New Delhi, Oct. 7 -- As you browse the web, sometimes a disconcerting advertisement pops up, talking about a young girl with three siblings who cannot afford food or school fees or is facing some disease. An ad like that generates a degree of guilt if you do not respond. But when you read in this newspaper that as per the latest National Family and Health Survey, 85% of India's children below two years do not receive an adequate diet, it does not even register.

The reason is simple: human beings are hardwired to respond to stories. While impersonal statistics are easy to ignore, stories are not.

Stories are also the best way to pass on knowledge, wisdom and information to kids and adults. Anthropologists say stories have existed in all ...