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Just like the tales and legends of Iliad give a magical patina to the mystique of Greek of yore, this slim book And That is Why with enchanting myths and legends from Manipur, recreates a world that lends a strange yet acceptable dimension to our humdrum lives.Well-known author and cultural maestro, L Somi Roy, may have retold the tales for a young audience, but such are the re-tellings that an adult is forgiven if charmed by them. As a cultural, literary and sport celebrity who is native to Manipur, Mr Roy has picked a collection of legends that tickles one’s imagination and, at least to this writer, encourages lateral thinking…

Anastasia Damani’s illustrated books are a pleasure to read. The world is becoming a smaller place every day. You can go off to London or to Europe for a holiday and you can also visit lesser known exotic places. But we have so many novel and beautiful things and people all around us and it is an amazing experience to learn about some of them. India was ruled by the British for a long time and then in 1947 they left the country. But some of them, especially those belonging to mixed families, that is both Indian and British, loved the vibrant and warm culture of our country and so they stayed on…

All children are born imaginative, some perhaps more than others. And imagination fosters creativity. Unfortunately, their curiosity to discover the world around often gets jaded over the years. What experience ignites a child’s imagination? What helps the child pursue the ideas formed during the growing years? As a child, Einstein was fascinated by a magnetic compass gifted by his father to play with, wondering why its needle always pointed to the north! Later, in his teens, he would marvel how it would be like if he travelled so fast as to catch up with a beam of light!..

This is the story of a determined, stubborn and spirited girl who has become famous as Teejan Bai. She has been heaped with honours, but her journey from the humble Bhil village of Ganiyari (Chattisgarh) to the world stage was a struggle. Teejan’s birth was not welcome in her impoverished family, and her enthusiasm for playing kabaddi and climbing trees met the disapproval of her disciplinarian mother. She was mesmerized by her grandfather Brijlal’s performance of Pandvani—narration of tales from Mahabharata and wanted to sing also…

Ribhu’s Adventure on Earth is a fun story where a fun-loving air-spirit Ribhu, a child of the Gandharvas of Indian mythology and student of Gandharva Vasusen gets cursed by sage Durvasa for disturbing his meditation. With his dholak as the only companion he is cursed to go down to the earth as a demon rakshasa in Dandaka.The story revolves around Ribhu’s adventures in his new life with his dholak as a friendly reminder of the past, where he meets demons like Tadaka rakshasi, Mareecha (Tadaka’s son) and observes how Rama frees them from their curses. Ribhu then moves away to Mithila where he meets Ahalya (the wife of Rishi Gautama) turned into a rock and waiting for the young Prince Rama to come there and touch her with his foot to free her from the curse…

The book is mainly based on the story of Ramayana. But it differs from most of the books narrating the story of Ramayana in the sense that other books have Rama, Lakshmana and others as the main characters, but this book gives you a new perspective on the journey of Rama. It depicts the contribution of the monkeys in Rama’s Ayana i.e., Rama’s journey. Whether it was the search for Sita or the construction of a bridge over the sea to reach Lanka, or defeating the greats of Ravana’s army, or bringing the Sanjeevani herb to save Lakshmana, all this would not have been possible without the cooperation of the monkeys…