India, July 4 -- Bookstores remain one of the few retail spaces where people consistently buy more than they consume. In an age of digital minimalism and Marie Kondo-led purging, it's curious, comforting, even - that readers continue to acquire books they may not read for months, or perhaps ever.

The phenomenon is so common in Japan it has its own word: tsundoku - the practice of buying books and letting them pile up unread. But if this habit were just about accumulation, it would not carry such emotional weight. Unread books are not failed intentions. They are quiet declarations of hope. Every unread book on a shelf is a placeholder for a future version of the self, someone who finally has time, who returns from the noise of daily life ...