16 ratings | 0 reviews | avg rating:4.44

Vinita Kinra’s Followers (26)

Vinita’s Bookshelves

read (16)
currently-reading (0)
to-read (0)

Vinita’s Friends (69)

Penguin Random House Canada

564 books | 4,908 friends

Uday Chopra

216 books | 914 friends

Carson

127 books | 5,623 friends

Pankaj

12 books | 70 friends

Halit Ozer

2 books | 47 friends

Meenakshi Raina

33 books | 344 friends

Steven Ure

124 books | 4,758 friends

Harita Vadlamani

40 books | 10 friends

More friends…

Vinita Kinra

Goodreads Author

Born

in Milton, Canada

Website

http://www.vinitakinra.com

Twitter

VinitaKinra

Genre

Fiction, Ebooks, Classics

Influences

Mahatma Gandhi ...more

Member Since

January 2013

edit data

My name is Vinita Kinra. I was born in Milton, Canada in the mid-seventies to a Punjabi family who decided to re-unite me to my roots by taking me back to India when I was a little over two years old. The foundation of Pavitra in Paris, Live and Let Us Live, and my other books began to be laid subconsciously in my mind when I attended the prestigious Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School in Jaipur, better known as MGD Girls’ Public School. “Dolly” was probably a character I met here during my twelve years, and came alive in “The Pied Piper of Jaipur”.

I completed my Bachelor's degree from Rajasthan University, until which time I was acquainted with uncountable Rajasthanis, one of whom fitted to perfection the character of “Makhan Singh”. Hence My name is Vinita Kinra. I was born in Milton, Canada in the mid-seventies to a Punjabi family who decided to re-unite me to my roots by taking me back to India when I was a little over two years old. The foundation of Pavitra in Paris, Live and Let Us Live, and my other books began to be laid subconsciously in my mind when I attended the prestigious Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School in Jaipur, better known as MGD Girls’ Public School. “Dolly” was probably a character I met here during my twelve years, and came alive in “The Pied Piper of Jaipur”.

I completed my Bachelor's degree from Rajasthan University, until which time I was acquainted with uncountable Rajasthanis, one of whom fitted to perfection the character of “Makhan Singh”. Hence, “The Camel Trader” was born.

I went to New Delhi to pursue my Master’s in French from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where girls in my circle craved to go abroad for a better life. “Lovely” was one such friend who inspired “The Perfect Match”.

The over two decades I lived and travelled in India introduced me to the innocent “Chanda", the seductive “Kamini", the jaded “Sita" and the carefree “Choti”.

But what took my stories aboard an Air France plane, flight number 359? Who is “Pavitra", and why is Pavitra in Paris my title story? The answers come from the time I won a scholarship from the French government for excelling in my MA French program at JNU to go and teach English at an international high school in France. I had gone for 1 year, but ended up staying for 3, after I accepted offers to teach English at Grenoble and Orléans universities in France.

I immersed myself in the French culture: soaking in its fine wines, old cheeses and dark coffee; revelled in its street life of open-air cafés and Montmartre; and awed at its architectural wonders of the Eiffel tower and Notre Dame de Paris.

“The compromise” took shape after I came to Canada in the fall of 2004 to live in Vancouver for almost eight years, and completed a full circle of my life by returning to my birth country. The Pacific Ocean became my swimming pool—barely a few blocks from my apartment—and the seawall running along the English Bay beach was akin to my personal trail, for I frequented it with the regularity of a devotee. The hotdog vendors became my friends, the geese my pets, and the aboriginal artists my inspiration. Tourists could never go wrong if they asked me a question about the seawall. I could guide them on everything, whether it be where to get the Aquabus to go to Granville Island, or which restaurant sold the best fish & chips, or something more detailed like what trees comprised the forest belt, or how deep the waters ran during high tide.

The tide of my life changed in the spring of 2012 when I decided to settle in Toronto with my husband and daughter. When the crashing waves of the Pacific and the wilderness of the mountains surrounding it beckoned me night and day, I decided to move adjacent to the picturesque lake Ontario after a brief stay in Brampton. I have since made the scenic Lake Shore area of Toronto MY HOME.
...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Vinita Kinra questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Vinita Kinra’s books

Average rating: 4.43 · 7 ratings · 3 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Pavitra in Paris 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pavitra in Paris: stories for life it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars