She walked the chocolate path

| S VENKATESHWARAN |

A special book launch event was held Sunday November 30, 2025, for the children’s book Athai’s Fairytales. The book is written by Mrs. Malavikka Sridharan, a resident of Nanganallur, and published by Sathyaa Enterprises.

Malavika is a journalist, writer and founder of the popular Facebook community ‘Married Super Women’, which has more than 13,000 followers. Athai’s Fairytales is her third book.

Being a social person, the work-from-home lifestyle created pressure on her, and she did not want to waste time scrolling her phone. Instead, she wanted to use her time meaningfully. She thanked her mentor, Mrs. Chitra Rangaraj, a senior journalist, who encouraged her, guided her and introduced her to Mr. Sathya Manivannan, founder of Sathyaa Enterprises.

Malavikka also said she wanted the book launch to be different. Instead of a normal event with speeches, she planned a panel discussion to engage the audience. Even though Cyclone Ditwah arrived close to the launch date, the hall was full.

The first copy of the book was presented by Mr. Mukund Padmanabhan, former Editor of The Hindu, former Editor of BusinessLine, and Prof. of Philosophy at Krea University. He was also a panelist. Dr. Srimathy Kesan of Space Kidz India received the first copy.

Other panelists included journalist, Mr. Gokul Chandrasekar, RJ Kavya Sanjeevi from AIR and content

creator, and Prof. Vidya Padmanabhan, who taught journalism to Malavikka.

Anchor Sanobar Sultana, a pro emcee, made it a lively event.

When asked how she first got the idea to write for children, Malavikka said during her schooldays, reading poets like Wordsworth left a strong impact on her. She always felt that one day she would become an author and make children happy through her stories. She said writing for children is like “walking on a chocolate path” and gives her great joy.

Malavikka explained that the name Athai’s Fairytales came from a small storybook she once wrote for her niece with the same title. In this book, she wants to teach children kindness, humanity, strength and also add elements of history and geography. She aims to give children stories with morals, not just simple fairy tales.

She also took suggestions from her online community about what characters children like. She used 20% of those ideas. In her fairy tales, even bees, ants and houses talk.

When asked about her future plans, she said she wants to write a novel and create a fairy tale for adults. She was inspired by Mr. Mukund Padmanabhan’s words during the launch that “magic is not only in fairies; it is also in everyday life”.

She thanked Mr. Sathya Manivannan for giving her confidence and support. She said she believes “everything happens by the universe’s script”, and she feels the universe has guided her in the right direction.