Kalki Koechlin’s ‘giant experience’: the actor on her pregnancy memoir, ‘The Elephant in the Womb’

The actor’s pregnancy memoir, ‘The Elephant in the Womb’, is filled not just with her poems and rants, but also discusses parenting choices and abortions

The elephant is out of the womb, the room, and gambolled through our chat. Kalki Koechlin brought her book, her trademark vivacity and honesty to our call. Oh, and her uke too. She played us a lullaby in French.

Koechlin is an actor, celebrity, award-winner, activist, writer (Wiki does a better job of this), and a mum. Yet another celeb-turned-author? A-listers have been jumping on the book-writing bandwagon of late — Soha Ali Khan with Kunal Khemu, Karan Johar and Jugal Hansraj… Lots about tots. Why do we need another one?

Burps, lack of libido and incontinence, to start with. This is a book with all the warts and bumps. Koechlin, 37, kept a diary when she was pregnant. Her musings, rants, poetry, cravings, all made it into this memoir (as personal essays and think-pieces), with Valeriya Polyanychko’s brilliant, wacky illustrations focussing on the many versions of Koechlin’s baby bump and other lumps, protesting vaginas and raging breasts.