Aparna was born in Indore (Madhya Pradesh, India), the royal city of the Holkar Marathas. Her paternal ancestors had migrated to Indore from Rajasthan in the early decades of the twentieth century. However, her childhood was spent in bustle of the urban Delhi. Regional assortment was the mainstay of her parents’ household, be it dressing, language, bedtime stories or the food on the dining table. As she grew into adulthood, Aparna, by quirk of fate became a historian. It began with a two years' stay at Cambridge where she read history. Having fallen in love with the languid academic lifestyle, on her return from Albion to Delhi she decided to pursue a PhD in history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has spent five years teaching at Delhi University igniting the minds of Indian youth, and is these days devoting herself to doing the same with the American.