My project was to design a coffee-table book, an autobiography written by an Indian woman cricketer, Shobha Mundkur, better known as ‘Lady Gavaskar’ to the world and to me, as my mother. Through the game of cricket, the book raises issues related to stereotypes, gender biases, attitudes and ideologies that the game and society at large heap on the individual. This book is the first of its kind in India, a nation where the game is equivalent to religion; no woman cricketer has ever come up with such a book.
This book talks about the journey of a small girl from the backyard of her grandfather’s old house in Santa Cruz to the birth of a world-renowned cricketer. It gives us an insight into the challenges she faced when she stepped into a predominantly male domain. So, my aim was to design a book that illustrated how the protagonist held on to her strong ideals and morals in the face of conformist society’s biases, continued to be connected to the game in many different ways and gave back to society and the game much more than what she had received.
Considering that the book was targeted at a wide readership, it became vital to give as many visual cues as possible. I had a stack full of photographs, newspaper articles and people I could use as resource. So, a coffee-table book with lots of images seemed the most appropriate option as it justified the purpose and the content.
This project has endowed me with the ability to shed inhibitions and step into the unknown world of what is familiar and already known. This project has brought me closer to who I am personally and professionally.
