Delhi-born engineer-turned-author Monica Saigal credits a single devastating phone call for redirecting her life: a close friend died at 35 after hitting her head on a sidewalk, and the question that friend had long asked — 'What makes you think you're going to be old enough to retire?' — would not leave Saigal alone. She quit her full-time corporate job, cut her family's income in half, and began writing. She has since published 14 books and is now based in Northern Virginia, United States.

From Delhi to Northern Virginia: An Unlikely Literary Journey

Saigal grew up in what she describes as 'a very conservative Delhi Punjabi household' where, she said, the acceptable career options were 'doctor, lawyer, engineer, or marry rich.' She went the engineering route, earning two master's degrees — an outcome she jokes made her 'one of the original three idiots.' Born in Delhi, she was six when her family relocated to Bahrain, where they lived for nearly 30 years. The family eventually returned to India, and she completed her engineering degree from BMS College in Bengaluru.

She arrived in the United States in 1991 for graduate studies, first at Lynchburg College in Virginia and later at George Washington University. She recalls landing in a freezing January, having never seen snow, and finding small-town Virginia disorienting after the sensory intensity of life in India. There was no Indian grocery store in Lynchburg; she once borrowed cardamom from the wife of the only Indian professor on campus.

Corporate Career, a Tragedy, and a Turning Point

Saigal went on to work at Ernst & Young and then at Hewitt Associates in Northern Virginia. All through those years, she deferred the writing ambition she had carried since the age of five, telling herself she would pursue it after retirement. A German American friend in Cleveland kept urging her to start earlier. Then came the call from the friend's husband: she had fallen on a sidewalk, struck her head, and died at 35.

'Her question kept ringing in my mind,' Saigal recalled. 'So I quit my full-time job, cutting the family income by half and started to write. And I haven't looked back since.' The early years were financially lean — her first year writing about food earned her $5,000.

From Cookbooks to a Children's Book Written for Her Father

Food writing opened the door to cookbooks, including Modern Spice, published by Simon & Schuster. She later pitched a children's book, Papa's Butter Chicken, directly to Random House without a literary agent — a rare feat — inspired by the experience of cooking with her father. She calls it one of her most precious books. 'He looked so awkward, but he looked so proud,' she said of the moment the book reached him. She noted she recently lost her father, lending the book an added layer of personal weight.

Caregiving, Loss, and a New Short Story Collection

One of her most emotionally demanding books grew out of her experience as a caregiver when her former husband was critically ill. She turned that period — spent largely in an intensive care unit — into a journal-style guide for ICU caregivers, copies of which have reportedly been donated to visitors at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia. 'Caregiving, I think, is one of the hardest acts of love that you can perform for someone,' she said. 'And it's also one of those that's so, so, so exhausting. We don't talk about that.'

Her latest work, The Lotus Blooms Twice, is a short story collection centred on women in later life. The title draws on the lotus flower, which closes at night and reopens with morning sunlight — a metaphor Saigal uses for reinvention after life's defining labels fall away. 'At a certain age in life, the labels start going away,' she said. 'I've lost my parents. I'm no longer married. My children are now independent. So when all the labels go away, who are you?' Several stories deliberately leave their endings unresolved — a choice she says has 'succeeded in annoying the reader,' but also in opening discussions.

Advice to Writers and a Larger Reflection

Saigal, 57, sees Indian writing in English at a strong moment, noting that Indian bookstores now offer readers an abundance of choices. Her advice to aspiring writers is unambiguous: 'Sit and write. You cannot edit a blank page and you cannot sell an idea.' Asked whether she regrets walking away from a six-figure salary, she laughed. 'There are days. Don't get me wrong,' she said. 'I feel very satisfied and I feel very much at peace, and I think that's priceless.' She frames her writing not merely as a profession but as a calling — one that, she says, will not leave you alone until you answer it.