The Author
About the Author
Balaji Somlar
Balaji Somlar is a technology leader and entrepreneur based in Manchester, UK. Over a career spanning two decades at CGI (formerly Logica), he built a reputation for turning complex problems into purposeful solutions — a skill he would come to rely on in ways he never anticipated. Walking Beside Her is his first book. It was written for his daughters, Shravya and Tanishka, so they would know their mother not as a memory, but as the hero she was.
The Longer Version
I spent twenty years believing I was the one with the plan. I had spreadsheets. I had timelines. I had contingencies for my contingencies. As a technology leader at CGI, I built my career on the idea that every problem has a solution — you just have to find the right one.
Then life handed me something no plan could contain.
Walking Beside Her is the story of what I found when the plans ran out. It is the story of Vini — my wife, my partner, the most clear-eyed and quietly courageous person I have ever known. It is the story of our daughters, Shravya and Tanishka. Of the friends who showed up. Of the organisation that made room for me to be a husband and father first. Of a force larger than any of us, arranging things in ways I only understood in hindsight.
It is also a story about what happens after. About the question Tanishka asked a nurse — 'Are you the angel who has come to help Mummy?' — that I couldn't stop thinking about for years. About the gaps I watched families fall through, and the platform I eventually built to help fill them.
I didn't write this book because I had something to say about grief. I wrote it because Vini deserved to be known.
Neuronests
Neuronests is a resource platform for families navigating autism and complex care needs — founded by Balaji following his family's own experience of the gaps in care coordination that families like his routinely face. The book and the mission are connected but separate. Walking Beside Her is a story first. Neuronests is what that story became.
Media & Speaking
Balaji is available for media interviews, author events, and speaking engagements on themes including love, loss, caregiving, autism, leadership, and purpose.