Author, poet, speaker, and creative force—Karina Pandya wears many hats. Known for her strong voice and vivid storytelling, Karina is quietly shaping the literary map with stories that pulse with emotion, cultural insight, and raw honesty. Her latest work, Inside Mumbai: Stories from the Heart of a Vibrant City, does just that. It dives into the streets, souls, and silences of Mumbai through the eyes of young journalists trying to find their place—and their stories—in a city full of contrasts.
From Car Crash Survivor to City Chronicler
Karina’s writing journey began on a deeply personal note with her memoir Touching Void: Surviving a Car Accident, a powerful account of resilience. Since then, she’s built a strong body of work, including two fiction titles (New York Wakes to Culture and Inside Mumbai: Stories from the Heart of a Vibrant City). Each of her books reflects her keen sense of place, her love for layered characters, and her ability to bring out beauty in chaos.
A Newsroom as Real as the Streets Outside
In Inside Mumbai: Stories from the Heart of a Vibrant City, Karina creates a fictional newsroom that mirrors real life, complete with deadlines, inner conflicts, and quiet wins. The story follows Mahi Chatterjee and six other interns at The Indian Express, each assigned to a different part of Mumbai, representing the city’s seven islands. Their task? To write about Mumbai in their own voice, proving that there’s no single way to describe this ever-changing city.
Why Mumbai Had to Be Next
Karina says the idea came from her love for Mumbai and her reflections after writing about New York. “I felt a pull to turn that same lens on my own city,” she explains. The book took her eight months to write and edit. “Every chapter felt like peeling back a layer of the city—sometimes gritty, sometimes poetic, but always alive,” she adds.
Letting the City Speak First
Her writing process is both thoughtful and instinctive. Karina treats the city like a living character—one that breathes through its people, its past, and its pressure to keep moving. Through Mahi’s journey as a budding journalist, readers are given a close look at Mumbai’s cultural heart—its legends, love stories, divisions, myths, and the headlines behind the headlines.
Craft Backed by Credibility
Karina’s past achievements speak volumes: she was named Poet of the Year by the International Society of Poets in 2004, and her poems were semi-finalists in international contests in the early 2000s. She also runs Limits Make Things Too Small, a poetry platform that once hosted one of Mumbai’s top spoken-word events.
Sharing What She’s Learned
Beyond books, Karina is a respected speaker and educator, often invited to talk at business schools and creative forums. Her sessions span subjects like mental health, digital storytelling, and the craft of writing.
What She Hopes You’ll Feel
When asked what she wants readers to take from her new book, she says, “I want people to walk away with empathy. To realise that behind every byline, every silence, there’s a story—and sometimes, that story sounds like our own.”
What’s Next: Grief, Cats, and the Chaos of Life
And there’s more to come. Karina is working on a new poetry collection that looks at grief, longing, and humour in the middle of life’s mess. She’s also writing a short story collection about four cats that change people’s lives in the most unexpected ways.
With every story she writes, Karina Pandya reminds us that great writing doesn’t need noise—it just needs truth. And sometimes, it takes only one honest voice to make a city, and its people, feel seen.
