An Introduction
I consider myself, first and foremost, a reader. My conversation starters jump from my blissful reading deck at home to dwindling book shops in the city, from deciding what to read next, to the book I feel most understood by. I’m fascinated by the curious ritual of reading and the fact that it can inspire the mundane with something magical.
I am a fairly impatient reader– If the book in hand doesn’t interest me, I don’t hesitate to move on to the next one. And that, I have discovered, is the key to being a consistent reader. Books, like people, can be good and bad– choose your company wisely!
For someone whose work centres around stories and how we tell them, I see reading as a way to live many more lives than the one we find ourselves in.
Image Credits: Siddharth Nadar
Questions to self
Q: Where is your favourite spot to read at home? What makes it such a good reading corner?
A: I love reading by the window. Looking out at the sky whilst reading lets me dream; allows me to visualise the events as they keep occurring. The sky is like a blank canvas and I paint it the way I want to.
Q: What is it about your reading corner that allows for stillness and escaping to another place?
A: Firstly, my wing chair is easy on my butt. Growing up, my mum and I would sit beside the window and read stories over snacks and cuddles in our old home. So, wherever I go, I pick a window seat to curl up with my book.
Q: What time of day is sacred reading time for you?
A: I read on weekends, usually early in the morning between 7-9am, when things are calm and silent around me. When I travel tends to be my favourite time to read as I usually refrain from using social media when on a holiday which helps me focus fully on the book.
Q: How do you display books at home? Do things have an order or process to them?
A: I have a mild OCD, so I clean my bookshelf at least twice a week but there’s no rhyme or reason as to how they’re displayed!
Q: The elusive question - how do you decide what book to read next?
A: I pick up books recommended by my favourite influencers.The Bestsellers that are being talked about. I have a thing for cool book covers– sometimes, I buy a book just because of its cover!
Quick fire:
The book you'd most like to pass on to everyone you know:
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.
Dog ear pages or bookmarks:
I always lose by bookmarks, so dog ear pages.
The most hopeful book you've read:
In recent times, Becoming by Michelle Obama
Favourite bookshop in the world:
Kitab Khana, Fort– Mumbai.
The person you most like to interview:
I’d love to go back in time and interview Sherlock Holmes if he were real! I've interviewed so many of my favourite people and yet Elon Musk still eludes me :(
A scent that makes you think of home:
A lit oil lamp, a good old incense stick and jasmine flowers– all together. Feels like my grandma’s hug.
If you could spend a day reading in any house in the world, which house would you choose?
In the tree house at my grandparent’s farm where I could hear the sound of the river water flowing by, cuckoos chirping and baby goats bleating. Sounds magical, doesn’t it?