Author: Sonia Chatterjee

An alumnus of Presidency College (Kolkata), Delhi University, and XIME (Bangalore), Sonia Chatterjee holds two post-graduate degrees in Chemistry and Management and an MFA in creative writing from Writer's Village University. With eight years of experience in the banking sector as a Branch Head, she took a sabbatical from the corporate world to start her blog soniasmusings.com. Her blog consistently featured in the Top Indian Blogs list from 2019 to 2024. Her articles have been published on various digital platforms such as Women's Web, Youth Ki Awaaz, Tuck's Magazine, and Period Magazine. She was invited as a speaker at the Breaking Barriers, Kolkata 2018 event by the Women's Web, at the Women Writer’s Fest, Kolkata, 2020, and the Crime Writers Festival, Kolkata,2025. Sonia has written two detective thrillers titled ‘Deal of Death – Introducing Raya Ray’ (2019) and ‘Diary, Deceit, and Death – A Raya Ray Adventure’ (Vishwakarma Publications, 2024) and a non-fiction book on true crime titled ‘The Sanyasi Who Became a King’ (Sristhi Publishers, 2025). Her book ‘Diary, Deceit, and Death’ was shortlisted for the PVLF Awards 2024-25 in the Best Fiction Category. Sonia lives in Kolkata with her doctor husband and nine-and-a-half-year-old son.

Coffee, memories and a delicate relation called Ma in law 

It’s been raining cats and dogs since last night. Only two days have passed that we have returned to Kolkata. After holidaying for close to two months in my hometown, amidst fun and chatter with my joint family members, the emptiness of this flat was haunting for Gogol. It was evident that he was struggling to cope up with the new environment. I had quite a rough night,kept up by the continuous downpour and the intermittent waking up of the toddler.

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Durga Puja, food fetish and an ode to the twenty years of an emotion called UCC 

Shubho Bijoya everyone.

So we had an incredibly exciting Durga Puja this year. Baba’s asthma attack on panchami got better with time. From panchami to dasami morning, we worked out schedules basis rains whims and still we managed to cover the best pujas in town. Gogol seemed way too excited to have been introduced to the variety of Asuras in different sizes, colors and ferocity. The hangover continues till date and he continues calling the Asuras to come in more colors soon. I have a gut feeling that next year the affection is going to tilt slightly towards Ganesha or Gonsha, as he prefers to call.
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Asura-the demon and my toddler 

Twenty plus years ago, I stopped Durga puja pandal hopping. Probably because I felt that I was grown up enough to decide what I wanted to do and what I would want to stop doing. Until then, every year Baba and I along with his colleague and his daughter, my best friend then would get on to two pedal rickshaws and cover maximum of my hometowns pujas over a span of three noons- saptami, ashtami and navami. By the time we returned home, it would be late evening and we would still be all enthusiastically dress up to sit and assess the crowd coming to see our para pujo. With time, even sitting outside para (our lane) pandal stopped. Then 10th boards happened followed by 12th. Amidst all the pressure of studies, choosing a career and moving out for higher studies, I indeed grew up.
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Ma and Mahalaya

Shubho Mahalaya friends.

This morning, just like every year spent in this town, I woke up to the sound of insane cracker bursting. This has been a trend ever since I remember but of late, the wee hours of the morning that some people choose to start celebrating is ridiculously insane. With a soon to be two year old son whose sleeping time starts at 2am, I really can’t appreciate any festivity that disrturbs our sleep at 4am.
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Dosa delight

I am a self proclaimed foodie. At some point in life, I actually had this funda that there’s no life without food. That’s how essential food has been as part of my growing up.

Growing up in a small town, the first proper restaurant that opened near my house was a small south Indian joint. Having traveled extensively, my father was proud to have been acquainted with the special cuisines of various parts of the country. Born and raised in Kolkata, eating out at restaurants was part of embracing the new culture for my mother. Thus we became such regulars at this eatery that the owner gradually ended up taking our suggestions regarding decor, food, menu changes and even background music that was played.
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The journey of a breastfeeding mother 

This article was originally written on August 3rd, 2016 as an FB post and updated here on 14 Sep 2017, a day after I created this blog.

Since this week is known as the breastfeeding week, I thought it to be the apt moment for sharing my breastfeeding journey. My son was born on 22nd Sep 2015 in Kolkata. I had an extremely complicated c-section that went on for 2.5 hours because of a horrible mess up by a junior anesthetist. She kept trying epidural anesthesia seven times through spinal injections though the end result was a delivery involving general anesthesia. The irony was that my husband who is a doctor by profession used to work for the same group of hospitals in Bangalore at that point. After the delivery, the days were full of nervous excitement as a new mother.

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Movie review – Shubh Mangal Savdhan

Written on 13th September.

I am still at my in laws enjoying pre Durga Puja vacation. Last weekend,an impromptu decision by the husband got us out for lunch and a movie date. Ever since we became parents, this was the first time we decided on doing both together instead of a movie date followed by a month long break for lunch date. I had read some real good reviews about Shubh mangal savdhan and these days, we both seem to have developed a penchant for off beat movies. We decided to give this movie a try and it turned out to be such a breath of fresh air.

Cast –

  • Ayushmann Khurrana (Mudit Sharma)
  • Bhumi Pednekar (Sugandha)
  • Neeraj Sood (Sugandha’s father)
  • Seema Pahwa (Sugandha’s mother)
  • Supriya Shukla (Mudit’s mother)

Director – R S Prasanna

Duration – 119 minutes

Genre – Romance/Comedy
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Movie Review – Bareilly Ki Barfi

Written on 21st August, 2017

Gone are the days when movie date followed by restaurant hopping with the husband was the norm every weekend. Ever since we embraced parenthood, we rarely get enough time to spend at the theaters. So we tend to choose our movies very cautiously to ensure this 2.5 to 3hrs is really not wasted in watching something we wouldn’t like and appreciate .

Last Saturday we decided on watching Bareilly ki Barfi after weighing on the other available options of Toilet ek prem katha and a bengali movie titled Macher Jhol. While my husband wasn’t very impressed with the 2hr plus movie, I fell totally in love with it.
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The nostaligia associated with Anandamela Pujabarshiki

Written on 5th September, 2017

Last week at Dad’s place,I was pleasantly surprised to see my annual copy of Anandamela Pujabarshiki gift wrapped. It felt so emotional to see three decades of this tradition continuing this year as well.
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Letter to my eighteen month old toddler

Dear Gogol,

As you turn 18 months today, I look back at the fond memories we created in the past 1.5 yrs. You know, I had an extremely difficult pregnancy with days spent in and out of hospital, continuous scary scans and continued morning sickness throughout. Remember I even slipped from steps at 8.5 mnths! Your Baba showed unusual resilience and strength throughout this period.
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