Govind Sandhu, co-founder and CEO of Customer Capital, husband of filmmaker Meghna Gulzar, and son-in-law of legendary lyricist Gulzar, is stepping into an entirely new arena. 

Driven by the harrowing images of children caught in the crossfire of the brutal wars in Ukraine and Iran, and the devastating genocide in Gaza, Sandhu has penned his debut book, The Baby Bomb, with illustrations by Alan Shaw. At its core, the book is a poignant fable that explores the futility of war through an unlikely protagonist.

In a compelling conversation with Abhinandan Sekhri, the “first-time writer” reveals that he didn’t set out to be an author, but rather a storyteller responding to a story that he felt the world needed to hear. As a “visual thinker”, he approached the narrative as if he were writing an animated film. “I was visually seeing it as I wrote it,” Sandhu explains, noting that the book’s simple, direct style stems from this cinematic lens.

At the heart of the story is Baby, the son of the device dropped on Hiroshima, born into a world where a bomb’s greatest qualification is its capacity for destruction. However, this little bomb doesn’t want to explode. Sandhu describes the book as “the pursuit of peace by the very thing which was built to destroy peace”. 

Sandhu explains the broader theme of the “futility of war” that plays out through the bomb’s internal journey of change. This evolution begins with the heavy expectation of being the descendant of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, leading to a stage of escapism from a world he can't relate to. Ultimately, it culminates in the power of finding a purpose. Sandhu acknowledges that when you’re different, it’s difficult to fit in. “But once you find purpose... You don’t need to fit in.”

Watch the full interview for more insights into this fascinating book.

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