INTERNATIONAL CONSTELLATIONS

About the Name "I-MAKI-Nations"

• i = Inder, India, international, "me & myself"
• MAKIN = masala (spice blend), or the name of the four of us
• nations = India, Germany, United States

The I in Imakinations, Inder, came from New Delhi, India, to study Engineering in Germany and then went on to UT Austin, Texas, for a PhD. AnnElise, from a small town near Munich, Germany, also went to Longhorn Country in search of Texas-German culture. She found Makin, a Sikh who could speak the Platt-Deutsch "Moin, moin," at the German House. Everything else is history. The Makins have blended into a unique masala. Together with their daughters, they have been observed to fly broomsticks across three cultures. Five, if you count Bavaria and Texas.

About Me

I was raised in the most-beloved village of Bavaria, Ascholding, near Wolfratshausen. When I received a scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service, I left that idyllic place for some prickly Texas cactus. I came of age in the Texas Hill Country, my home away from home, studying anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. I soon realized, Texas was all about attitude. This certainly matched with what I had brought from Bavaria. Texas bewitched me enough to do another MA in Photojournalism.

Since I read my first book, I had always wanted to write one. I have practiced in all genres of publishing, writing a ton of stories and news features, but never a book. My articles have appeared in a variety of publications in Europe and the USA. I have worked as an editor at a weekly paper in Munich, interned at the Bayerischer Rundfunk, survived a one-of-a-kind stint as a small-town newspaper photographer in New Braunfels, Texas, and served as Project Editor for Harcourt Brace College Publishers. I even honed my skills in pharmaceutical editing for a while.

Now it seems my first major manuscript is almost finished after many years of plucking away at it in the wee hours. It is 75 percent perfect, but I am still honing my skills on the other 25 percent. I am hooked on the wizardry of words. To create my world, I do not need paint, or clay, or brick, I only need a pen and paper. Some people, who have a beef with something, stand up and shout, but I sit down and write. Writing puts me in control. I can let the bad guy die and the good girl get her prince. When I read or write, the art of word is no longer black on white but grows into a colorful rainbow of imagery.

I am not a woman of many words, but I like to play with them. Although I have a full-blown manuscript on hand—before this piece is between its covers— I am available as a pen for hire. Or gun for hire. Call me if you need me for a feature article, ad campaign, newsletter, or sharp photographs. Like they say, wherever you go, there you are. Wherever I went, there I have been. And I always carry these places fondly with me.