ABOUT R.M.Kritika
Writer. Psychologist. Observer of the things people don't always say.
R. M. Kritika is an indie writer whose life has moved through engineering, business, psychology, technology, motherhood, and more than a few geographies along the way.
An avid reader and traveller, she is endlessly curious about people, why they behave the way they do, the relationships they build, and the rules we inherit without always questioning them. She advocates for equity across gender, caste, and culture, and is interested in the visible and invisible rules that shape how people experience the world.
Her writing has previously appeared in the anthology Burnt Roses, compiled by Tiyasha Banu. She also writes The Thinking Room on Substack and Instagram (@quietly.0bserving), where everyday observations often become larger questions about people and life.
When she isn't writing, she works in product and technology operations. She holds degrees in Engineering, Business Administration, and Psychology.
Dear Sh is her debut novel. She lives in Chennai with her family.
Kritika wanted to write about things many people experience but don't always have the voice or the means to share.
Dear Sh actually began almost ten years ago. The first version was the story of a college girl. But somewhere along the way, she realised that wasn't the story she wanted to tell. She wanted to go back to the teenage years, to the adolescent voice adults often miss, and to everything that can happen before a young person has the words to explain it.
So the story was rewritten, and the first draft was completed in 2021. But she felt like she wasn’t doing Ranmi justice. So she stopped.
She chose to study for an MA in psychology and worked with teenagers, speaking with adults about their own teenage years. She listened to how differently people remembered the same age: what they understood then, what they couldn't articulate, what the adults around them noticed and what they missed.
And then she came back to Ranmi. The book you have now grew out of that journey.
It is for teenagers trying to understand themselves, and for adults who remember what it was like when they couldn't. It is also for the adults (parents, teachers, and others) in a teen’s life who may sometimes miss the words that were never spoken.
Dear Sh moves through neurodivergence, silence, trauma, girlhood, family, friendship and first love. But underneath it all, it is about being a teenager.
And perhaps, about being human.