Author Divya Gupta Kotawala launches her first book “My Dad’s Daughter” – Times of India

Supreme Court judge Sanjay K Kaul, Niti Aayog CEO Sri Amitabh Kant, who was Suresh Gupta’s junior at Modern School and St. Stephen’s College in the 1970s and former Chief Election Commissioner of India Mr S. Y Quraishi, jointly launched the book at an impressive function at India International Centre here today evening.

The book was initially planned as a memoir for Divya’s father. This book is a tribute to her father. It revolves around him but through the eye of a daughter. “My Dad’s Daughter” provided an outlet for a person’s feelings as they sought solutions! Unintentionally, the book and the events that occurred while writing it provided Divya with both the answers and closure she sought. Talking about her book, Divya said, “Losing a parent is devastating, but not being able to be with them in their final days or pay your last respects, can demolish a person.”
Divya, an ex-student of Modern School, St. Stephen’s, and the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) runs the popular House of Kotawala jewellery brand with her husband, Manish. Her book, ‘My Dad’s Daughter,’ denounces her father’s death and mourns the loss of a father who abandoned her when she was a young girl.

In this book, Divya opens up about her most well-guarded emotional moments hoping that her story will give strength and courage to many like her who have suffered this unimaginable pain. Telling more about the book, Divya commented, “This book is an emotional amalgamation of family life before COVID, how a family was affected during the COVID and what followed. It is not just about the trauma of losing a loved one in the most challenging circumstances, but also what follows post that when you are left all alone and isolated to deal with the excruciating pain of losing the most important relationship of your life and what your recovery looks like.”

My Dad’s Daughter is not only a story of a daughter’s personal loss but also the unheard voice of many, who continue to question – why us? Through this book, Divya seeks to pay an unconventional tribute to her father that he genuinely deserved and she thinks that when she meets him again, he would be extremely proud of her for the ‘send-off’ a daughter chose for her remarkable Father. This is to keep her beloved father’s legacy alive, both through her smile and this book – My Dad’s Daughter.

Divya wrote this book to express her catharsis as well as to wish her father a farewell he so richly deserved but didn’t receive. A word of advice also comes from Divya for the fortunate, “Hold onto your parents, for it’s a confusing and scary world without them.”