The author takes a walk across bookstores in search for James Baldwin and for the metaphor it represents.

Having read Dahl's Matilda at 11 herself and then experiencing multiple cultures; the author goes through one end of the spectrum of not reading to the other end of the spectrum of becoming a bibliophile.

The author's experience of living in a new city is marred and streaked by the effect the city has on her, mentally as well as physically. She traverses the divide as best as she possibly can and finds herself short of being understood.

The author undertakes an uncomfortable journey of acceptance and tells a tale of a tumultuous relationship she shares with her mother.

The author translates, among other things, the relationship she shares with Bombay, the city of her birth; how she has accepted and made peace with the method in its madness.

The author goes through the pandemic along with a change of residence and lifestyle. A bird lover since childhood, she learns a lot more as she lives along side Woodpeckers and Hummingbirds.

TBR's Managing Editor, Maitreyee Chowdhury, takes a trip to the Kolkata Little Magazine Archive in Tamer Lane, in the college Street area. She returned with a treasure trove worth of stories and anecdotes.

Remember the gulf between who you are on the outside and who you are in the privacy of your skull? Yes, yes, you try to assimilate as best you can but you’re never quite…enough. While you know this is the case for most people, somehow, it causes you more problems than you will admit, perhaps because you’ve been raised to believe they’re character deficits and you can’t accept they define you.