Bronze Recipient of the 2023-2024 Reader Views Literary Awards
Postcards from Within is a mother-daughter story of love, loss, and grief. It is a daughter's memoir of an introspective life journey as a caregiver to her mother. The musings in Postcards from Within explore Savita's own vulnerabilities as a human being and ask some philosophical questions of life. Savita believes that to care for someone who gives one life is indeed a great privilege. Love, loss, and grief are the fundamentals of the human condition. Even though this journey was uniquely hers, Savita is convinced that the elements of her story are not; rather, they are shared by much of humanity. Savita finds solace and support from the many untold stories of her fellow humans, who are each on their own similar, yet unique, quests.
Savita Harjani was born in Bombay and grew up in New Delhi, India. She moved to the United States when she was twenty years old. She has lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Santa Clara, California, and for the last thirty-two years has been living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She studied law at Hamline University School of Law. Savita started her legal career working at Thomson Reuters and later transitioned to legal consulting, wherein she created a niche strategic-legal-management model. In 2016, Savita paused her professional life and moved to India to take care of her mother. After completing her tenure as a caregiver in 2020, Savita decided to not return to the profession and retired the active practice of law. She is now exploring her second career as a writer in the third act of her life, starting with her debut work, Postcards from Within, a memoir.
"POSTCARDS FROM WITHIN is a vulnerable look at the human condition. Each musing could be pondered on its own with an unspoken offering of provocation for readers to gracefully (and sometimes humorously) explore their own truths. It's meaningful, relatable, humble, and timeless. It is an all-star book that can be read again and again." - Aila Malik, founder and principal of Venture Leadership Consulting; author of POCKET MOMMY and MOMMY, AM I AMERICAN?; and change leader
"Each time I picked up POSTCARDS, I realized that each entry called out to be savored, mulled over, internalized, and reflected upon. Each one touched on our shared experience of life. Themes of love and connection and of loss and discovery. Discovery of self most of all. I could not charge through the book. It demanded that I pause—that I read and reread Savita's entries and allow them to echo deep in the core of my being. My guess is that all of us 'ordinary humans' (as Savita describes herself) will see our own dreams and fears and challenges reflected in her words. Thank you, Savita, for being willing to share yourself with us all. Thank you for POSTCARDS FROM WITHIN." - Scott DeLisi, US Ambassador (retired), Executive Director of Engage Nepal
