A Mumbai woman shares a poetry anthology with her mother during Diwali

A journalist and founder of Sonya’s Book Box spent the Diwali festival in Mumbai with her parents and siblings.

During a visit to a local market for kitchen supplies, the woman and her mother visited a cafe called Poetry and Cheesecake. While there, a waitress offered them a poetry anthology used for presenting bills. The mother and daughter spent time reading the poems together, which evoked memories of the mother reading aloud to her children in Jamshedpur.

The mother expressed a desire to own the book because of its large print and the specific poems it contained. The waitress allowed them to borrow the book for the evening, which the author intended to return the following morning. The author also reflected on a recent book club meeting where members swapped titles for the holiday. She suggested several titles for those looking for gifts, including a satirical suspense novel about a tradwife influencer and a murder mystery.

She also recommended a collection of the fifty greatest poets for reading aloud during the festive season.