My love affair with books began when I was twelve. At an age when all my friends would go out to play, I would spend hours in my school’s library, engrossed in one book or the other. I still remember my mother telling me a fable every night to get me to sleep. It felt Read more…

You may wonder what inspired me to read and write. Well, it seems all hazy when I rack my brains. I do have a vague picture in mind, though: I was only seven years old. Just like any child my age, I too had a dream. I started writing songs, which may or may not Read more…

Hello, everyone! My name is Anjali Singh Chauhan and I am currently pursuing my bachelor’s degree in commerce. My story is all about the major change that came in my life when I was in grade five. You see, I was suffering from fits. It always baffled me how everyone in my class could understand Read more…

It all started when I was a young girl. I still remember the days when my father would bring me the Janhamamu (the Odia version of Chandamama) comics. I would eagerly wait for school to end so I could read those illustrated books. He knew exactly what stories I loved to read. While he brought Read more…

There is a wise saying that goes as follows: Show me the books a man reads and I will tell you his personality. In my younger days, my elders would often tell me to read many moral stories. Such stories would help inculcate in me the virtues of patriotism and honesty, they said, and rightly Read more…

This is a story from many decades back. I grew up in a village (a real one, not a weekend getaway), around the time India got its independence. For a kid growing up in circumstances like mine, books were almost things of luxury. Anything other than textbooks was hard to come by. In fact, the Read more…

I was born among books. I remember seeing colorful, boring (boring for a five-year-old means books sans any illustrations or pictures) books around the house during the formative years of my childhood. Thick and thin paperbacks and hardbound books kept me constant company. That is why it should come over as no surprise that I 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…

I come from Bihar. I am sure this four-word sentence was enough to tell you all you need to know about my command of English (or the lack of it). My whole school life, I rarely talked to my teachers. I even shied away from asking any questions I had during my classes. All this Read more…

When I think of my love for printed treasures, I am instantly taken back to the time when my mother would sit me down with a glass of hot Bournvita milk on a cool rainy afternoon and hand me a storybook. She would sit beside me with a book of her own. The feeling, the Read more…