India, July 10 -- By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

When we communicate using sounds we call it speech. When we communicate using writing we call it script. There are different kinds of scripts in the world. Are they emojis? Are they letters? Are they consonants and vowels? What is the direction of writing?

The ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia invented writing around 3300 BC, using the cuneiform script - it was written by pressing wedge-shaped marks known as cuneiform into clay tablets. This was originally logographic (picture-based or emoji). Then came the Egyptian hieroglyphs (sacred writing) which were also logographic. Then came Chinese writing, which was logographic as well. These were all origina...