There’s something quietly humbling about watching the first light kiss a mountain peak. That tender moment when gold spills over white, and the world holds its breath — it’s not just sunrise; it’s surrender. Reading Climbing a Mountain: Short Stories Inspired by Trekking by Ranjit Kulkarni felt like standing in that fragile dawn — awed, aware, and suddenly small in the best possible way.   I have not climbed any mountain — not in the literal sense. But yes, I have climbed man

I remember the first time I curled up beside my grandmother on a chilly winter evening, the aroma of simmering kahwa filling the room, as she spun tales that danced between the real and the magical. There was always a hush in the air, punctuated by the crackle of the fireplace and the occasional shiver of delight or fear. Opening Dadi, Dantkatha and the Djinns by Avanti Sopory felt like stepping back into that very moment, a portal into a world where the snow-dusted valleys o

I remember the exact moment I discovered The God of Small Things—the air sticky with monsoon humidity, the smell of old paper, the faint clatter of a train in the distance—and how the world Roy created felt impossibly alive in my hands. Until then, the Booker Prize was just a shiny emblem, a distant flag waving over literature’s vast plains. But Roy made it pulse with heartbeat, heartbreak, and mischief. Picking up Mother Mary Comes to Me decades later, I felt that same elect

There are some books you don’t just read — you inhabit them. They unfold like an old photograph album, where every page carries a scent, a story, a heartbeat. I Came Upon a Lighthouse by Shantanu Naidu, with illustrations by Sanjana Desai, is one such book. It’s not a biography, not exactly a memoir, but a feeling — warm, humane, and quietly luminous — much like the man at its center: Ratan Tata.   I still remember the first time I turned its pages on a quiet Sunday morning,

Some books don’t just sit on your bedside table — they sit inside your soul, quietly rearranging the pieces you thought were too broken to mend. Love, Hope and Magic by Ashish Bagrecha is one of those rare books that doesn’t shout wisdom; it whispers it. Like a soft rain after months of drought, it seeps into the cracks of your heart, making something bloom again where you thought nothing could grow.   I still remember the first time I stumbled upon Ashish’s words — a four-li

There are books that inform, and then there are books that transform. The Power of Moments by Chip Heath and Dan Heath belongs firmly in the latter camp — the kind of book that makes you look up from the page, stare into space for a few seconds, and whisper to yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”   I remember finishing the first chapter on a rainy Sunday morning, coffee in hand, and feeling oddly… awake. Not in the caffeine sense, but in the way your mind wakes up when it

Some stories feel like echoes of your grandparents’ voices — warm, worn by time, and yet carrying the pulse of youth. Rising from the Roots is one such tale. It’s not just a book; it’s a living bridge between generations, where dreams meet dirt, failure meets faith, and legacy is built not by luck, but by labour.   What caught my eye first wasn’t just the premise — three generations, three battles, one enduring spirit — but the author himself. Yuvraj Dangi, just 15, writes wi

It began with the smell of old paper. That faint, woody fragrance that seeps into your skin when you hold a well-loved book — the kind of...

There’s a strange kind of silence that follows a good martial arts fight — that heartbeat of stillness between power and peace. Reading...

The first time I cracked open The Carpenter by Jon Gordon, I didn’t expect to be sitting with my coffee and suddenly wondering about the...