India, July 27 -- In the book, you note your mother's storytelling influence on you.

At around 14, my mother came to India from what was to become Pakistan. She grew up with an elder brother and her sisters-in-law in Jamshedpur. She'd tell us stories of her younger days. Storytelling was quite a popular pastime back then. It was a different time, without any of the digital distractions. But besides telling stories, my mother used to document things very carefully. Whether it was taking stock of daily rations or the movies she and my father had watched, or the ones we watched together. She wrote poetry and documented stories of domestic workers as well, asking me to type them out in Hindi.

My mother also took great pains to maintain fami...