The human brain is hard-wired to remember stories. That’s how history was passed down for generations and the brain evolved to better retain stories versus facts.

We come from a culture in India where our stories were told and not read. They were always ‘just a grandmother away’ as Karnataka poet A K Ramanujan said.

But the recent renaissance in Indian children’s literature is exciting.

Reading comes in several forms. While our deepest urge is to focus on the text, we also recognise that film, music, and art contain material that can be read, as these constitute the many ways that stories are told and received.

We read and explore the meanings that are written between the lines across different media all the time.