Dehradun, Oct. 8 -- The Books From My Shelves

My love for books started through the weekly Library periods at my school, St Joseph's Academy, Dehradun. We became voracious readers consuming every book from Enid Blyton to James Hadley Chase to Biggles and Perry Mason. By class 8, I had finished 6 Puranas which were kept in the home mandir and later graduated to biographies and Shakespeare in higher classes at school.

This love for books continued in NDA and IMA with military history books being added to preferred titles. I bought books from National News Agency, Sunday book market near Dariyaganj New Delhi, Crossword in Pune and through Higginbothams in Chennai. Over the years, my bookshelf has become a map of my interests: strategy, lea...