India, June 20 -- A poet, novelist, and travel writer, Vikram Seth was born in Kolkata on June 20, 1952. He was raised in India and London, attending exclusive schools and graduating from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He then went on to study at Stanford University in the United States and Nanjing University in China, before returning to India and settling with his family.

Seth is known for his verse novel The Golden Gate, published in 1986, and his epic novel A Suitable Boy, published in 1993, which is one of the longest English-language novels published as a single-volume work.

Commemorating his birthday, today's quote of the day is an excerpt from Arion and the Dolphin, a children's book that he published in 1994. The quote reads: ...