The first occurrence of narrative drawing was in the Delhi Sketch Book in 1850. Inspired by British satirical magazine Punch, it showcased the life of Britishers in the city. Although short lived, over the next two decades, cartoon magazines sprung up in Bengal, Lucknow, Punjab, Gujarat, Lahore and Bombay. These magazines were mildly humorous and usually were a commentary on everyday life.
Ten Indian Traditions of Folk Music that Tell Our Stories is a remarkably written book by Mamta Nainy. What we often call folk is in fact the expressive culture of the labouring classes—their music is diverse, deeply rooted, and profoundly moving. In ten chapters,
‘I bow to you, O sweet Mahalakshmi’ comes with ‘namastastu’ below pointing to ‘bow to you’ (p. 1). In the book Shiva, below ‘O Lord Shiva, you are the lord of the mountains’, an arrow links ‘lord of the mountains’ to ‘geerisham’ below it (p 9). No italics are used, thankfully, keeping the target readers in mind.
Purushothaman’s sensitivity as a writer allows her to zoom out from individual lives and situate them within broader social realities of gender, caste, and community. This wide-angle lens, which acknowledges how both opportunities and constraints shape musical progression,
Recently there has been much debate on the license allowed by the Korean writer Han Kang to her English translator Deborah Smith.
You Had Me at Annyeong! (Annyeong means hello, bye and also peace, depending on its usage) reads like a novelized version of a Korean serial drama very much in the Mills & Boon style.