Ashes is a memoir by the firstborn child of Bengali immigrants from Calcutta, India, that brings forth universal life lessons that transcend ethnicity. With raw honesty and simple prose, Ms. Mukherji depicts her childhood of cultural confusion, schoolyard bullies, and the demands of her brilliant, abusive alcoholic father. She offers her mother's stoic wisdom and love for all to share.By her early 20s, Ms. Mukherji seeks clarity instead of pity and details her search for herself through psychotherapy and spiritual studies. The result of that search costs her everything. The suicide of her mother leaves Ms. Mukherji in the thick darkness of grief and sorrow. Both propel her into destructive yet illuminating choices.In time, she gathers her experiences and uses them to transform her life into the one she wants and the one she may claim in her mother's absence.Ashes shows the listener they are not alone in their struggles and that they can look within themselves to survive and grow from life's precious and painful surprises.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mala Mukherji is the first born of immigrants from Kolkata, India. She attended UCLA and Pepperdine University School of Law. After nine years of law practice, Mala's passion for and study of various theories, practices and philosophies propelling personal transformation evolved into a unique formula for self-discovery. She has practiced her method with individual and corporate clients for over two decades. She currently lives in Northern New Mexico with her partner, their three dogs and her horse.