Mona Asoka Verma nee Pahlajani was born in Sukker of Sindh province, now in Pakistan, in 1940. It was only after her marriage in 1964 in Mumbai that she started taking any interest in the kitchen. While in Delhi with her husband, she attended cookery classes, and later, first in Kolkata and then in Mumbai she set up her own successful cookery courses. At one point of time, nearly fifteen of her students ran independent classes of their own. Mona Asoka Verma has a flair for writing Hindi poetry and is a keen student of Indian classical music. She is a social worker with many years being in the Lion’s movement in Mumbai as well as she was for some time on the advisory board of Chembur Vidya Samiti, Mumbai, which is dedicated to the cause of poor women. Mona Asoka Verma has authored four cookery books and two Hindi poetry books, all well received. Mona Asoka Verma is married to Asoka Verma, a senior company executive, now retired. They have a son and a daughter and now live in Noida.