How Vibha Batra’s new book tackles classroom bullying and exclusion

Writer Vibha Batra still remembers the little boy she met while teaching at a creative writing workshop for children. “He described his home as only a flat,” says Batra, who released her latest book, Gobi Goes Viral on May 4. “He starts feeling like a fish out of water,” says Batra, adding that his classmates even make fun of his accent. Gobi Goes Viral is the Chennai-based advertising copywriter’s 23rd book, the latest entrant to an impressively diverse and long list of publications which include children’s books, travelogues, a poetry anthology, a collection of short stories, chick lit, rom-com, fan fiction, graphic novels, plays and even a translation. “My grandfather was my biggest influence,” says Batra, who counts Mirza Ghalib, JK Rowling, Nissim Ezekiel, Ruskin Bond and Ogden Nash, among the other writers she loves.