Reading transports you into another universe, helping you escape from and evade reality. Books help us form opinions and ideas and understand the world better. Harry Potter was one series that took me to a fantasy land, a world that I had never been to until then. I was never much into movies, so printed words were all the more relevant for me.

Since the formative years of my life, my parents had inculcated a reading habit in me. They ensured that I read at least for half an hour everyday. They would often read aloud short stories animatedly. That would catch my attention and impel me to read those magical words on my own. This fascination soon became a habit.

I started keeping a diary of new words and quotes and made it a point to use them in my day-to-day conversations. This helped me develop my vocabulary. There were times when the school teacher would pick up a word and center the question around it to leave the entire class bewildered. My impressive arsenal of words helped me decipher whatever she threw at us.

I love exploring diverse genres. Be it J K Rowling’s Harry Potter, which is a treatise on imagination, or Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese?, which gives important lessons on how to deal with changes in life, or Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which teaches us how to look at people as humans beyond various communal boundaries, or Devdutt Pattanaik’s Sita, which narrates the story of Ramayana through the eyes of Sita, or Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking, which offers a creative approach for problem solving.

Every book transforms you into a better version of yourself. Reading was not a habit that I made voluntarily; it just happened to me, and I must say that I have been infatuated with it ever since.

That was an interesting story, Kopal! We hope books will help you further broaden your horizons.

If you are an Indian reader with a story to tell, we’re all ears. Don’t miss out on the chance of getting published. We promise, it won’t cost anything – except for the emotions you will be putting into your engrossing story. What are you waiting for, then?