Ranjit Lal has a charming, humorous and wacky style of writing which immediately catches the reader’s attention. His articles, especially on birds and pets have endeared him to many, including this author, who enjoys all that is written by him. I was therefore keen to read this latest book for children and I must say I was not disappointed. It is an impossible story, of course, set as it is in a grand castle in today’s India, with all the trappings of a royal habitat. One of the protagonists is a real princess, Zafira, who makes friends with ordinary girls, including a boy, from ordinary, professional families.
2013
Animal Antics by Priyamvada is a collection of 26 poems about different animals and birds from various parts of the world. Priyamvada has dealt with the animal kingdom of Australia, Africa, South American, India, China, Sumatra and Borneo, South Asia as well as the open seas.
One of the most helpful conceptual tools for taking up the study of any culture, so that the basic orientation of its ethos will be immediately understood and will illuminate the further study of the facets, is Piterim Sorokin’s categorization. In the ideational culture, temporal existence…
Two years ago, when there was a dearth of coming-of-age novels for Indian children, along came Tulika’s Mayil Will Not Be Quiet—like summer rain on parched earth.
2013
Suzanne Sangi’s Facebook Phantom has taken the popular teenage concept of ‘Facebook-stalking’ to a completely new level.
2013
In any civilized society, when fathers and trusted guardians turn sexual predators,when horrific incidents of rape and sexual abuse of minors hit newspaper headlines with alarming frequency, when hospitals, schools and even school buses are not the safe havens we imagine, have we then touched rock bottom—the nadir of this kalyug? In such grim times it becomes imperative for children of every age to be aware of their personal safety, to be able to protect themselves even within the close family unit. Smitten, Ranjit Lal’s latest novel for young teenagers, dares to tackle this concern which is traditionally one of the great taboos in our society.
The popular game Angry Birds has the user side with the enraged avian, choreographing its kamikaze attempt to raze down a structure put up by pigs, who have presumably pilfered the protagonist’s eggs.
2013
Reading Zombiestan is like watching a slick Hollywood action thriller that has all the right elements going for it—the ever popular war against terror, a bit of romance, some coming of age, lots of guns, and heroic sacrifice.
Alice would not have been surprised to find herself in this apocalyptic war zone teeming with ruined cities and mutants.
A Cultural History of India is a series of articles by some well-known historians, archaeologists and linguists. In this volume they have made a critical appreciation of India’s cultural life from the earliest times to the present day and packed it with information on a variety of subjects…
‘The residents of Bargad chawl are in danger of losing their homes—their nooks and crannies, shelters and perches. Ali, the monkey, has to find a way out. He swings, jumps and leaps into action, and comes up with a monkey trick that gives a new twist to the phrase, ‘playing god’ in this hilarious and heartwarming story!’ reads the jacket of this picture book recommended for children upwards of 5 years in age.
2013
Vacation!! Kids eagerly wait and plan well before for the vacation. That is what Sunny also does in A Passage to Adventure. How does Sunny’s vacation turn out? To find out read the book.
The family is the vehicle, the acculturating medium through which the norms, values, and sentiments of the wider society are articulated and expressed. In Family and Caste in Urban India based on a study conducted in the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Karnataka, the author traces with incisive analytical ability…
Writer Anushka Ravishankar strikes again, with a novel little book—and this time, it’s about a little girl who goes to the market, with a little money from her mother, but so captivating are the strange sights that she spends her time, lost in the wonderful world. Flowers, bangles, toys and fish … the list is endless as she skips along the narrow lanes, peers at the colourful stalls, gapes at sellers and buyers, and loses all track of time.
2013
If ever there was a book that captured every nuance that might appeal to a child, then this is probably it. Not for nothing is Anushka Ravishankar dubbed India’s Dr Seuss; her words are bright, appealing, and flavoured with such spirit and energy that even a word like Papayaaaaaaaa! is transformed into a long-drawn out horrified scream—uttered by Falguni Fruitseller, who stumbles upon a crocodile in a ditch—and reduces you to excited giggles.
Professor Carstairs is best known in India for his study of personality formation in a traditional Hindu society—The Twice Born. That study dealt with the social determinants of a ‘normal’ personality and relied mostly on an imaginative use of the clinical method.
‘Are you Woodward or Bernstein?’‘Neither, they are both in America’, replied John, thus killing, once and for all, an altogether inappropriate comparison between the Watergate reporters and the authors of Delhi Under Emergency. It was perhaps inevitable that this superb piece of investigative journalism, a rare specimen in India, by two young and relatively unknown journalists, would be compared to the Watergate story…
As a little child my mother told me the story of the founding of Panja Saheb: Guru Nanak once came into wilderness with his disciple. It was hot. The disciple thirsted for water. But water was nowhere except on top of a hill where a dervish lived.
The political appropriation of Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy has been going on for decades. Now the trend has spread to unlikely quarters. Gandhi peersat us from posters, sharing space with his ideological opponents. Even artifacts associated with him, like his spectacles, have been used as logo in government propaganda. Commercialization has been a parallel process, initially for marketing products purportedly of cottage industries, and then for a whole range ofother things. The powers that be appreciate the brand value of the
name Gandhi.
According to Elizabeth Cook, ‘myths are about gods, legends are about heroes, and fairy tales are about woodcutters and princesses.’