Ira Trivedi

Ira Trivedi is an Indian born author, columnist, and yoga acharya.

Her works include India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st century,^[1] What Would You Do to Save the World? (Penguin Books),^[2] The Great Indian Love Story (Penguin Books) and There's No Love on Wall Street (Penguin Books).^[3] She writes both fiction and non fiction. Her non fiction and journalism focus on issues of women and gender in India.

Her recent book My Book of Yoga, a book of yoga for children introducing the character of Om the Yoga Dog, came out on the International Yoga Day, 21 June 2016.

Works

Nikhil and Riya: A Love Story

Nikhil and Riya was released in early 2017 to positive reviews. It was her first foray into the YA market. The story is set at the Residency School, and is the story of two students, Nikhil and Riya.

The book is thought to be based on Ira's experiences at the Daly College, Indore.

India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st Century

India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st Century is a 2014 non-fiction book^[1][4][5][6] about India's new social revolution in marriage and sexuality. It describes the major social changes that Indian society is going through today, Trivedi travelled to over a dozen cities and interviewed 500 people including academics, policy makers, law-enforcers and other participants in India's sexual and marriage revolution.^[7][8][9] India in Love is her first work of non-fiction, and it is divided into two parts; sexuality, and marriage.^[10]

What Would You Do to Save the World?

Trivedi wrote this book when she was 18 years old. Written from the perspective of Riya, a contestant in the pageant, Trivedi writes about the murky on- goings behind the scenes of an Indian beauty pageant.

Though a work of fiction, it draws inspiration from real-life characters, many of whom are painted vividly in the book. According to the Times of India, for the first time, a 'Could-have-been Beauty Queen', Ira Trivedi, a beauty pageant participant, pens a bare-all account of the process from application to the commonplace final question asked of the five finalists, that is the title of her book, 'What Would You Do to Save the World? (Penguin Books)^[2]

It has also been termed as 'An entertaining first novel (Deccan Herald)^[11]', with a letter-perfect analysis of the social phenomenon known as South Bombay...(Outlook)^[12]'.

The Great Indian Love Story

The Great Indian Love story is a social satire on Delhi high society. The book begins with Riya, returning to New Delhi after failing to find a job in the US after finishing college. In Delhi, Riya meets Serena, a troubled young woman whom she befriends and through whose eyes Riya sees Delhi's high life and its accompanying dark side.

The Great Indian Love Story also tells the story of Parmeet, Serena's mother, who looks for passion outside her marriage with disastrous consequences, and S.P. Sharma, Parmeet's husband, who is driven to violence by her infidelity.

There's No Love on Wall Street

Continuing with the ritual of naming her protagonists, Riya, in her third book too, Trivedi tells the story of a pre-medical student who gives up the life of latex gloves for the charms of the Wall Street. As an intern at Goldenstein Smith, Riya works long, tedious hours, gets caught up in an insider trading scam, and discovers a hedonistic life style which is not as glamorous as it once appeared. She finds solace in an unreachable love, Jonathan, a Vice President at Goldenstein Smith.

This book took five years of planning and writing, revealed Trivedi, during her talk at the annual literary festival of IIT Delhi, LITERATI 2011. When asked about her fascination with the name Riya, Trivedi said that such a fascination did not exist, it was just a name that stuck.

There's no Love on Wall Street was released at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

There's no Love on Wall Street'^[13] was released at the Jaipur Literature Festival by Pulitzer Prize winning author Junot Diaz. According to a DNA review, the book's ' microscopic look at banking is severely convincing. Plus, the BlackBerry is where it rightfully belongs, in banking, and not in the manicured palms of teen princesses '.^[14]

Ira did an internship at investment bank JP Morgan Chase in the summer of 2005.

My Book of Yoga

My Book of Yoga was released on the International Yoga Day, 21 June 2016. The book covers asanas, pranayama and mindfulness practices for children. The book introduces the characters of Om the yoga dog, Prana the frog and Moksha the meditating elephant.

Media

Ira is also a journalist and writes for publications including Foreign Affairs, Times of India, Hindustan Times, India Today, Hindu, DNA, Deccan Chronicle,^[15] The Telegraph,^[16] Femina,^[17] Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan. Her writing is mostly on issues of gender and culture in India. Trivedi regularly appears on news channels in India and internationally speaking on issues of gender, women and youth.^{[18] [19]}

Ira has a yoga show, Yogaira on India Today TV. In 2017, it was the number one health and wellness show in the country.

She speaks at colleges in India and around the world including Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology. She has delivered a TED talk and several TEDx talks,^[20]

Personal

Family

Ira's father Vishwapati Trivedi has held several senior positions in the Indian Government including as the Chairman of India's National Airline, Air India.

Her grandmother, Kranti Trivedi, was a well known Hindi writer. A stamp in her honor was released by the Government of India in 2010. Her great grandfather, Pandit Ravishankar Shukla, was the first Chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and an instrumental part of India's freedom struggle.

Other members of Ira's family include, Vidya Charan Shukla and Shyama Charan Shukla, both veteran Indian politicians. The Shukla's are often regarded as the first family of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Education and Career

Ira holds a MBA from Columbia Business School where she was awarded the Feldberg Fellowship. She holds a BA in Economics from Wellesley College, Massachusetts where she was a member of the Varsity Squash team.

She learnt and studied French at the University of Provence in Aix-en- Provence.

Ira did her schooling from the Daly College, Indore where she was a nationally ranked squash player.^[21] She studied science and won several awards for her academic performance.

She also studied at Longfellow Middle School, Virginia and Haycock Elementary School,^[22] Virginia. She began a law degree (LLB) but did not finish it.

After finishing her MBA, Ira worked briefly at Vistajet, a private jet company based in London. She quit and then began writing full-time.

Yoga

Ira has done extensive training in asana and pranayama practices and holds the title of "Yoga Acharya"- Master of Yoga certification from the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre. Ira led the yoga session at the 1st International Day of Yoga at Rajpath, New Delhi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with 35,000 people did yoga which broke the Guinness world record for the largest yoga class, with 35,985 people performing the ancient Indian discipline at once.^[23] She regularly does yoga programs for television. She has a keen interest in Hindu philosophy and Vedanta.

Ira conducts workshops on yoga with news channels like News 24, NDTV, India Today Group, NewsX and IBN7

Namami Yoga Foundation

Ira is the founder of Namami Yoga,^[24] a charity and not for profit foundation that brings yoga to the underprivileged children. The Foundation conducts yoga classes for underprivileged children in New Delhi.

Awards

Ira won the prestigious ‘Devi Award’, for dynamism and innovation in her work, in November 2015 in Uttar Pradesh.^[25]

In the same year, she was awarded the UK Media Award for the best investigative article dealing with bride trafficking in India.^[26]

She was also nominated by Foreign Affairs for the Sigma Delta Chi Award in journalism in 2015.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ira Trivedi.

• Official website