India, Nov. 3 -- Laila Tyabji, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, unites some of the best blessings of existence.

Oh well, why hide it from you, dear all-knowing reader? The line above has been plagiarised from the famous opening of a famous Jane Austen novel. Except that the heroine's name has been replaced by the name of Delhi's no. 1 Jane Austenite. (And Jane Austen's description fits our fellow citizen to a tee.)

This December marks Jane Austen's 250th birth anniversary, and craft revivalist Laila Tyabji's reading life effortlessly connects us to the world of the timeless English writer. Laila has been living with Jane Austen for 68 years. Her first encounter with the writer happened when she ...