I was born in Dahanu and brought up in Mumbai. I did my Senior Cambridge from Bombay Scottish Orphanage Society's High School, now known as Bombay Scottish School, my B.A in English Literature and Language from Bristol University and my Masters in English from Mumbai University. I have worked as a lecturer in English at Elphinstone College and H R College of Commerce, as a sub-editor with Femina, as a P R Executive with Glaxo Laboratories and as Arts Editor with the Times of India.

I have been a writer and translator since 1960. I have written two novels, a few plays, a scatter of short stories, film scripts and innumerable newspaper articles. I have been a culture columnist with The Independent, The Sunday Times of India, Mid-Day and, since 2006, with Mumbai Mirror. Besides essays, short fiction, novels and autobiographies, I have translated plays by Vijay Tendulkar, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Satish Alekar, G. P. Deshpande and Rajeev Naik from Marathi into English and Gieve Patel's play "Mr Behram" and Jerry Pinto's novel "Em and the Big Hoom" from English into Marathi.

I have also written a history of Marathi theatre and edited books on the works of theatre directors Satyadev Dubey and Veenapani Chawla. I have also edited an oral history of experimental theatre in Mumbai, "The Scenes We Made".

I have two children, Renuka Shahane, married to Ashutosh Rana and Girish Shahane, married to Jabeen Merchant. I have two grandchildren, Shouryaman and Satyendra Rana. I am supported in the home by two wonderful human beings - Alka Dhulap and Sanjay Pashte. Alka has worked with us from 1975 and Sanjay from 1990.