Only a handful of books that talk about neurodiversity in kids: Anita Nair 

What inspired you to introduce the blind character of Madama into the story?
I have a little cottage in my village, and next to it is a little road that leads to a Madrasa. So I started getting interested in the children who passed by me every day, and they too were equally interested in me, as I was not the kind of person whom they generally saw around that place. Randomly one day, a little boy started calling me ‘madama’, meaning a foreigner, and following this, that term was taken up by others. And about her going blind, I can say that a little bit of personal touch has been added to it. I have a very serious vision issue, and when I wrote this book, the condition was really bad. I had just gone in for my eye surgery then. The uncertainty of how things would go just made me locate myself there and talk about blindness, especially since I still deal with the fact that I am partially sighted.
 
You often explore themes like identity, feminism, and societal norms. Have these themes been embedded into this book as well?
In a way, yes. For example, in this novel, I have introduced football as a game that Bipathu enjoys playing a lot. So looking back at the village, this characteristic of Bipathu shatters the societal norm of girls just sticking to their indoor activities. And also, back in my village, I could see two economic extremes within the Muslim community, and that is what made me introduce characters belonging to both of these strata into the story. So, this book was a revisit to my childhood, or to my days as a child, and the stories and experiences I had growing up.