Chemical Khichdi: How I Hacked My Mental Health by Aparna Piramal Raje

‘The price of our silence about mental health issues is the loneliness and isolation of those who suffer from them and the mystified sadness of those who love them. 

Aparna Piramal Raje’s book will throw much-needed light upon an area of darkness.’

—Jerry Pinto, author of Em and the Big Hoom

“A story of hope… I salute her courage and her resolve to help others.”

Anand Mahindra, Non-executive Chairperson, Mahindra Group

About the Book

‘An inspiring story of vulnerability and resilience, whether or not one has a mental health condition.’
N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons

Aparna Piramal Raje‘s life looks successful. Hailing from a well-known business family, she is married, has two children, is a published author, a popular columnist with a leading daily and was the CEO of a leading furniture company.

However, only a few close friends and family members were aware that she struggled with a serious mental illness–bipolar disorder–for two decades. Also known as manic depression, bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme shifts in moods and energy levels, leading to euphoric highs and damaging lows. Now, Aparna wants to tell the story of how she learnt to come to terms with her condition.

Part memoir, part reportage and part self-help guide, Chemical Khichdi seeks to remove some of the stigma associated with a serious mental illness in an empathetic, accessible and candid way. Its ‘seven therapies’ present a hopeful and helpful pathway for all those with a mental health condition, their loved ones and their mental health practitioners, with the message that they can live with a vulnerability and thrive.

About the author

Educated at Oxford and Harvard, Aparna Piramal Raje is the author of Working Out of the Box: 40 Stories of Leading CEOs. She is a regular columnist with the Mint. She contributed to the UK’s Weekend Financial Times, a global publication, for several years in the past. Over the past decade, she has fostered an awareness of design, especially workplace design, in companies in India. Now, Aparna aspires to leverage her first-hand experience of mental health to make a difference in this sector.