About me
I’m Sumati Joshi.
I write personal reflections, make useful digital projects and take photographs of moments I want to remember. I’m also building Growing Readers, a free reading space for children and the adults who read with them.
I believe children should have the chance to learn about their culture in ways they can understand and enjoy. That belief shapes my work as an author of devotional books and illustrated Hindu stories for children.
What I do
I make what feels meaningful to me.
My main project at present is the Prarthana Preeti Prayer App, a free, offline app for Android and iPhone. It brings together 28 traditional Hindu prayers recited at Kainchi Dham and by devotees of Neem Karoli Baba, lovingly known as Maharajji. The idea simply came and stayed with me, and I made it while keeping Ma and Maharajji in my mind.
I also take photographs and am building Growing Readers, a free reading space for children and the adults who read with them. These are different kinds of work, but they begin in the same place: with something I care about and a wish to make it easier to reach.
This website is also where I keep memories that would otherwise stay scattered between family conversations, photographs and the parts of childhood that return unexpectedly.
View my projects →Personal background
Kainchi has been part of my life since childhood.
My family has a longstanding connection with Maharajji and Sri Siddhi Ma. Devotion never felt separate from everyday life to me. Sri Siddhi Ma is Ma to me, and we called Sri Jivanti Ma Choti Ma. My name, Sumati, was given to me by Ma on Diwali during her three-month stay at our home in Bareilly.
We visited Kainchi often, whenever Ma was there, for Guru Purnima and on other occasions. I remember journeys by car, sleepy mornings, prayers, prasad, Dadaji’s room and the freedom children once had to wander quietly through the ashram.
I never met Maharajji in his physical form, but I grew up feeling that he was already part of my life. The reflections here come from what I personally remember. When a family story was passed down to me, I say so clearly.
Read the reflections →From my family archive
People and places I still recognise immediately.
These photographs hold Ma, Choti Ma, Dadaji, Rabboo Da and Daadi. Rabboo Da is my father’s elder brother. I write about what it means to see family become part of a cinema story in the reflections.
Mom and my sister are seated with Ma, while I sit on Choti Ma’s lap.
Ma seated at our home in Bareilly.
This is me sitting at Ma’s feet.
Dad as a young man with his cousin near the yagya shala at Kainchi.
A young Rabboo Da with Maharajji.
My Dadaji, Shri Hem Chandra Joshi, known as Hem Da at Kainchi. His daily chana-prasad distribution was one of his responsibilities.
Ma and Choti Ma seated on the bed, with my grandmother sitting on the floor beside them.
Ma seated on a chair, with Mom peeking from behind and Dad beside her.
Dad with Ma and Choti Ma at our home in Bareilly.
Rabboo Da with Ma at our home in Bareilly. My cousin Amita Joshi is standing behind them.
Mausi embracing Ma at the Rishikesh ashram.
Ma reading at our home in Bareilly. The child in front is my sister.
My grandmother with Ma.
Ma writing in a photograph from before I was born. I believe it may be from the period when Dad was posted in Pithoragarh, although I do not know the exact place.
The shila at Kainchi where Maharajji used to sit.
From the Joshi family archive. Photographers unknown.
Photography
Photography is where I slow down.
I photograph light, landscapes, wildlife, buildings and the small details that make me stop for a moment.
Through my lens →