Jayanth Karunika was twenty years old when he lit his mother's pyre at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi. He was the eldest son. The priests told him to walk counter-clockwise, not to look back, to let it break. He did all three. He did not understand any of it. He has spent the years since returning to Varanasi, to the ghat, to the question of what that morning was. He stood at other fires. He watched other families. He read the Puranas and the Upanishads and the histories of the city. He spoke to the Dom workers who keep the fire. He sat with the dogs. Slowly, the morning began to make sense. Not as a loss. As something he had been part of that was larger than loss. This book is that understanding. It took six years to arrive at. Jayanth holds an MSc in Finance from Queen's University Belfast and is based in Bengaluru. He documents death rituals and cremation culture at Manikarnika Ghat on Instagram at @the_undying_fire. Beauty of Death in Varanasi is his first book.

Dr. Thasneem is a women’s health practitioner, functional nutrition specialist, and educator whose work is shaped by both clinical expertise and lived experience. Her approach to hormonal and metabolic health is grounded in one core belief: women’s bodies are not broken — they are responding.Her professional journey began in physiotherapy, where she completed her Master’s degree in Physiotherapy with specialisation in Neurology and Psychosomatic Disorders. During her clinical training, she became deeply interested in the connection between the brain, nervous system, emotional stress, and physical symptoms — particularly in women whose complaints were repeatedly labelled as “functional,” “psychological,” or unexplained.This interest became personal when she began navigating her own experience with PCOS. Like many women, she encountered medical gaslighting — symptoms dismissed, weight blamed, and solutions reduced to restriction and willpower. Despite doing “everything right,” her body continued to signal distress. What she recognised, both as a clinician and a patient, was a gap in care: hormones were being treated in isolation, without addressing stress physiology, insulin resistance, emotional safety, or lived experience.This realisation led her to pursue an MSc in Clinical Nutrition with a focus on women’s health, alongside advanced training in functional nutrition and functional medicine. She is certified by the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) and has additional qualifications in lifestyle medicine, women’s fitness, and therapeutic movement. She is also a NASM Women’s Fitness Specialist and a certified yoga therapist from S-VYASA, integrating movement, breath, and nervous system regulation into hormonal care.Dr. Thasneem’s work focuses primarily on PCOS as a whole-body metabolic and stress condition, rather than a disorder limited to ovaries or fertility. Through years of clinical practice, she has supported women across life stages — from adolescents with cycle irregularities and insulin resistance, to postpartum women navigating recovery, and women in perimenopause and menopause seeking sustainable health beyond symptom suppression.She is particularly known for connecting early patterns seen in PCOS with later hormonal transitions, emphasising prevention, nervous system regulation, and long-term resilience. Her approach challenges discipline-based and shame-driven models of care, replacing them with education, compassion, and biological understanding.Through her flagship framework, SerotofyHer, Dr. Thasneem integrates functional diagnostics, clinical nutrition, strength-based movement, and trauma-informed principles to help women rebuild trust with their bodies.SerotofyHer: Beyond the Ovaries is her first book — written for women who have felt unheard or dismissed, and for practitioners ready to look beyond surface-level solutions. Her work stands at the intersection of science and self-respect, with one clear message: healing begins with safety, not force.

Sai Sujaya Chaturvedula is an Inner Voice Mentor and Life Coach who guides individuals towards reconnecting with their inner truth, intuition, and Godself within. Her journey did not begin with certainty, but with questions.Like many, she found herself navigating inner conflicts, unmet expectations, and a constant search for deeper meaning. Despite being an achiever on the outside, she often felt disconnected within. Everything began to shift when she turned inward. Through her process of healing, self-inquiry, and spiritual alignment, Sujaya discovered the profound power of the Inner Voice—the quiet, honest guidance that exists within each of us.What started as a personal journey became a path of purpose. Today, she supports others in moving beyond overthinking, emotional overwhelm, and self-doubt, helping them build a relationship with themselves rooted in awareness, trust, and alignment.Her work integrates intuitive guidance, practical reflection, and grounded emotional work—making spirituality accessible, relatable, and deeply transformative. Through her sessions, writing, and teachings, Sujaya is committed to creating a space where individuals can return to themselves—not as who they were conditioned to be, but as who they truly are.