About Sarita

Sarita Thakrar
Hi, my name is Sarita and I’m the founder of Pehli. A bit about myself; I am the youngest of 3 siblings, I have a niece and nephew who inspired this brand and a very supportive mum and dad who made me realise the necessity of this initiative.

Leaving Corporate

I left my corporate job in 2018 to look for a way to live my life in a more fulfilling way. Acting on intuition, I handed in my notice; during Christmas I completed my final day in the EY London Bridge office and before the new year I was on a flight to Mumbai. My journey with yoga started there and unknowingly paved the way for my new career path.

Love for India

For those who know me will tell you that my number one love in life is India. My mum thinks I must have some past life connection with India because she was born there and as much as she loves it, even she’s not as attached as I am! The country, the people, the culture, the food... the list goes on.

Roots & Upbringing

My upbringing exposed me to the Indian culture and Hindu religion since birth and the school I went to for almost 15 years, although an ordinary British school with a mix of all ethnicities, taught Sanskrit, teachings from the Gita and meditation. Unfortunately then I felt like I shunned a lot of this as it wasn’t the “cool” thing but it’s ironic how you always return back home (thank you St James for my solid foundation and I wish I’d appreciated you more back then!).

Mission

As it happens, life has done a full 360 as now my purpose and mission with my future children and hopefully many other children through Moonlight Mantras is to spread the magical, colourful and important teachings from the Indian culture. The unfulfillment I felt in my corporate job led me to the only place I intuitively felt would give me answers to my next chapter, India. There I discovered the science of Yoga. Training, learning, practicing and teaching over many months and years uncovered my innate passion; the Indian culture.

Why This Matters

When I reflect on my life, it was this that gave me my identity, my community and my direction. I appreciate and love so many parts of the West where I’m grateful to have been born and brought up but the thought of my future children living in a completely Westernised society scares me. I want them to have the same North Star to guide them and add wind to their sails. Faith and certain traditions I’ve been brought up with are what I have leaned on through the tougher times in my life and I feel there’s nothing that can match that support.

Product & Promise

We have put our heartfelt energy into creating a playful product which we feel is a solid start to embedding culture into a child’s life as language and mother tongue is like a child’s passport to their culture. It’s one of the first entry points they have to access and absorb their heritage from a young age.

Nita and I have learned through the multiple stages of this process how much time and commitment it requires and we don’t want to rush any product we put out. So please bear with us while we develop our product offering, we have so much in store to share with you.

We promise to put thought, love and devotion into every product we create and hope you join us on this mission of passing the magic of India down through the generations.