Dehradun, Dec. 29 -- It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a keen wit and excellent prose, must be in want of a publisher. But even if her various novels do not find commensurate financial appreciation from said publisher(s), her legacy may in some cases eclipse her own expectations.

In another December, 250 years ago, Jane Austen was born. Over the course of her relatively short life - she died at the age of 41 - she would write stories whose premises have since become extraordinarily recognizable in being adapted to a dizzying range of popular culture around the world. In India, her renown is enduring. She has a connection to the subcontinent through an aunt who married an East India Company surge...