It’s been three days since I got back from a two week trip to India that was simultaneously awesome and incredibly exhausting. I reached Chennai one Monday morning and spent the day with Amma.

The next morning, I set out bright and early to Hiranandani Upscale School in the outskirts of the city for two sessions – one on storytelling and another on writing. The whole experience was new to me. The car ride to the school, the warm welcome, the eager faces of the children, the unfiltered questions, the brilliant articulation and the general sense of being just me for the first time in many, many years. I came home feeling high.

The next day I set out to Bangalore to hang out with a childhood bestie and fellow author. We chatted at home, reveled in each other’s company, did touristy things, ate, drank and lived it up before flying out to Delhi for the Bookaroo Kid’s Lit festival.

Bookaroo was a brilliant experience where I got to meet my publisher Vidhi for the first time. I met kindred folk and just soaked in the bookish company for what it was worth. My session was on journaling for an hour. Once the session started, I went with the flow and had a great time interacting with the kids and signing autographs later. I truly felt like a celebrity!

The following day was a trip to Agra covering the Taj Mahal and Red Fort. The highlight was the street food and the endless cups of chai in matki. Before I could get a chance to rest my weary legs, we were off to Amritsar the following day to visit the Partition Museum (highly recommended!), Jallianwala Bagh (stay away – it retains no sense of the gravity of what transpired there) and the Golden Temple (highly spiritual experience). I managed to buy a few punjabi suits and odd trinkets while there.

The flight home was long and tiring. So, back in Chennai, I rested a day before my next school visit at The Pupil Saveetha Eco school. Again, the energy in the schools at Chennai was simply something. The kids were bright, articulate and funny. They engaged well, asked a lot of questions and made me feel like what I was doing had merit. I signed over a hundred copies of my book at that school and left for home happy and hungry.

The following day, I set out in the afternoon for store visits at The Odyssey and THE Higginbothams in Chennai. Each store was roughly the same. Sign books, get photos taken and chat with the store employees before moving on. I had goosebumps seeing my book in a store I have visited multiple times as a child.

My second visit to Bangalore was on Vande Bharat (deserves the hype). After a day hanging out with family, I was at the Bangalore Lit Fest. It was chaotic, overwhelming and filled with celeb sightings. I finally met Andaleeb Wajid (an author I really, really like) for the first time. I also met a lot of my Twitter friends there. My session was short and sweet. I left for home right after feeling all peopled out. The following day I took the train back to Chennai and the flight back home to Philadelphia squeaking through with hours to spare before cyclone Michaung hit.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. It was lovely to travel without family. For the first time in years, I was just me – not a mom, partner or daughter. For the first time since my book was published, I felt like a published author.