Amma, Appa and Adi for being my most ardent cheerleaders. Appa, I promise that someday soon I will take your suggestions for what I should write next.
Surabhi A.R. and Varsha V. Rajan for volunteering to read my early drafts and giving me such insightful feedback. I couldn’t have done this without you.
Gurveen Chadha, my editor, who pushed me to get this book to where it needed to be, without ever making me feel like I was being pushed. I’m glad I got to work with you again. Thanks also to the team at Penguin Random House India—Devangana Dash, Saloni Mital, Sumangla Sharma and Vaishnavi Singh—for all your hard work and support.
Archana Iyer and Chandhrika Venkataraman for being the inspiration behind Kavya. You’ll always be my 3 a.m. friends. After all, you know too much!
Navia Shetty, my favourite trivia partner, for being a part of my most fun (and embarrassing) trivia memories. Someday, there will be a question where the right answer will be ‘The Statue of Liberty’s husband’.
The Singhs, the ‘Soul Sante Sisters’, Soumya Sampath, Gayathri Arumugam and my US family for keeping me sane and always giving me something to laugh about.
Friends who made dreary days at work fun: Prerna Kapoor Sonkar, Abhineet Sonkar and Kaushik Mitra. Adithi Murthy and Tushna Mistry for the giggles, the stress snacking and inspiring some of my best comics. Credits also to Tushna for the mint-chocolate-macchiato recommendation at Starbucks.
Zarreen Khan, whom I first met in the corporate world but is now the author friend I’ll always lean on for advice, laughs and encouragement while I plod through a manuscript.
My amazing husband, Vivek, for all his enthusiasm, encouragement and the much needed critical feedback—you make my writing what it is. Of all the friends I’ve made at my various workplaces, you’ll always be my forever friend.