When Asha was 6, she would run through the forest of her grandparents farm, in the Western gardens.
Asha would travel jobs all around the world, to run away from her mother. The UK, reactors in Romania, Canada, finally South Korea. (This level of details in the scenario is quite remarkable, as India, Romania, Canada and South Korea belong to the handful of countries that use the same type of nuclear reactors, with heavy water as a moderator. Asha's description of her professional career may seem completely random but it isn't)
Asha was part of a group of 34 foreign nuclear technicians, (career scientists and some of their families) in a nuclear plant in North Korea, who initially survived the beginning of The Freeze, by living off residual heat from the nuclear reactor as it cooled. After some time had passed, the group were attacked by marauders, who killed almost half of the group members. After the marauders died off, they turned on each other. The high radiation levels in the plant caused radiation poisoning killing many of the group members, and the cold eventually made living conditions even harder. Asha, who was desperate to keep her 15-year old nephew safe, poisoned the others. However, he had become sick with thyroid cancer, leading to her nephew begging Asha to kill him because of the pain. After a mercy kill, Asha remained the only survivor for four years.[1]
In The Tortoise and the Hare, while rescuing Bennett Knox who has fallen through the power plant roof, Andre Layton notices and investigates the light from the reactor. Layton finds Asha's belongings resulting in Asha attacking him, but he manages to subdue her and, after recharging his suit, carries the unconscious Asha back to the Pirate train.
In Setting Itself Right, Asha has begun working in Ag-Sec. She later sacrifices herself to save Snowpiercer from a cloud of toxic volcanic gas.