"For Meher’s grandchildren" he wrote on the title page. At my request, some years away from grandmotherhood though I am. So what, I sheepishly told my kids back home. After all, that was my allowed pure Fan Girl moment in no less than Vikram Seth’s presence. And I just know that I shall smile sharing Beastly Tales from Here and There aloud with these children’s children one fine day.

Why? Because it is that most beautiful of books: it is verse. Because I’d like to pass on the happy rush poetry gave me right through my schooldays. Because I recall Judi Dench appreciate a father who would "wake me with verse", making her learn a poem a day as a personal labour of love.