Birth: January 6, 1940 in Sialkot (Unified Punjab). This town is now in Pakistan.

Mother: His mother's name was Vidyavanti. She was born in a farmer's family in a small village in Punjab. There were no arrangements for (or tradition of)  education for girls. She was illiterate. She passed away in 1992 in Delhi at an estimated age of over Eighty years.

Father: His father's name was Parmananda Kohli. Born in Sialkot in 1903 to a middle class, working family, he was pulled out of school in eighth grade because of poor eyes. Though fond of reading and writing, he was unable to study any farther. He left a few of his Urdu novels'  manuscripts for his writer son in his will. He worked as a temporary clerk for the Forest Department, Unified Punjab. After the country's partition, in the absence of money, degree or any specialized skills, he was forced to sell fruit as a street vendor. It later grew into a little store. He died in 1985 at the age of 82.

Education: Schooling began at the age of five or six at Dev Samaj High School in Lahore.  Then he was enrolled at Ganda Singh High School in Sialkot for a few months. In 1947, after India's partition, the family moved to Jamshedpur (Bihar). Schooling resumed in third grade at Dhatkidih Lower Primary school. Forth to Seventh grade (1949-53) were spent at New Middle English  school. English education was limited simply to reading/writing. Urdu was the medium of instruction for all other subjects. Eighth to Eleventh grade schooling was completed at KMPM High School Jamshedpur. He selected the science stream for high school classes, and the medium of instruction remained Urdu until this point.

For higher education, he attended Jamshedpur Co-operative College. He took the IA exams (1959) from Bihar University with Compulsary English, Compulsary Hindi, Psychology, Logic, and special Hindi as his subjects. For his bachelors, he selected Compulsary English, Philosophy, and Hindi Literature (Hons). After completing his BA (Hons.) in 1961 from Jamshedpur Co-operative College (Ranchi University) in Hindi, he came to Delhi for his Masters degree. He completed his MA in 1963 at Ramjas College (University of Delhi) and later in 1970, his Ph.D., also from University of Delhi.

Employment: His first job was at PG DAV (Eve) College in Delhi as a Lecturer of Hindi (1963-65). Then he moved to Motilal Nehru College in 1965, and on November 1, 1995, he took voluntary retirement at the age of 55.

Family: In 1965, he married Dr. Madhurima Kohli, Ph.D. from University of Delhi as well.  She has been teaching Hindi Literature at Kamla Nehru College (University of Delhi) since 1964, and is currently employed in the capacity of a Reader (Associate Professor), Hindi Department.

Their first daughter Sanchita lived only for 4 months. In December 1967, the couple was blessed with a pair of twins - son Kartikeya, and daughter Surabhi. Unfortunately Surabhi survived only for 24 days. Kartikeya completed his MA, M Phil. in Economics from University of Delhi, and now teaches at Ramlal Anand College (Eve), Delhi. Their daughter-in-law,  (Kartikeya's wife) Dr. Vandana is an Opthamologist.

In 1975, younger son Agastya was born. He finished his schooling at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi, received a BS in Computer Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, and is now working as a Network Engineer in Seattle, USA.