A couple of years ago I read The Alchemist and that was the moment I went ‘God! What took this book so long?’. I was not an avid reader and had no interest whatsoever in reading books. The only word that defined my perception of all those picture-less books was ‘boring’.

I had been leading a very hectic life after the sudden demise of my husband. Looking after two young kids, planning for their education and, above all, running the household without any inflow of income… all responsibility had fallen on my shoulders. I started working in a school. Simultaneously, I started giving evening classes to Read more…

My story isn’t one in which I fell in love with a book. My life wasn’t changed dramatically by reading a great author’s fine work. Books didn’t affect the biggest decision I made in my life. They just influenced every little one. As a child, I didn’t read much, probably because it required lots of Read more…

As a child, I had the most loving and caring parents in the world. I grew up listening to my father reading me bedtime stories such as Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, and Aesop’s Fables. As he narrated those tales, I would imagine all the characters and draw sketches in my mind. And that’s how I Read more…

I started reading from a very young age. It was my grandmother who had introduced me to reading.  I vividly remember sitting in my dadi’s lap and reading illustrated books of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in my mother tongue, Telugu. Later on, I graduated to the Panchatantra and Tenali Rama. My love for books increased Read more…

Reading is a habit that caught me when I was a teeny human being full of curiosity, wonder, and a  sense of not belonging anywhere. I don’t really know who the culprit was behind me getting enamored with reading: my mom, who got me those mini story books from my school fair, or my aunt, Read more…

“I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a book.” J.K. Rowling and this quote of hers changed my life forever. I was 14 years old when my mother gifted me a book to read and that book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. At that time, I was a plump Read more…