Book Cover: Traitor

"As i live my days locked up in a wretched prison in this frozen country, i start to write the story of my beloved child, Nirami. The story begins with the birth of God." Traitor gives voice to the testimonies of millions of refugees of a war-ravaged land. The option above went for print..however i prefer the one on the bottom right..i love the way type sits on the texture of the wall. A shirt, a shadow of a man, a wall, all in one...an embodiment of a story behind a story..

Book Cover: Nautch Girls of the Raj and Love Stories from the Raj

'To see her is to fall in love,and to drink a cup of wine from the flask of
her lustrous eyes is to be transported to the cosiest corner of heaven.
To be with her even for a moment is to taste immortality'

I enjoyed doing this series of Raj books. The British Raj in India has always fascinated me
where Britishers could afford to have 2 or more wives. Over the centuries female dancers have appeared in various incarnations, frequently as temple dancers dedicated to the Gods, for dance is believed to have divine approval. Her mystique continued during the Raj and her popularity flourished amongst the English sahibs.

Book Cover: Making India Work

'What's wrong with this country?' is a question we often ask ourselves in spite of the fact that India is one of the world's fastest growing economies. We know the answers too: poverty, mismanagement and corruption. William Bissell in Making India Work puts forward his ideas that, if implemented, will make India a great nation.

Working on Making India Work has been no less than a journey for me. I tried all options from boatmen pulling a boat to an aerial view of fishermen to an attractive portrait of a farmer's wife on the cover but none worked. There definitely was a problem in understanding the target audience. The final cover that went to Press turned out to be a simple palette of Green.


Though, yes it reminds me of my experience when i stop by FabIndia and see it displayed at the counter. I often smile then...

Book Cover: Memories of Life in Lhasa under Chinese Rule

Memories of Life in Lhasa is Tubten's autobiography who was arrested while defending the Dalai lama's palace, and after four years in prisons and labor camps, he spent almost two decades in Lhasa as a requisitioned laborer and 'class enemy'

While searching for images of Potala palace for this cover, i often wondered how the palace is from inside..is it as beautiful as it is on the outside? This is one of the options that i had done. I tried to move away from the common Red/Black color scheme here, that is often used for such covers.

I often feel that i have a strange connection to monks, to Buddhism. I perceived myself to be looking at the Potala palace and reminiscing my days there. Little did i understand that time that i was creating a "mood" cover. This is one of my few covers that went ahead smoothly.

Book Cover: Killing the Water

It was pouring in Delhi that day...quite so that i even took a lift to get out of my apartment.. I felt it was the perfect day to do this cover. For i had the exact emotion in my mind and i knew i would be able to get it on paper. As a designer, i feel there are days you know when you know you are going to crack it. None of us want to miss it.

The title story "Killing the Water" runs across a family who constantly fight with water level entering their house. They try of all the methods to raise their ground level and build a new house.
Till then their pond breeds fishes, which is a source of their bread and butter but one day even the pond water fails to endure...

This is one of the covers that went ahead smoothly and the author liked it :-)

Attaching the author's comments here..
Wonderful. You did an amazing job with the cover. Everyone who's seen it has only had strong words of praise. I did receive my copies of the book and I'm very happy with the book.