She Connects

She Connects is the seventh book of short stories published by 16 women authors of Indian origin from different parts of the world. Hailing from different professional backgrounds, the SHE project aims to provide a creative platform for women's voices and reflections on everyday life. None of the authors come from a 'purely literary' background, yet as scientists, bankers, academics, engineers, managers, and home-makers, they all have a story to share.

The books in the SHE series revolve around a specific theme or genre. In the past, the themes have included stories woven around women's voices (She Speaks 2019), Indian festivals (She Celebrates 2020; relaunched in 2021), flash fiction was the genre of choice in (She Reflects, 2021), stories of women belonging to marginal groups (She Shines 2022), mystery and nostalgia (She Seeks 2023), (She Achieves 2024) is a varied collection of short stories and flash fiction addressing women and work, and She Connects (2025) is based on unusual relationships. Relationships, it goes without saying, sustain us from the moment we are born until our last breath. Some of these relationships are familial, others social, and still others professional. Some are fleeting, and others are long-lasting. The range of emotions that these relationships evoke can be positive, such as loyalty, duty and love, or negative where competitiveness, jealousy and rancour become predominant. Whatever its nature, all relationships are based on some sort of mental or emotional connection. The authors of She Connects have shined a spotlight on the myriad ways in which unusual relationships are forged.

ACT India: Ms. Nilanjana Das, Director and Chairperson, who helped us structure this book, and came forward enthusiastically to discuss the book's proposal at its initial stage, despite the lockdown challenges in India.

Asha Zurich Foundation: Dr. Pratyush Das Kanungo, Project Lead and Coordinator for outreach activities, Dr. Rajdeep Deb, President of the organization; and Dr. Sampada Bodke, Project Lead, for supporting this project and coming forward to collaborate for this book.

Humane Warriors: Dr. Naveen Shamsudhin and Dr. Rhythima Shinde, Founders, who were active during the Covid-19, with their Humane Warriors team supporting the daily wage workers across India. Despite a time-crunch they contributed to this book with their timely inputs.

Protsaah - Handcrafted Peace: Ms. Saloni Duggal Sreshtha, Director, who was in India to meet her artisans and was unable to fly back to Zurich due to the lockdown for a long time, despite that she took the time to contribute to this book and raise awareness for the cause.

Rice Mill Social Enterprise: Ms. Ruth Mumba, Director, and Abundance Foundation's Co-Founder Dr. Deepa Pullanikkatil who came forward to contribute to this book with their newly found project in South Africa.

Touching Heart: Ms. Helen Yi, Founder and Project Lead Ms. Sumona Das, who relentlessly worked on different projects and produced hundreds of facemasks herself to combat the pandemic in the USA; helped us get the Founder's interview for this book.

Ushthi Foundation: Ms. Olga Egli, PR and Fundraising Director, who contributed with her inputs, and contacted the Founder Mr. Kurt Büuuml;rki and the Executive Director Ms. Alessandra Grosse for the interview in this book; and Ms. Mirjam Hirzel, International Project Coordinator, for her valuable thoughts and inputs.