Tanu Sankalia begins by introducing Hema Sankalia’s journey beginning from her birth on 26 November 1934 in Sialkot, Undivided India, to Maharashtrian parents. Her father was in the Indian Civil Services in the British Administration. He goes on in detail about her father’s career till his untimely death at the mere age of 34. Hema Sankalia was still a young girl, who grew up under the influence of her mother and paternal uncle. After going into detail about her schooling and childhood, he mentions how  Hema and her sister Tara went on to study at  Sir J J School of Art in 1951, becoming one of the two girls in her class of 52 students. He mentions the peers and other personalities Hema looked up to and the group of people she eventually became a part of that went on to build firms.  He expands on the skills with which she carried her education forward. 

He moves on to the beginnings of her career and describes her first job and the relationships made from the Mody and Colgan office in 1956-57.  She met and married Shireesh Sankalia when she had just begun her career, and Tanu goes on to talk about her new husband’s career positions and his familial background. On her further aspirations after J.J., he mentions how she was denied the opportunity to go abroad and gain exposure. She went on to set up Contemporary Arts and Crafts (CAC), an interior furnishings firm with her husband and Ar. Piloo and Vina Mody. Tanu describes the gap in the market that the group filled in the industry and its evolution going forward. He goes on to detail how she further captured projects for the firm and the places the projects took her. Moving on to how she multi-managed her roles as a mother and practitioner, he talks about the challenges she faced with developing the nascent firm. He expands on the time when projects from Madhya Pradesh kept coming in and she was offered the Vidhana Soudha for which she roped in Ar. Charles Correa’s support.