Growing up in rural West Bengal, we didn’t have much to do. As a child, I was always sickly and wasn’t really good at sports. I spent most of my time at home. I always enjoyed listening to my mother’s stories, which ranged from local tales to epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

I always enjoyed reading as a child. For me, it was more than just a hobby; it was something that could liven up my entire day. I quickly discovered how much I enjoyed tracing the black-inked letters in everything – from school textbooks to my mother’s Femina magazines. In fact, I loved reading so much Read more…

It was the month of May. I was traveling by train from Howrah, West Bengal to Shillong, Meghalaya for my summer vacation. The train journey usually took two days and three nights. As most Indians would agree, spending two days locked up in an Indian Railways’ sleeper coach is no mean feat. To add to Read more…

There was a time when books were only available as printed copies; smartphones and tablets had yet to revolutionize the way we perceive and look at books. I belong to a generation that grew up in that era, luckily in a family that valued knowledge as much as any other quality needed for survival. Textbooks Read more…

It is often said that books are a person’s friends, philosophers and guides. This could not have been any truer in my case. Be it the childhood days spent honing my English-language skills or those attempts at filling my inner void, books were with me through thick and thin. That said, the one instance that Read more…

Ever since I was a kid, I saw books as nothing but part of the school curriculum. The thought of reading a non-curriculum book was almost unimaginable at the time. As someone who barely managed to read through his course books, reading an out-of-syllabus book was, at best, perceived as an utter waste of time. Read more…