What This Holi Launch Season Revealed
As I begin wrapping up the launch season of Happy Hippotastic Holi!, I find myself returning less to metrics and milestones, and more to moments.
Yes, this journey has also brought meaningful validation that helps increase the visibility of work: a shoutout on big screen by Kelsi Pilcher from Balanced Bookshelf on Fox 5 DC for National Reading Month, a last minute spot in the Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s already full Holi Programming, a trade review from Midwest Book Review that described Happy Hippotastic Holi! as “heritage with heart.” But what has stayed with me most are the children, their responses, and the quiet truths our interactions revealed.
Belonging on Your Own Terms
Across schools, bookstores, and community spaces, children and their grown ups leaned in with curiosity to explore not just the world of Holi, but also the words of Hindi, regardless of their backgrounds. This is something I have seen before in workshops around My Heart Would Like Some More, Please!, where we explore early counting and mindful eating through an Indian tea party story, food, and play. When we create spaces where connection is prioritized over correction, choices are respected, and curiosity leads, we feel empowered to explore.
Too often, cultural celebrations get measured by volume, visibility, or participation that looks a certain way. But these workshops remind all of us that belonging doesn’t have to be loud, or fit someone else’s idea of what it should look like, to be real. A child who watches quietly, steps back from the colors, or joins through words and story is not missing the moment. They are having their own relationship with it.
One story from Australia has stayed with me most.
A dear friend shared that she gifted a copy of Happy Hippotastic Holi! to a young boy who had often been pressured into playing with colors during Holi, even when he was visibly uncomfortable. As he turned the pages, she saw him smile with the feeling of being understood. In that same moment, something opened up for his parents too: a gentler way of seeing him, and supporting him.
Happy Hippotastic Holi! was shaped not only by my love for Holi, but also by personal healing work around childhood trauma, fear, and anxiety. Perhaps this is why seeing it carry the joy of Holi while offering children and adults language for belonging, boundaries, and bodily autonomy feels deeply powerful for my own child-self.
A New Language for Holi
At every Holi storytelling workshop, the room echoed with cheers of “Pause. Ask. Play! रुको। पूछो। खेलो! Ruko. Poocho. Khelo!” instead of “Bura na mano, Holi Hai!” That shift in language helped set the tone for every child, including my own, to explore colors on their own terms.
Watch till the end to hear non-Hindi speakers joyfully engage with Hindi at Barnes & Noble Author Workshop for Happy Hippotastic Holi! including a funny mix-up along the way.
Readership That Returns
This launch trail also brought the gift of repeated connection. Many of you who welcomed My Heart Would Like Some More, Please!, also made space for Happy Hippotastic Holi! One family, who I had the privilege to meet during my earlier author workshops from two years ago returned again this Holi season. The eldest recognized the book immediately and said, “I have that book, and it’s great”.
My children's classmates shared that they remember my first book, with a hungry brown bear who had a tea party and ate lots of yummy treats. These small moments feel symbolic of a meaningful readership that grows slowly but steadily through trust, return, and connection. It is an honor to witness and be part of it.
Joy. Choice. And Connection.
Again and again, I saw people embrace Hindi, regardless of their own linguistic background. At one elementary school workshop, a student from a Hindi-heritage home told me, “I didn’t know a lot of Hindi but I learnt a lot today.” Her classmate, with no connection to Hindi, said, “I want this book because I love hippos, and I want to learn Hindi because it sounds fun.” A Bangla-speaking aunt, a Telugu-speaking dad, English-only families, Spanish-speaking homes, and so many others took home a copy for their young explorers to continue cultivating language curiosity. It’s also why my children have books in Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish alongside English and Hindi.
With Natasha B. Padhiar, Illustrator of Happy Hippotastic Holi!, at British International School-NY as part of their Book Week celebrations.
This journey continues to affirm for me that children and us respond deeply when we make space for both joy and choice. For language and play. For culture with consent.
🌸 Thank you, and shukriya, for reading till the end. I am so grateful that your curiosity has led you to our growing tribe of explorers. As an indie creative working in a bilingual, cross-cultural space, validation does not often come through official channels. More often, it comes through lived experiences and readers like you, who are open to exploration and willing to meet stories where they are.
📝 If Happy Hippotastic Holi! has found your way into your home, classroom, library, or community space, I would be so grateful if you considered leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or here. Your words help more readers, educators, and caregivers discover the book and the kind of celebration it hopes to make room for: one rooted in joy, choice, and connection.
💌 If you are planning for the upcoming Holi and/or Diwali season and are looking for a joyful, author-led storytelling workshop for your school, library, bookstore, or community space, I’d love to connect. Please reach out to explore possibilities.
