Edited excerpts from the interview.

Kalpana Chawla

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STEM Baala was launched in 2019. What prompted you to write a book about it now?
Since its launch, the more time I’ve spent with the students, the more I’ve noticed that one of the reasons these girls don’t see STEM fields as potential career choices is because there are no role models for them to look up to, and they do not know of many Indian women who have succeeded in STEM fields. So, I began to share with these girls the stories of all the famous Indian women who have achieved great heights in these fields. I realised that they were fascinated and inspired by these stories, and motivated to learn more about different STEM fields. During the lockdown, I thought about writing the stories I used to narrate to the girls, in simple and accessible language for all ages. I was further motivated to write when I found that there were few books in the Indian market that spoke of successful Indian women in STEM fields using engaging stories.

Did you intend on self-publishing it or did you approach publishers?
This is my first book, and I’m not an experienced writer so I always intended to self-publish the book. That way, all the sales proceeds from the book can go towards furthering the cause of supporting girls’ education in India.

Priya Balasubramaniam

Your sister Janhavi has helped you with the illustrations. Tell us about the process of coordinating that along with the content. How long did it take you to put the book together?
I started by creating a data bank of successful Indian women in STEM fields, who I then researched about. After I had collected all my data, I picked 20 women to write about. I realised that if I was going to make my stories engaging for young girls, illustrations needed to be in the book. So, I took my sister’s help. Due to the lack of recognition some of these women had received, I felt it was key that each story contained a picture of the woman. To make it more engaging, an activity (like match the following, puzzles etc) in the form of illustrations has been added at the end of every story. It took me six months to finish working on the book in its entirety, from May 2020 to November 2020.

Vansh Tibrewal

What did you learn while working on the book?
Writing this book was a new experience, and it was way out of my comfort zone. Despite this, it has been an enriching experience. One of the biggest challenges I had to face while writing was that the stories were about real-life legends rather than fictional characters, meaning the focus of my work was as much on research as it was on writing. Incorporating the real-life narratives of women to frame stories was a difficult yet exciting process for me, and more importantly, it was a learning experience. I learnt that each of these women had to face challenges not just at the start of their careers, but throughout it, and despite everything, their passion and willpower prevailed and proved anyone who doubted them wrong.