I studied in Gujarati medium. English was never used in villages of Gujarat, but the language attracted me during the school days itself. Any other student studying in vernacular medium would know it requirs an effort to learn English. There was no exposure to English movies, books or television programs either.

Writing in English started with a poem during high school years. The English teacher was encouraging and played an important role in my efforts to move beyond textbooks. During those days I read ‘Enoch Arden’ of Lord Tennyson, of course, with help of a dictionary. It created deep interest to pursue English literature.

During the UPSC preparation years, I wrote a lot in English, in the Educational category. The first book in English was UPSC Main Solved Papers, written in 2006 and then updated every year till very recent time. Now some of its content is available on this blog. Many more books were published for UPSC, some of them were only of current relevance and thus are no more in print.

Currently, writing in English is in the form of articles. One regular Sunday column either ‘Living Bridge’ or ‘Introspection’ appears in Asian Voice, UK. It covers positive stories about Indian economy, culture, community or cultural issues. Most of its articles are placed in relevant categories on this blog.

I have written some short stories and two novels are in editing process.