New Delhi, June 21 -- While growing up, summer was synonymous with story time. Every June, it would become too hot to play outside, and holidays would stretch on endlessly. Friends would be away visiting their grandparents. Books ended up becoming my best pals. Even after racing through a pile of mysteries and classics, my appetite for stories would not be satiated. So, in the evening, I would go from one member of the family to another demanding stories. And finally at night, when the house quietened, I would curl up with this collection of acquired tales. Stories of adventure, horror and valour would replay in my mind. I would take a character from here, a setting from there, temper it with a scene from a book that I had read, and knit ...