Just past Shakespeare’s 450th birth anniversary, thoughts turn to an iconic literary landmark no longer in its known avatar. On moving to a swish midtown skyscraper, the British Council Library went entirely online. What’s the unkindest cut? Only Mumbai kids are denied the joy of exploring that treasure trove of books they housed at the old Nariman Point address. Across the country, the Council continues as always, even from smaller Chandigarh and Pune. Lucky my kids feasted long enough on the Council’s fine collection.

Our earliest reading choices define us. I recently strolled into the tiny Bandra bookshop of my growing up years, to feel the same surge of excitement from several summers ago when we visited, wild wired with anticipation. In a reassuringly familiar routine, its bespectacled manager would dust paper flecks off his checked shirt and lead us in with the inviting greeting “Wait till you see this!” A cosy hub, the neighbourhood bookshop easily became a second home. Here curious kids could plaster noses to the pages of favourite paperbacks for as long as they liked.