One evening in the fall of 2010, Tarini finds herself perched on the back of a boda-boda (motorcycle taxi), her arms spread wide, capturing the essence of her newfound freedom. Riding down the dimly lit streets of Kampala, Uganda, on her way to a night out, she can’t help but reflect on the significant changes she has recently made. Just six weeks ago, she bid adieu to her cushy Wall Street job and made the bold decision to move from New York to Uganda, Africa, to work for a non-profit, helping smallholder farmers increase their incomes.
But then, everything changes in the blink of an eye. Screeching tires. Blaring horns. Shattering glass. The sickening thud of bodies hitting the ground. She drifts, untethered, into a chasm of oblivion. Time freezes as the boundaries of consciousness blur. The next thing she knows, three months of her life have vanished into thin air. She wakes up in India with her family by her side, her consciousness piecing together fragments of her surroundings in snatches. Mumbling some gibberish here, uttering half-formed curses there, she is lost in a sea of confusion and consumed by profound discomfort. Once sharp and agile, her mind now moves at a sluggish pace. With her limbs altered, and her speech unintelligible, she finds herself with an identity not her own. Thus begins the afterlife of a severe traumatic brain injury, which, like all life, is shaped not just by herself, but also by the support of a nurturing village.
Tarini’s memoir charts her life before and after this “lifequake” as she treads a path fraught with obstacles. A year on, while still mostly bedridden and undergoing intensive rehabilitation, she resumes work and applies to graduate school, typing up memos and application essays with her one working hand. Tarini eventually graduates from the prestigious Yale School of Management. Through her journey, she encounters a diverse cast of characters who form her supportive “village,” including her closest friends, new classmates, medical professionals, and colleagues, all in addition to her loving family. Readers experience the author’s emotional roller coaster as she navigates myriad challenges, like finding herself suddenly unable to walk or use her dominant right hand and navigating a relationship in her early 20s while coming to terms with her new physical limitations. Amidst her struggles, she finds joy and strength in meaningful human connections and fulfills her dream of working in India's development sector. The deliberate use of interiority makes the memoir emotionally impactful as readers experience the author’s motivations, fears, joys, and triumphs.
Tarini's decade-long journey of recovery takes the reader across three continents, from a goat race in Uganda to a hospital bed in India and an Ivy League university classroom in the US. In contrast to the ubiquitous trope of the hero’s journey in overcoming all of life’s challenges individually, Tarini’s memoir underscores the importance of community and interdependence, in addition to one’s personal resilience in overcoming adversity. The memoir explores themes of the power of the human spirit, loss, hope, compassion, change, identity, and the transformative impact of inclusive education. It also sheds light on life with a disability, and its impact over the long term in work, friendship, family, and romance. The memoir concludes, hinting at a 32-year-old Tarini’s fulfillment in life, leaving room for readers to interpret the full depth of her contentment.