KHARADI, Maharashtra, India – At 10:30 p.m., after a long day of work, Baby Rajaram Bokale has one more task to complete before she sleeps.
She settles cross-legged on her bed. An elaborate shrine to the Hindu deity Krishna glows in one corner with colorful strings of lights. A portrait of her late husband, with a full, gray mustache and a direct gaze, hangs above the bed.
She opens an app on her smartphone, and in her clear, resonant voice, she begins to read a story aloud in her native tongue, Marathi, the language of Maharashtra state, where she lives in Kharadi, a bustling suburban neighborhood in the city of Pune.