Visible and invisible lines that guide, shape, or sometimes confine us
Isha Anand 
The Book: Lines
At Children’s Book for All, we read Lines/ लकीरें this weekend and it turned out to be such an engaging, thought provoking and important reading.
We began the evening by pausing to think about the lines in our own lives—the visible and invisible ones that guide, shape, or sometimes confine us. Each person brought in their own reflections: from the lines of time and memory, to the boundaries within families and relationships, to the borders that divide work-spaces. This opening circle set the tone for what was to come, an exploration that was as personal as it was collective.
As we moved into the book, the initial pages sparked observations and conversations. The illustrations opened up worlds within worlds, the play of lines & shapes, the weight of expressions, the delicate yet powerful color themes. The storyline, layered with meaning, drew us deeper into questions of migration, displacement, and the pain of borders, both visible and invisible.
The discussions often lingered on a single page, as participants shared how the images and words resonated with their lived experiences. The characters’ struggles mirrored collective histories of loss, movement, and resilience. The Hindi translation carried the same weight and beauty as the original English text, allowing the book to speak across languages and touch hearts in the same way.
Balancing the lines in our lives
What made the evening special was not just the book itself, but the act of reading together, listening, pausing, and reflecting as a community.
We left the session carrying questions, but also carrying a sense of togetherness, an awareness that while some lines divide and restrict, it is important to break them, lose them, erase them, and play with them as well.
We thank Kripa for the symbolic and profound illustrations in the book, Samina Mishra for the powerful and poignant story, and Shashi Sablok for the relative Hindi translation. Really amazing work🌻
Also, hugs to all the beautiful participants who joined us for the reading.
Disappearing lines between us through the reading
This reading was facilitated by Isha Anand and Sonal Sanghamitra
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