After a full-throttle brain bleed at the age of twenty-five, Ashok Rajamani, a first-generation Indian American, had to relearn everything: how to eat, how to walk and to speak, even things as basic as his sexual orientation. With humor and insight, he describes the events of that day (his brain exploded just before his brother’s wedding!), as well as the long, difficult recovery period. In the process, he introduces readers to his family—his principal support group, as well as a constant source of frustration and amazement. Irreverent, coruscating, angry, at times shocking, but always revelatory, his memoir takes the reader into unfamiliar territory, much like the experience Alice had when she fell down the rabbit hole. That he lived to tell the story is miraculous; that he tells it with such aplomb is simply remarkable.
More than a decade later he has finally reestablished a productive artistic life for himself, still dealing with the effects of his injury—life-long half-blindness and epilepsy— but forging ahead as a survivor dedicated to helping others who have suffered a similar catastrophe.
About the Author
Ashok Rajamani is an internationally published writer, poet, artist, essayist, radio host, and activist in New York City.
At the age of 25, he suffered a sudden, near-fatal, massive cerebral hemorrhagic stroke due to an undetected birth defect. Though surviving, he was left with lifelong bisected blindness, epilepsy, distorted hearing, erratic transient amnesia, metal staples in his brain, and ultimately, a carved skull courtesy of open brain surgery.
This led him to write his critically-acclaimed memoir The Day My Brain Exploded, which received worldwide acclaim, hailed by multiple global media outlets, including Publisher's Weekly, Harper's Magazine, Washington Post, Booklist, The Atlantic Monthly, BBC, and more.
Ashok's work has also been featured in dozens of publications including South Asian Review, Three Line Poetry, Mantram, Catamaran, 50 Haikus, and Monsters of the Rue Macabre.
He has also been host for Brain Injury Radio worldwide. He belongs to the Authors Guild, New York Writers Coalition, Asian American Writers Workshop, and South Asian Journalists Association.
A self-acknowledged Hindu hick, Ashok grew up in a town near a cornfield in Illinois, before fleeing to The Big Apple at the age of 17, where he's lived thereafter.
He is a Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of New York University, where he received his Journalism degree with Kappa Tau Alpha honors. He attended Columbia University for advanced cultural studies.
His turn-ons include: Kathy Bates in Misery. His turn-offs include: tomato chunks.
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