social worker from Maharashtra, India. Although she has been writing creatively since childhood, story writing started in one blissful and standstill moment at a Monastery in Leh, India. Since then, Iravati and her writing have travelled together a lot, both growing up together. In most of her stories, she likes to capture untapped emotions that often go unnoticed as we go on with our day.

Writing started out as a way of letting out her thoughts and observations. Now, she is losing herself in the art form and wants to explore it more as a medium of social impact. While working as a social worker and challenging the status quo around her and within her, her writing becomes her best aid and her fortress of solitude. Her areas of passion are mental health and gender.

We asked Louisa a few questions to get to know her better. Here’s what she had to say:

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I have been writing since… 

I have been writing creatively probably since I learned words. But I wrote my first short story sitting in Thicksey Monastery at Leh in April 2016.

My favorite author(s) and book(s)? 

• Authors – Dilip Prabhavalkar, Dan brown
• Books – Da vinci code, Bokya Satbande, Sherlock homes

My journey as a writer: 

My journey as a writer has been one of the best journeys I have had in my life. It has been a fun experience full of learnings and gratitude.

My favorite genre to read / write 

I like to read suspense thrillers and interactive, light reads on history, science, philosophy. I love to write short stories generally capturing small moments in our life that we easily miss or take for granted.

What advise would you give young and aspiring writers? 

As a young and aspiring writer myself, I can’t give any advice but I would just to say – history has it’s eyes on you. You are strong and powerful and your voices matter.

Here’s an excerpt from Iravati’s winning story Aromatic Discoveries that’s now published in Wafting Earthy:

Everyone who knew Varun would tell you that Varun was a people person. Of course, Varun would deny that. What does being a people person even mean!

Varun didn’t feel he was particularly the most likable person in the room or that all the people he knew absolutely loved his company. What he would never deny, however, was that he couldn’t survive without his tightly woven cocoon of friends and family.

Varun was used to arranging get-togethers at his house with his school friends, college friends and relatives. You name a group of dear ones and Varun could not wait to catch up with them, hang out and relive old memories. Even at work, he couldn’t wait to chat with his colleague-turned-friends during breaks because it would boost his energy for the rest of the workday. As for his family, he would gladly admit that they were his biggest strength. Starting from waking up to a bustling house to those lazy post-dinner chats, he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. That’s why today morning was quite special.

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