I believe in ghostwriters
I wrote this article for Open magazine about an insubstantial but integral side of me and although everything I've written is completely true I have to be honest and admit that I discern running through it a kind of plaintive "hire me, won't you!" tone. So go ahead: hire me.
I have worked as a ghost writer ever since I was quite young and always felt happy that people thought I'd represented them remarkably well. Quite by chance, I began doing this professionally after my friend Ritu Malhotra asked me if I would help her write the biography of her father-in-law S.P. Malhotra as an 80th birthday tribute to his dramatic and courageous life.
S.P. Malhotra is the founder of the Weikfield company and very few of us who grew up in India in the 1960s, 70s and 80s have forgotten the taste of Weikfield custard - the only one of its kind in those days.
The book, Doing it My Way, was published for private circulation and was well enough considered for me to receive a string of commissions after. Most notable was the biography of Finolex founding Chairman P.P. Chhabria, There's No Such Thing As a Self-Made Man. You can read more about this striking and inspiring book here.
This photo shot by photographer Ritesh Uttamchandani for Open magazine shows me smugly reading S.P. Malhotra's book (in my wispy, insubstantial way) while waiting for the next roll-out.
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