As an adult, you don't always expect a book meant for children to move you to (happy) tears. The Piano (Duckbill), a graphic novel that was released this month, goes against this expectation. It's heart-warming and ruminative, and you wonder if it was meant only for children. But writer-illustrator Nandita Basu's answer is reassuring. She says, "I believe that stories are for everyone. When I was working on this title, I wasn't writing for an age group. I also didn't want this to be a loneliness saga or an intricate thought."

The story revolves around a little girl named Meera, who longs for a friend and finds one in her piano. Multiple contexts are neatly woven through it, including both World Wars, colonialism, India's freedom struggle and the global economic meltdown of 1997. Basu began working on the idea over a year ago and completed the novel in two and a half months. The crux of the story is rooted in her personal experience. Having played the piano since she was 12, Basu also took to the violin and dabbles with the cello. But it was at 18 when she walked into a real adventure.