“Mom, are there only two brave girls in India?” Neha’s heart sank when her daughter asked her the question. She knew she had to write a book about women who had inspired her. Women her daughter could read about and harbour inspiration from.
Those who have followed Neha’s work, the two books that she has written — Girl Power and iParent — and her articles, would know how much she focuses her writing on children. Her articles are often on subjects such as cyberbullying and harassment a child could face online, and she hasn’t shied away from talking about the thing almost everyone would prefer brushing under the rug — child sexual abuse.
With an irreverent way of writing, Neha’s words hit the nail right on its head. Not one to mince words, her columns hold the doors open to conversations on touchy subjects, such as child suicides. Approaching them sensitively and yet directly.
For her first book, Neha Hiranandani went around the country hunting for untold stories, names of women no one had even heard of. She spoke to children and their parents to understand their anxieties for the second. She has put herself in the thick of things, and not just written about the subjects that intrigue her from afar.
But why would a woman who could just live a life of wealth and luxury choose to get her hands dirty? The answer is simple. Neha wants change. Raising a child of her own, she is someone who faces the challenges of motherhood unique to this generation of mothers. She understands she has the privilege of exposure and, therefore, the opportunity to write about issues that affect children and their parents.
With social media becoming the first playground for children, Neha Jhalani Hiranandani understands that the roles of guardians and parents are evolving rapidly. According to reports, 46% of urban Indian parents have reported that their children spend less than six hours online every day, while 15% of parents said that their kids spend over six hours on the internet.
If parents don’t acquaint themselves with the internet their children inhabit, they won’t be able to protect them. However, there is a gap in the internet's understanding between the two generations. While growing up in the pre-internet era, if a child went to the park, parents relied on friends and acquaintances. There are no acquaintances on the internet, it’s a sea of strangers and many of them aren’t nice.
Neha Hiranandani is impacting the future of the country by talking about the ways to raise a child at a time when everything and everyone has, to put it colloquially, moved online. Stories have always held the power to shape and change lives. Neha writes because someone’s writing changed her life, and she wants to change the lives of many through hers. It is her bit for the future of the world — children.
