Hello, I am RV Vijayalayan! I am from Chennai. At the age of thirteen, I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo multiple treatments for it. My doctors advised me to stay indoors until my chemo and radiotherapy were done. This was a major setback for me, for I used to spend my evenings Read more…

To me, reading books felt like taking sleeping pills. I would drift off by the time I was on the second page. However, all of this changed three years ago. It all started with the Tamil historical fiction, Ponniyin Selvan. Never before had it occurred to me that a book, much less a novel could Read more…

I am an out-and-out bibliophile; I even love the smell of books. I started reading at a very young age. Maybe it was something I learned from my father. Looking back, I still remember the times when I and my brother went out to buy vada or some other snack from the street vendors or Read more…

Books are one of the most underrated means of entertainment. It is actually a pity that most people choose to ignore these gems. We have all met someone who attributes their command of English to the English movies/shows they watched. In my case, however, that credit goes to books. While movies and shows can help Read more…

As kids, we all listen to countless stories. However, all of that comes to an abrupt end as we start growing up. In my case, I found it difficult to leave those stories behind even as teenage life beckoned. My insatiable appetite for stories motivated me to read wherever I found one. That said, such Read more…

To be honest, I detested books back when I was a schoolgoing kid. On second thoughts, I was not completely averse to reading; I preferred reading picture books to those boring black-and-white textbooks. As years passed by, the library period saw us compelled to read for one hour. With no other option, I began to Read more…

My first memories of ‘reading’ a book are that of the Bhagavad Gita. I was in fifth grade when my grandmother read it out to me. As you would expect from someone my age, I didn’t find it particularly interesting back then. However, during my tenth-grade summer vacations, I received an illustrated copy of the Read more…

Until ninth standard, I was not interested in reading books. However, April 19, 2013 marked the beginning of a beautiful phase of my life. That was the day when I visited a library for the first time in my life. I have nobody but my cousin to thank for that serendipitous day, as he was Read more…