She has been to places like France, Germany and Hong Kong being a published author. Her books are translated to 21 languages including 13 foreign languages. She is invited as a speaker at literary festivals across the country.
But,
The other side of her life is dark.
Her father was a habitual drinker and her mother left her at the age of 4.
Her family background forced her to leave studies in standard 6.
At the age of 12, she was married to a man aged 26 years.
She gave birth to her first child at the age of 13 and two other in quick succession.
After facing domestic violence for years, she left her husband and came to Delhi. She was just 25.
Without much education and support, she could only manage to work as a domestic help(maid).
She is Baby Halder. A renowned author.
It was never going to be possible for Baby to achieve this success without the support of her employer and her mentor, Prabodh Kumar, who is the grandson of legendary writer, Munshi Premchand.
Baby worked as a maid at the house of Prabodh Kumar. While she worked as a maid, Prabodh Kumar was impressed by her interest in books. She would read a lot of Bengali books from the bookshelf of Prabodh.
The most important point in the life of Baby came when she read Taslima Nasreen’s book Amar Meyebela. This book did the magic on Baby. The point in the book was about a girl born and brought up in poor society. Baby had her own such memories and could connect with the writing from the perspective of a storyteller.
Prabodh Kumar insisted Baby to write her own story in her mother tongue, Bengali. As Baby wrote the story, Prabodh Kumar helped her edit the story in form of a book. After consulting with few friends from the literature industry, Prabodh Kumar decided to take the book to readers.
Aalo Aandhari was a bestseller from the first day. The depth of the words in which Baby wrote about her life was enormous. This 2006 book went on to become a big success and was translated in many languages.
Her second book Eshast Rupantar was published in 2010. This book was a sequel to her first book and told the story of her life after the first book was published. Her latest and the third book Ghare Ferar Path, which tells the story of her life, the difficulties and the success, was published in 2014.
Despite being a bestselling author, Baby still continues to work as a maid. She does not like to be called as an author but likes to be recognized as a maid.
