In 1998 I began reading the Bhagavad Gita.  Since I was new to the world of Indian religion, I had a limited understanding of the culture, traditions and social nuances that were contained within. My good friend was kind enough to give me a children’s edition of Indian stories. Reading this gave me a better background and understanding of these key points. Because in truth, what better way to understand a new religion or culture than through the way the children would be taught? Since I was like a child in this new exploration, it was best to take it with the eyes of a child.

Reading these children’s stories must have gotten my mind going and one evening I dreamt an Indian fairytale.  It reminded me a lot of Cinderella.  When I woke up in the morning I quickly wrote down the ideas of the dream. I then told my friend what I had dreamt and asked her if this story was somewhere in Indian folklore (thinking that maybe I had stumbled across it in my previous readings or conversations). She told me she had never heard about it herself. After some research, I could find no record of it either.

I carried this dream inside my head for at least a year. Forming it, changing it and while living in England in 1999 I put pen to paper and wrote the first draft of “Princess Gauthami”.  Sadly, during my move back to the US, I lost the first manuscript.  This dampened my spirits a bit and I put the dream to the side until the spring of 2006.

Once again I sat down to write this fairytale that had somehow crept into my mind while I was sleeping. And now after much fiddling and procrastination I have sent it off to a publisher. I have no idea on it’s reception and probably won’t hear anything for 4-6 months.  But I am hoping that when they read it, they share in the dream that I crafted almost ten years ago.