Foreign Correspondent
and Author

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Babies and Bylines
  • Publisher:Harper Collins, India 2016
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Pallavi Aiyar is a hard-nosed, award-winning foreign correspondent. She’s used to working in the trenches of global journalism, from interviewing dissidents to hiking in the wilds of Tibet. But then she decides to have a baby. And another.

In three different parts of the world – Beijing, Brussels and Jakarta – Aiyar strives to keep up with both her babies and bylines -- with varying success. The result is a hilarious chronicle of overly knowledgeable nannies, chewed nipples and a dwindling salary, interwoven with philosophical inquiries into the nature of choice, value, touch and identity. Thought-provoking and irreverent, Babies and Bylines is as much a call to arms for women in the workplace as it is a laugh-out-loud stress buster for those contemplating parenthood or experiencing it.

Reviews

  • A handbook for Mums by Julie Merin, The Hindu

    In parts sarcastic, witty, serious and evocative, Pallavi Aiyar’s narrative is honest and relatable

  • Book Review: Babies and Bylines by Prerna Raturi, DNA

    Babies and Bylines so cleverly intersperses important questions along with funny, moving personal accounts that the book feels like a conversation one would have with a best friend over a glass of wine after the kids have been tucked into bed and there's an all-night chit-chat to look forward to.

  • Bringing up Mommy by Sharon Fernandes, Open Magazine

    This candid book reminds us a parents to cut ourselves some slack- a perfect read not just for new mothers but for every well-intentioned man who plans to become a father.

  • Pallavi Aiyar Brings Much Needed Nuance to Motherhood Memoirs by The Swaddle.com

    Aiyar’s keenly analytical and honest take on motherhood, working and otherwise, is more than a beach read.....it balances research and reality in a way that keeps readers thinking and relating

  • Bringing up Parents by Ajish P Joy, The Week

    Babies and Bylines is a delightfully cheeky attempt to break the mould and educate not just would-be dads and moms, but society as a whole, which daily needs a lesson in effective parenting.  

  • Babies and Bylines: Book review by Melanie Ho, The Asian Review of Books

    Parents and new parents—and not just mothers-will find much to appreciate in Aiyar’s fluent and thoughtful memoir.

  • Book review: Pallavi Aiyar’s Babies & Bylines is the perfect parenting guide by Anjuri Nayar, The Hindustan Times

    The perfect parenting guide...touches on issues faced by every woman at some stage in her life.

  • Babies and Bylines review by Vijay Tankha, The Tribune

    Aiyar's writing is laced with a dry, occasionally mad wit, the reader is left incredulous and envious.

  • I didn’t fall in love with my baby right away, and that’s OK by Sarah Jacob, NDTV.com

    Babies and Bylines is a fantastic book