Maya regularly attends meetings of the Natural History Society and the Geographical Society where she (and in the process, the reader) gets to meet and converse with eminent thinkers and scientists of the time. These meetings and deliberations are a fascinating insight into the debates raging at the time in not only the political field, but in the cultural and social arenas as well.
To avoid tax and regulatory burdens in their home countries, several shipping firms would register their companies in Panama, Liberia, Hong Kong, the Bahamas, and other Caribbean imperial outposts. These registries became offshore tax havens. With a new flag-of-convenience registered in the Bahamas in the late 1980s,
Nehru indeed played a dominant role in the formulation and articulation of foreign policy, although he disclaimed personal ownership of it. In his parliamentary speeches, he attributed the evolution of Indian foreign policy to a slow process preceding Independence. ‘It is a policy,’ he said, ‘inherent in the circumstances of India, inherent in the past thinking of India, inherent in the whole outlook of India, inherent in the conditioning of the Indian mind during our struggle for freedom, and inherent in the circumstances of the world today.’
At the very least, the remarkable decentralization of economic authority in China—where over 50% of government spending is controlled by local bodies with sweeping powers over land, labour, and investment—and its focused development of over 600 internationally benchmarked cities deserved mention. Further, while the book does discuss China’s success under Deng Xiaoping, it stops short of unpacking the underlying drivers. While he had started empowering local governments soon after he took over in 1978, the early results were uneven.
The book is a welcome addition to the rapidly growing array of books for children in India; it stays clear of the trap of tokenism. The plot and characters come together to convey an endearing tale. Pankaj’s vibrant illustrations paint an appealing picture of the entire narrative.
Through the self-professed ramblings of the author, he tells us not only how to stay untouched while daily life carries on with crashes and booms around him, but also unravels the secret to writing. His all-time favourite author, Emily Bronte, wrote in dreary solitude of a house called Wuthering Heights
There are three stories in the book. Whether it is inadvertently helping a rock band with screening a documentary in ‘The Heebee Jeebees and the Bees’; making it through a Halloween trip to Ooty and finding themselves in the middle of a bank heist and a haunted home in ‘The Halloween Adventure’
Luckily, the task at hand is to make a globe with all the continents, and the materials needed are right at hand. Chintu takes a big blue ball from Pihu, his sister, and pulls down the ‘Animals Around the World’ chart from the wall. With scissors and glue, and an able assistant in Pihu, the job’s done! With a globe in tow, Chintu rushes off to school triumphantly.
The book encapsulates the vision of a man whose faith in the spirit of oneness guided all his actions. It was his motherland that mattered to him. He was convinced that religious animosity and distrust must go, and caste barriers should be annihilated. Part one, ‘Self Portrait’, is a vivid account of Bismil’s childhood, life at home with his parents, adolescent years and the influence of his Gurudev Swami Somdevji. He also writes about his relationship with his mother. She was a constant source of encouragement to him.
Nathaniel Edward Kindersley (1763-1831), employed by the East Indian Company’s civil service at Madras, promoted to be the collector of South Arcot later, made a small but significant contribution to Tamil studies by translating certain sections of Thirukkural, presenting it as secular literature, and the story of Nalan with explanatory notes;
The novel is divided into four parts, titled ‘Headwaters’, ‘Confluences’, ‘Rapids’ and ‘Delta’. The fated manoeuvres of the river become the signposts which structure this retelling in a way that signals the evolution of Ganga from a vociferous cosmic river to a fluid sense of being mortal, as she navigates Shantanu’s affection, the drowning of her children, the coming of Satyavati and the reluctant survival of Bhishma, who ended up pledging lifelong celibacy. Ganga feels, for the first time,
The story of the travels of Asha and her auto unfolds simply in Aruna Shekar’s effortless and easy style, and we get to take a trip around Chennai through rain and sunshine. The author is an award-winning teacher and writer for children who has written about life in different parts of India
These tales also give important lessons of kindness, listening to one’s parents, care, friendship, humility, and teamwork. Anyone looking to instil these values in their children will surely be happy with the lessons underlying most of these tales.
One quickly turns the pages of the book to find out what is being ‘revisited’ to which we get an immediate answer that the book has intended to revisit ‘lesser-known history of Deccan’s social and cultural vibrancies’ (p. xvii). At the same time, at the end of their Introduction to Emperors Saints and People
The title caught my eye! So did the theme of the book when I read the blurb. Excitedly, I started the book. Written for fluent readers and young adolescents this has imagined stories and real-life events, brought to us by 15 authors, all carrying their own charm of storytelling.
Those who have read Shivshankar Menon’s first book, Choices, would be familiar with his sharp analytical skills and ability to cut through a mass of disparate detail to focus on underlying patterns that tell a coherent story. Choices pegged its learnings from a set of specific events in which he himself was involved as a practitioner…