a memoir
Walking Beside Her
Sometimes love asks you to hold on. Sometimes it asks you to let go. The hardest part is knowing which.
Some love stories end. This one became a purpose.
by Balaji Somlar
Now available on Kindle. Paperback coming soon.
A Love Story First
Funny, warm, and deeply human — the story of two people who fell in love slowly, honestly, and completely.
A Story About Dignity
When death looked them in the eye, they refused to look away. They chose, on their own terms, how their story would end.
A Story About Purpose
Not grief. Not absence. What remains when you have truly walked beside someone, all the way to the end.
The heart of the story
Vini
"I didn't write this book because I had something to say about grief. I wrote it because Vini deserved to be known."
Clear-eyed, quietly courageous, and completely herself. This is her story too.
“The destination may be predestined. But how you travel to it — that is the truest measure of character.”— Walking Beside Her
About the Book
What begins as a love story — complete with office romances, borrowed motorcycles, and a wedding night haunted by hidden alarm clocks — becomes, by its final pages, one of the most honest accounts of love, loss, and what it means to truly know another person. Based on a true story. Every word of it.
Now available on Kindle. Paperback coming soon.
About the Author
Technology leader. Founder of Neuronests. Father of two daughters. And the man who walked beside Vini, from a Bangalore call centre in 2008 to a riverbank in Switzerland — and is still walking.
“I didn't write this book because I had something to say about grief. I wrote it because Vini deserved to be known.”
What readers are saying
“The tenacity and spirit of an independent woman — Vini truly shines like Baahubali. Bali's words capture her perfectly.”
“So much fun — a naturally transcending office romance. But by the end, I had learned so much about life itself.”
“The maturity of the children, the problem-solver in Bali, the fighter in Vini — I just can't stop thinking about them.”
Stay Beside the Story
Be the first to know when Walking Beside Her is available — plus updates on the journey, the mission, and what comes next.