Dehradun, Oct. 27 -- Books from My Shelves

As a young restless girl I would dream of many places Tintin visited or the valour depicted in Amar Chitra Kathas. Then came the adventures of Nancy Drew. I wanted to live all the characters that I would read about. Books have this great magic that they allow us to sit in one corner of a room and become a different person, travel across continents, centuries, and civilisations. They introduce us to ideas that may forever change the course of our thinking.

My habit of reading was inculcated by my father when he gifted me My Experiments with Truth. It takes us into the courage of looking inward. In this, Gandhi is willing to examine his own weaknesses, mistakes, doubts, and contradictions. If imb...