Ishani's Pen

A very famous saying goes “A book is a gift that you can open again”. As a 90s kid, I used to read short stories, fairy tales, Aesop fables that I had been gifted by relatives or that I used to buy from our school on the day of Parent-Teacher Meet in August every year. But it was only in the year 2002 (age 11), when I was captivated by the idea of “reading” and that book was J.K Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone”. And that book opened many doors into the world of reading – from Harry Potter, to Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Hardy Boys – it was a reading marathon or spree. I started to eagerly wait for December every year for the Annual Book fair of Guwahati. I wished my sister to say that she needed something from Pan bazar so that I could tag along with my mother and cajole her for a little indulgence in “Western Book Depot”. Years rolled, different books from the mentioned titles got exchanged between friends as my reading genre remained limited within that...

Victor Hugo had said, “The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved!” His words are very true– as human beings, all we yearn for is love – from childhood, through adulthood, to old age, our hearts always seek the love of another fellow being. And how beautiful is the feeling of being loved – in the tender arms of mother to the soft kiss of a lover – everything just revolves around the expression of loving one another. As children, loving parents, relatives and siblings come naturally but as we grow up, we become more practical, independent and rational – we develop difference of opinions with our near ones and probably the only true love that remains is with our parents and later, partners/spouses/soulmates. But how does the heart decide whom to love and choose as a partner for a lifetime?             With the growing modernization, changing laws and mindsets, as well as societal acceptance, ...