‘Defying Destiny: Nalini Chandran — A Life Sketch’, a book on the founder Principal of Hari Sri Vidya Nidhi (HSVN) School, Thrissur, has won the Salis Mania Choice Award for the best non-fiction book of 2022.
The book is written by Deepti Menon, executive director of HSVN and daughter of Ms. Chandran, and Kalpana Ramesh, an educationist and former teacher at HSVN. The book throws light on the journey of Nalini Chandran right from her childhood, her life as a Kathakali dancer and the wife of an Army officer. The second half of the book describes the founding of the school in 1978, and the manner in which she forged ahead to create a niche for herself in the field of education at a time when English medium schools were a rarity in Kerala.
Ms. Chandran is the first Keralite to win the Derozio Award. She is also a winner of Rangojwala Award; Guruvar Award for Excellence in Teaching; Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi award for excellence in choreography; and the Charter of Honour by the Indian Medical Association, Thrissur.