Once a Domestic Help, Now a Best-selling Author: The Inspiring Story of Baby Halder

Source: culturebowl

Baby Halder, who chose to be a single parent and walked out on her marriage to escape her abusive husband is now a renowned name in the literary world. She spends her day as a domestic help and devotes her nights to writing. She was introduced to the bitter truth and realities of life at a very young age when her mother deserted her at four and was married off by her stepmother at a tender age of 13.

While working as a maid she faced ill-treatment from her employers but the pressure of raising three children single-handedly made her even more determined. Ms. Halder’s life changed when she started working at Prabodh Kumar’s house, a retired professor of Anthropology and grandson of Munshi Prem Chand. On realizing that she had a story to tell, he encouraged her to read and write.

Baby Halder started describing her sensitive memories and ended up writing her autobiography ‘Aalo Aandhari’, which was published in 2002 with the help of Professor Kumar. The spellbinding story provides an insight to the lives of several underprivileged women who lead an invisible and grinding life. The book was later published in English, titled ‘A Life Less Ordinary: A Memoir’ and was translated into 12 foreign languages. Her second book ‘Eshast Rupantar’ is a sequel to her first book and is also about her life. She recently published her third boBaby Halder, who chose to be a single parent and walked out on her marriage to escape her abusive husband is now a renowned name in the literary world. ok ‘Ghare Ferar Path’ in 2014 that commemorates her story from childhood to teenage.

Her literary journey so far has paved for her the path to different literary fests around the world where she is often invited as one of the distinguished guests to speak about her books and tyrannies which were initially written as a vent to her hardships and became the best sellers afterwards.

However, even after being a successful author of three bestselling books, she still works as a housekeeper and has become a motivation for those who often find excuses to shirk work and crib for not having one thing or the other.