By For Sharanya Shukla, leaving India did not mean leaving behind who she was. It meant discovering another perspective on identity, safety, spirituality and the kind of future she wanted to help create. Her forthcoming book, 222 Heart of the Sacred Emirates, brings together the experiences, losses, intuition and unexpected blessings that have shaped her journey.
When Sharanya Shukla left her country at 23, she did not leave behind her identity.
Today, nearly five years later, she remains deeply connected to India, proudly Indian and proudly Hindu. What changed was not her sense of belonging, but her perspective on life.
Living in another country gave her the opportunity to observe society differently: the value of discipline, the importance of respect, the comfort of safety, and what it means to live in an environment where people can focus on building their lives, pursuing their ambitions and becoming the best versions of themselves.
For Sharanya, that experience has been particularly profound because peace and security have never been abstract ideas.
They have been personal.
She lost her father when she was just seven years old. Growing up, she never imagined a life driven by conventional ambitions. Her greatest dream was simply to become a mother. Marriage, children and family were what she imagined her future would look like.
She was fortunate to grow up with material comforts and without the pressure of a family imposing a conventional career path upon her. Yet there was one thing that wealth could never guarantee.
Peace.
Coming from a political family, Sharanya understood early that material prosperity can mean very little when safety and freedom become uncertain. The ability to live without fear, to breathe freely and to feel protected became far more valuable to her than anything money could buy.
It is perhaps this history that makes her relationship with the UAE so deeply personal.
A Country That Became a Sanctuary
When Sharanya first came to Dubai, she did not arrive with a grand business plan or a carefully mapped-out career.
She arrived with her blessings, her intuitive and psychic abilities, and a desire to help people.
More than anything, she was searching for a place where she and her family could experience peace and protection.
Dubai became that place.
For Sharanya, the UAE is not simply the country where she chose to live. It represents something much more intimate: a sanctuary that allowed her to grow.
She describes the city as almost a father figure in her life, offering a sense of security and stability after losing her own father at such a young age.
For someone whose work and worldview are deeply connected to intuition, spirituality and healing, that sense of inner calm has been transformative.
There is a certain irony in her story. She came to Dubai looking for protection, but found a space in which she could also discover her creativity, deepen her spirituality and begin to understand the direction her life was taking.
She credits the leadership of the UAE and the ruling families for helping create that environment.
Her gratitude extends to the vision of the country’s leaders and to the values on which the UAE was built: respect, discipline, safety, opportunity and coexistence.
She often speaks with particular admiration for the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed, whose vision she believes continues to influence a country where people from around the world are able to come together to live, work, dream and build.
Even during periods of regional uncertainty, Sharanya says she personally experienced a sense of calm in the UAE. There was a belief that the authorities were doing everything possible to protect those living in the country.
For someone whose childhood had been shaped by the absence of security, that feeling carried a significance far beyond the headlines.
It gave her hope.
Beyond the Hindu-Muslim Debate
Sharanya’s experience of living abroad has also influenced the way she views conversations around identity and religion.
She is clear that loving another country or appreciating another culture does not diminish one’s connection to one’s own.
Her Hindu identity has remained intact. So has her Indian identity.
What she hopes will change, however, is the tendency to reduce every conversation about India to a Hindu-Muslim power struggle.
For Sharanya, the more important conversation is about humanity.
She believes children should be taught character before power, discipline before aggression, compassion before division and integrity before influence.
Her concern comes from personal experience. She speaks about losing her childhood before she was old enough to understand what she had lost, and about how fear, pressure, conflict and uncertainty can shape young lives.
That is why she finds hope in young people who peacefully raise their voices for their future and their rights.
Her dream for India is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in people.
She wants to see a country where children feel protected, young people have opportunities, families can live with dignity and citizens are not defined primarily by religious or social divisions.
“I don’t want a future built on hate,” is the essence of her message. She wants one built on respect, unity, safety and hope.
It is a perspective that comes from someone who has experienced life in more than one environment and has had the opportunity to see what different societies can teach us.
And perhaps that is one of the most important distinctions in Sharanya’s story: she does not see loving India and appreciating the UAE as opposing ideas.
For her, they can coexist.
When a Coincidence Becomes a Calling
Sharanya’s professional and creative journey in Dubai was not something she planned. It began almost accidentally.
During her third trip to the city, her mother encouraged her to bring along some of her fabric designs. What started as a small experiment eventually led to her first collaboration with Triple Two at Alserkal Avenue.
There was another coincidence that made the moment particularly meaningful.
The number 222 was connected to her father, whose birthday was February 22.
For Sharanya, the connection felt symbolic.
It was the kind of moment that strengthened her belief that some things arrive in our lives with a timing that cannot always be explained logically.
That number would eventually become central to a much larger creative and spiritual project.
The Story Behind 222 Heart of the Sacred Emirates
Her forthcoming book, 222 Heart of the Sacred Emirates, is perhaps the most personal expression of everything she has experienced since coming to Dubai.
The book explores spirituality, self-discovery, intuition and faith, but at its heart is a story about transformation.
It is about what happens when a person who never planned a particular life finds themselves walking a path they could never have predicted.
Sharanya never set out to become an author. She did not grow up dreaming of writing a book.
But as her experiences accumulated, the stories, lessons and spiritual insights began to form a narrative of their own.
The book explores the unseen forces that shape our lives, the importance of mindset, the influence of intuition and the role that faith can play when we do not have all the answers.
It also examines something Sharanya considers increasingly important in a distracted and fast-moving world: the people we allow into our lives.
The right environment, she believes, can nurture us, while the wrong environment can quietly pull us away from ourselves.
For her, remaining spiritually rooted has become essential.
A Different Definition of Success
There is another thread running through Sharanya’s story that feels particularly relevant today. She was never driven by conventional definitions of success.
She had no overwhelming desire to prove herself through titles, wealth or status.
Instead, her journey has been about finding alignment.
Finding the right environment.
Finding inner peace.
Finding meaningful ways to use her gifts.
And eventually finding the courage to tell her story.
That does not mean her journey has been without ambition. It simply means her ambition has taken a different form.
For Sharanya, success is increasingly about creating a life that feels authentic rather than one that merely looks impressive from the outside.
Her understanding of wealth has changed too.
A secure home, a peaceful mind, a healthy family, meaningful relationships and the freedom to pursue one’s purpose can be more valuable than material abundance.
That perspective is deeply intertwined with her experience of Dubai.
A Love Letter to a Place That Let Her Heal
There is an unmistakable sense of gratitude in the way Sharanya speaks about the UAE.
She sees the country’s leadership, its culture of respect and its emphasis on safety as part of the reason she was able to build a life here.
But 222 Heart of the Sacred Emirates is not simply a tribute to a city. It is a record of what that city allowed her to become.
The title itself reflects that relationship.
The “sacred” in the title is not merely about spirituality. It is about the emotional meaning of place. A place can become sacred because of what happens there. Because of what it gives us. Because of who we become within it.
Dubai became that kind of place for Sharanya. It was where she found space after loss. Where intuition became creativity.
Where creativity became purpose.
And where a series of seemingly unrelated experiences began to form a story.
Looking Towards 2027
222 Heart of the Sacred Emirates is scheduled to launch in 2027, unfolding through different chapters and experiences.
Sharanya describes it as a journey through struggle, blessings, spirituality and the lessons that emerge when we learn to trust ourselves.
But ultimately, it is a story about resilience.
About a young girl who lost her father at seven.
About a woman who once imagined that her only future would be marriage and motherhood.
About someone who left her country searching for safety and discovered a new dimension of herself in the process.
And about an individual who learned that sometimes the greatest chapters of our lives are the ones we never planned to write.
Sharanya’s story does not ask us to choose between identities, countries or cultures. Instead, it offers a more expansive idea of belonging.
You can love where you come from and still learn from where life takes you.
You can remain rooted in your faith while respecting another culture.
You can be proud of your country while acknowledging the things you hope will change. And you can build a new home without erasing the old one.
Perhaps that is the real heart of Sharanya’s journey.
She left India at 23.
She arrived in Dubai looking for peace.
Years later, she finds herself looking back with gratitude at both the journey and the places that shaped her.
And now, through 222 Heart of the Sacred Emirates, she is preparing to share what she discovered along the way.
Not a story of leaving one identity behind for another. But a story of becoming more fully herself.
