My writing journey

How the book originated

Jui Karkare Navare

4/26/20232 min read

At my eighth Birthday celebrations in India.
At my eighth Birthday celebrations in India.

After my father's passing, I felt numb for the first few months. In January 2009, while in Boston, life continued around me as usual, but I was shaken to my core. As a means of catharsis, I began writing down my thoughts to ease my grief, anguish, and pain, and those writings became the first few chapters of my book.

I found inspiration to continue writing through articles in the news written by people who took great pride in their association with my father. His legacy spoke volumes, and every person who wrote about him was shocked and saddened by his untimely death.

Writing had been a passion of mine since childhood, and it helped me slowly come to terms with my loss. In April 2009, I conducted my first interview with Mendonca, a retired Indian Police Service Officer, after coming across a letter of appreciation he had written to my father when Mendonca was serving as Mumbai's Police Commissioner. The interview became a chapter in my book. I also reached out to Dr. Meeran Borwankar, Pune's first woman Police commissioner from 2010 to 2012, who sent me a touching letter that I included in the book.

Although I returned to Boston in May 2009, my aunt and uncle, Mrs. Amruta Karkare and Dr. Shirish Karkare, continued the work of interviewing people. They tirelessly recorded each interview and saved the audio clips for posterity. They also wrote down all the interviews they conducted in Marathi and systematically chronicled them.

My mother had hoped to see the book in print, but unfortunately, she passed away in 2014. Losing both of my parents in such a short time was the biggest setback of my life. However, my daughters helped me to forget the pain and recover from grief.

In the summer of 2015, while pushing my daughters in a stroller during a walk, I saw many grandparents walking alongside their grandchildren. It made me realize that I would never be able to see my parents take my children for a walk, and tears began streaming down my face. I resolved to finish the book to preserve my parents' memories for my children and to ensure that they would know their grandparent's legacy.

I wrote into the night when the household was silent. Initially, I explored many angles that the book could take, including writing about the 26/11 attacks and whether the criminals and masterminds would ever receive the punishment they deserved. However, I found that writing about this topic left me feeling numb. Eventually, I decided to focus solely on my father as an inspirational figure for the youth. His approach to life, focusing on the positives and making the best of the situation, helped guide my writing.

I went through my father's diaries, which he had written when he was 21, and they helped steer the book in a positive direction. I attended Non-Fiction Think Tank meetings at the Writer's Loft in Boston to go over every word I had written and scrutinize what it meant to the reader. Being an author is a draining process, especially writing about my parents after their passing, but I persevered.

Finally, the book was released on November 25th, 2019 and is available in all Crossword book stores in India as well as on Amazon. The Marathi translation by Shobha Chitre was released in December 2021.