HildaCorley2963 at 04:37, 29 April 2026

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{{short description|Indian author (born 1973)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person | name = Baby Halder | image =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1973}} | birth_place = [[Kashmir]], India<ref name=hindu07>{{cite news |title=IN CONVERSATION: 'Writing has to be classless' |url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/04/15/stories/2007041500130500.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419142444/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/04/15/stories/2007041500130500.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 April 2007 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |date=15 April 2007 |access-date=20 May 2012}}</ref> | death_date =  | death_place = | nationality = | other_names =
| known_for = ''[[Aalo Aandhari (A Life Less Ordinary)]]'' (2006) | occupation = Domestic worker, writer }}

'''Baby Halder''' (or '''Haldar''') (born 1973) is an Indian author. Her best known work is her autobiography ''[[Aalo Aandhari (A Life Less Ordinary)]]'' (2002) which describes her harsh life growing up as a domestic worker,<ref name=nyt06/><ref>{{cite book|author=Ray|first=Raka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kagyDaljjQC&dq=Baby+Haldar&pg=PT94|title=Cultures of Servitude: Modernity, Domesticity, and Class in India|last2=Qayum|first2=Seemin|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0804771092|author-link=Raka Ray}}</ref> later translated into 21 languages, including 13 foreign languages.<ref name=dna07>{{cite news |title=Baby's day out in Hong Kong |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_baby-s-day-out-in-hong-kong_1085823 |work=[[Daily News and Analysis]] |date=19 March 2007 }}</ref>

==Early life and marriage==
Born in [[Kashmir]],<ref name=hindu07/> Halder was abandoned by her birth mother at age 4 in [[Murshidabad]], when her father's habitual drinking forced her mother to leave him.<ref name=tribune06/> Subsequently, she was raised by an abusive father, an ex-serviceman and driver and her step-mother, with whom she travelled from Kashmir to Murshidabad and finally to [[Durgapur, West Bengal]], where she grew up.<ref name=tri10>{{cite news |title= Housemaid makes it big in literature |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100327/dplus.htm#2 |newspaper=The Tribune |date=27 March 2010 |access-date=20 May 2012}}</ref> She went to school intermittently, and dropped off after sixth standard,<ref name=dna07/> when at the age of 12, her father married her off to a man 14 years her senior, and a small-time decorator.<ref name=out2003>{{cite web |title=The Diary of Baby Haldar |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?219105 |date=24 February 2003|work=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] }}</ref><ref name=BBC2004/> She had her first child at the age of 13, and two more in a quick succession. Meanwhile, after her sister was strangled to death by her husband, she started working as a domestic servant in the neighbourhood. Finally in 1999, at the age of 25, after years of domestic violence, she left her husband, escaping to Delhi on a train, with her three children on board. Now as a single parent, she started working as a housemaid in New Delhi homes, to support and educate her children, sons Subodh and Tapas and daughter, Piya; and then encountered several exploitative employers.<ref name=nyt06/><ref name=out2003/>

==Literary career==
Her last employer was writer and retired anthropology professor Prabodh Kumar, a grandson of noted Hindi literary giant [[Munshi Premchand]], living in [[Gurgaon]], a suburb of capital New Delhi. Kumar noted her interest in books while she was dusting his book shelves, and encouraged her to first read leading authors,<ref name=out2003/> starting with [[Taslima Nasreen]]'s autobiographical ''Amar Meyebela'' (My Girlhood) about a tumultuous youth and deep anger on being born a woman in a poor society. This deeply moved Halder and turned out be a turning point, as it was to inspire her own memories, later on. She soon zealously began reading other authors.<ref name=BBC2004/><ref name=dna06/> Subsequently, before going on a trip to South India, Kumar bought her a [[notebook]] and pen and encouraged her to write her life story, which she did late at night after work and sometimes in between chores, using plain matter-of-fact language and writing in native [[Bengali language|Bengali]]. When Kumar was back after a month, she had already written 100 pages.<ref name=BBC2004/><ref name=dna06>{{cite news |title=From maid to star author|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_from-maid-to-star-author_1041956 |publisher=DNA newspaper |date=16 July 2006 }}</ref><ref name=sunobserve06>{{cite news |title=Books: A life less ordinary: Tell-all book on a domestic's hard life |url=https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2006/07/30/pow08.asp |newspaper=[[Sunday Observer]] |date=30 August 2006 |access-date=20 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819131541/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2006/07/30/pow08.asp |archive-date=19 August 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After several months, when her memoir was completed, Kumar also aided in editing the manuscript, and shared it with local literary circles and translated it into [[Hindi]]. This version was published in 2002 by a small Kolkata-based publishing house, Roshani Publishers. It received media attention as it documented the hard lives led by domestic servants in Asia,<ref name=sunobserve06/><ref>{{cite news |title=Ordinary women, extraordinary tales |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/80389/ordinary-women-extraordinary-tales.html |newspaper= [[Deccan Herald]]|access-date=20 May 2012}}</ref> and within two years it had published two more editions.<ref name=out2003/><ref name=BBC2004>{{cite news |title=From maid to bestselling author |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3644934.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=21 September 2004 }}</ref> The Bengali original, ''Aalo Aandhari'' (Light and Darkness) was also published in 2004. A [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]] version appeared in 2005 and the English translation was published in 2006, which became a best-seller in India, while ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it India's ''[[Angela's Ashes]]''.<ref name=nyt06>{{cite news |title=In India, a Maid Becomes an Unlikely Literary Star |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/books/02maid.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |author=Amelia Gentleman|work= The New York Times|date=2 August 2006}}</ref> Soon it was translated into 21 languages, including 13 foreign languages, including French, Japanese and Korean.<ref name=dna07/><ref name=tribune06/>

The book was translated into German in 2008. In 2008, a visit for her to Germany was planned in the company of her publisher, to present the book to audiences there and explain to them the present situation of women in India. The [[University of Göttingen|Georg-August University in Goettingen, Germany]] arranged for a seminar to be held with the author and her publisher on 23 October 2008. Further seminars were arranged in [[Frankfurt]], Düsseldorf, [[Krefeld]], [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]], [[Kiel]], Berlin and [[Heidelberg]]. Her second book ''Eshat Roopantar'' in Bengali was also well received.<ref name=tri10/>

==Personal life==
As of 2012, Halder continues to work for Prabodh Kumar in DLF City, Gurgaon. Although she is building a house in Kolkata with earnings from her books,<ref name=tribune06>{{cite news |title=Maid to write sequel to autobiography|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060811/delhi.htm#5 |newspaper=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |date=11 August 2006 |access-date=20 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=PHOTO FEATURE: Her Bill Of Writes |url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=hub260512BILL.asp |date=26 May 2012 |publisher=[[Tehelka]] Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 21 |access-date=22 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014192518/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=hub260512BILL.asp |archive-date=14 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> she plans to stay on in the city.<ref name=outlook12>{{cite web|title=Domestic helps: The Word is Respect: Baby Halder, the help-turned-author, at home |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?280560 |date=23 April 2012 |work=Outlook |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416194841/http://outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?280560 |archive-date=16 April 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Aalo Aandhari (A Life Less Ordinary)|Aalo Aandhari]]'' (Bengali, Darkness and Light), 2002.
* ''Eshat Roopantar'' (Bengali).
* ''A Life Less Ordinary'' (Translation of ''Aalo Aandhari''), tr. by [[Urvashi Butalia]]. [[Zubaan]], 2006. {{ISBN|818901367X}}.
* 'GHARE FHERAR PATH' (An Autobiographical Narrative in Bengali) June 2014

==See also==
* [[List of Indian writers]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/books/02maid.html?ex=1312171200&en=1a7c9bd627f14187&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss In India, a Maid Becomes An Unlikely Literary Star.] ''The New York Times'', 2 August 2006
* [http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fline/fl2502/stories/20080201506307900.htm Woman’s story] [[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]], Jan/Feb 2008


{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|India|Literature}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halder, Baby}}
[[Category:Indian memoirists]]
[[Category:1973 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Bengali-language writers]]
[[Category:Maids]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:People from Gurgaon]]
[[Category:Novelists from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Women writers from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Indian domestic workers]]
[[Category:21st-century memoirists]]
[[Category:Indian women memoirists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women novelists]]

Baby Halder - Revision history

HildaCorley2963 at 04:37, 29 April 2026