Mallika Appana was born in Hyderabad, India. She now lives in the United States with her husband and toddler. Raising her child in a foreign country, she feels a strong urge to keep kids connected to their Indian heritage. An engineer and an MBA by training, she developed a fondness towards ethnic arts and crafts due to her parents’ keen appreciation for them. The book is a culmination of her passion for storytelling and illustration, and she hopes that it will foster interest in traditional art forms among the next generation.