Dr. Nilima Krishna Jayaraman writes essays and poems drawn from a childhood in India and a lifetime of family medicine in Southern Maryland — two cultures, one steady, curious way of paying attention.
Dr. Nilima Krishna Jayaraman
Dr. Nilima Krishna Jayaraman was born in Goa, India, and spent her early years in Dandeli, a small village in Western India, before moving to Mumbai for medical school. She has lived in the United States since 1977, making St. Mary's County, Maryland her home, where she has practiced family medicine for decades in Mechanicsville.
Writing has long been her favorite way of paying attention — to her parents, her husband, her children, her patients, her garden, and the world around her. Her essays and poems move easily between the streets of India and the routines of American life, finding humor, warmth, and quiet insight in the space between the two.
Both collections grew the same way: thoughts jotted down over years, shared with friends and family, and eventually urged into book form by the very readers who loved them first.
A lifetime of gleanings from a life spent straddling two cultures and two roles — physician and homemaker. These essays and poems move through parents, husband, children, patients, plants, and pets, mixing gentle humor with spiritual reflection and a deep affection for the everyday.
Gathering No Moss: A Collection of Essays and Poems on Inner and Outer Travels. A book about the dynamic, ever-moving nature of life, told through the exotic places Dr. Jayaraman has traveled — and through travel in a much broader sense, as a way of moving through time and through life itself.
A curious, adventuresome bunny-boy from rural India — star of two picture books, the first hand-illustrated by Dr. Jayaraman herself in a warm, detailed folk-art style.
Written & illustrated by Nilima Jayaraman
A little bunny-boy named Boppitybop wanders off into an open field in rural India and dozes off — only to wake up soaring through the sky in the talons of an eagle. What follows is a wits-and-luck adventure home, told through oversized, richly detailed illustrations, hand-painted by the author herself, that double as a gentle introduction to the flora and fauna of southern India.
By Nilima Jayaraman & Jai Kerkar
Boppitybop is older now, and this time his adventures take him around the entire globe — monkeys, elephants, koalas, and more, across countries familiar and exotic, with a few close calls along the way. Co-written with her grandson, this globe-trotting sequel folds real animal facts into every stop on the journey.
Nilima's Amazon author page is the best way to see new releases first and leave a review. For readings, book clubs, or anything else, reach out directly.