Istill have the certificate and the thankyou letter I got from Uncle Pai for sub-mitting a story for a competition that

Tinkle held in 1987. Our English teacheralways encouraged us to respond to thevarious calls for participation and compe-titions that Tinkle or other publicationsused to advertise. We, the obedient stu-dents, did our duty though more sobecause some marks were attached to thisprocess.

It was only Uncle Pai of Tinkle whowould send us nice thank you notes anda certificate for participating. The fact thatUncle Pai took time to read our letters,whether he really read it himself or notdid not matter, he did sign and send us anice letter remember-that itself meant alot to a 12 year old. This encouraged us towrite regularly.

Growing up in 80's and 90's was differ-ent. There were no electronic gizmos,

computer games, no internet or cableconnection, the only source of entertain-ment was Doordarshan or the newspa-per. Books were not cheap especially thechildren's books, as most were importedand not easily available.

Our school librarian used to lock up theNational Geographic, Reader's Digest,Tintin, and copies of Calvin and Hobbesin the cupboards with glass doors; so thatwe would consider ourselves to be the

lucky ones who atleast got to see theircovers. Encyclopedias were meant to beread in the 30 minutes library time weused to get. There were hardly anyYoung Reader fiction works available.And what was there was scrutinized byour librarian, who wasted no time inchecking with our class teacher if it wasappropriate for our age. Hence, under theinvestigative eyes of our librarian and theteachers, any fiction book that was notauthored by Enid Blyton and her likes,was not meant to be issued to the tweensand teens.

CONNECT

Uncle Pai, Thank You

Pg 7Quiz

Pg 11JustKids

Pg 12AuthorProfile

Volume 2 Issue 1www.justbooksclc.comblog.justbooksclc.com

March 2011 For limited circulation

A JustBooks Publication

contd on pg 2...

Sapana Rawat

2 JustBooks Connect - March 2011

From the Editor’sDesk

JustBooks Connect is one yearold this month. A year is agood time to take stock of things.

We started with eight pagenewsletter consisting of generalliterary articles and bookreviews done our literary team.Today we are a 12 page newslet-ter with dedicated space for ourreader's contribution, quiz, blog,top recommended books foradults as well as young readers.And now we have plans forexpanding it further.

This joyous journey has beenpossible because of our literaryteam, which consists of 12 writ-ers, that brings about the month-ly book reviews and author pro-files, our JustBooks staff whoshared their general thoughtsfrom Karnataka Rajyostava toIndian cricket and all our mem-bers who sent in their experiencewith JustBooks for Reader'sVoice.

We are very grateful to mem-bers like Dorothy Victor, DimpleMahesh Tahilramani andVenkatesh Ganapathy, who haveregularly contributed to ourReader's section.

Over the last one year we havetried to make JustBooks Connectinteresting and worth our mem-ber's time by presenting what wethink will appeal to our mem-bers. The only way for us toknow if JustBooks Connect isconnecting with you or not is forus to hear from you! So do pendown your feedback, sugges-tions and comments and sendthem to: editor@justbooksclc.com.

Better still if you want to shareyour articles, in 500 words, onany literary related topic, be it—the books and authors thatinspired you, an event or hap-pening that you observed, oryour own poem and opinion—send them our way and get a giftfrom us.

We are offering a one monthreading fee free to our membersfor contributing to JustBooksConnect. For more details on thisoffer write to editor@just-booksclc.com.

My school being a CentralSchool subscribed to a coupleof Russian (then USSR) chil-dren magazines. The most pop-ular one was Misha (the Bear),which was pretty good but wasall about the USSR. Mishaencouraged us to have pen palsin Russia. And you bet many ofus did, yes for those extra marks but alsofor novelty.

So it was no surprise, that we looked for-ward to Indian children's books andcomics like Target, Nandan, Champak,Chandamama, Tinkle andAmar Chitra Katha. Theywere widely available, nottoo expensive and approvedby our parents and teachers.Amongst these Tinkle andACK stood out clearly.Firstly, because they werecomics unlike theothers, so had lotsof interesting illus-trations and theirsimple languagecould be under-stood by evenyounger kids.

Secondly, theyhad amazing char-acters like Kalia,Doob-Doob, ChamatakaShambu Shikari,Suppandi etc whoseadventures tickled us tono end. We named ourteachers, our dearlibrarian, our close friends andwhoever we could, after thesecharacters. We still remember and refer tothem by those names. Thirdly, it educatedus about all those unknown India folkloresand taught us Indian Mythology as no

other history book could. Even now when Ithink of a Ramayana or Mahabharata char-acter, ACK illustrations conjure up images.

Our love for Tinkle or ACK did not endthere. We collected ACK and Tinkle edi-

tions like we collected stamps andcoins. We were secretive, envious,friendly or unhappy depending onthe size of our collection. It was aprized collection.

We vied with eachother to see who hasread the latest copy. Thekid with the largest col-lection was everyone'sbest friend. We carriedour collection in train

and buses when wewent on summer vaca-tion to our grandmoth-er's place and sharedthe books with ourcousins and sometimeswith kids and adultswe met on these trainsand buses.

Friendships weremade (sometimes bro-

ken!) over these comics. We madeour own stories and jokes by end-ing - And guess what wouldSuppandi do. And we grew up.

Mr. Anant Pai, founder of AmarChitra Khata and Tinkle, passed away lastmonth at the age of 81. Uncle Pai to all chil-dren, he was singularly responsible forintroducing the Indian mythology and cre-

ating endearing charac-ters like Suppandi,Shambu Shikari, RajaHooda, Tantri Mantri,Kaalia the Crow forchildren. As for kidslike me, who grew upreading his Tinkle andACK, he gave us more-memories, childhoodand stuff it's made of.

Come to think of it,perhaps I am able towrite this because ofthe encouragementgiven by those thankyou notes of Uncle Pai.Thank you, Uncle Pai.Rest in peace.

contd from pg 1...

“ Even though you'd hate to admit itnow everyone of us had read a Tinkleat some point or the other in our child-hood. "Suppandi" was the coolestcharacter we knew in Junior school.”—Varun Agarwal , 24 .

Mistry's first collection of stories looks atlife in a Parsi colony in Bombay andthere is the density of many characters

and lives in these stories, a sense of gullies andmohallas bursting at the seams, places wherepeople must learn to live with each otherbecause there is simply no choice. What is inter-esting about the book is that it functions as thesum of its parts, but also as a composite whole.

A larger narrative of life in a Parsi colony in the the sixtiesemerges through the separate tellings. The characters haverange and depth and the imagery is engaging. Mistry's prose isrich, his insights into human life seldom facile.

Tales From Firozsha BaagRohinton MistryPenguin India

Anindita Sengupta

Stupid CupidMamang DaiPenguin

What I need to say first about MamangDai's latest novel Stupid Cupid isthat the title is deceptive. Stupid

Cupid is not chick lit. The story does revolvearound love though. Adna, a north-easternmigrant to Delhi, finds her late aunt has lefther a bungalow in South Delhi. She decides tostart a "love agency", a "decent meeting place

where men and women, lovers and friends, could rendezvouswithout too much sweat." At its heart, Stupid Cupid is a com-ing of age story and it is natural that Adna will be threatenedand changed by the time the book is over. But Dai's touch isalso gentle and assured so this happens with certain stealth.The sadness, when it comes, is slow and soft.

Anindita Sengupta

Beowulf: A New VerseTranslation by Seamus HeaneyFaber and Faber

Known as one of the most significantworks of Anglo-Saxon literature, the oldEnglish heroic poem Beowulf was

recently revived in popular consciousness by aHollywood movie. Over 3000 lines, reading thepoem may seem more daunting but SeamusHeaney’s translation is a pleasure to read. Hislanguage is contemporary, yet it evokes the

mood of those times-the resplendence and the perilous thrills ofwar.

An epic poem in translation is obviously not beach reading butcurl up on a cold evening with tea and disappear into the darkcliffs and seas where monsters lurk. Give yourself over to themand the most beautiful monster of all: language.

Anindita Sengupta

Switch: How to Change Things When Changeis HardChip & Dan HeathRandom House

Switch illustrates how change is not anevent but a process. When we are pre-sented with a change situation we

protest and find ways to resist. But when itcomes to accepting the change that a newborn brings in the family, we voluntarily wel-come the change. Like parenthood we alsoembrace lot of other big changes like new

homes, new technologies and new clients. Authors Chip and Dan Heath remind us that there is the

emotional side and the rational side in all of us.. They illustratehow our emotional side overpowers our rational side most ofthe time.

Manjula Sundharam

Sellotape LegacyBoria Majumdar and Nalin MehtaHarperCollins

Majumdar and Mehta have woven thisbook around three themes: the topicalcontroversies about the corruption in

the run up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games(CWG) at Delhi, CWG’s original agenda of pre-serving the links of erstwhile British Empire tothe crown and its later conversion into a plat-form for Nehru’s non-alignment and global

anti-apartheid movement, and of late, the use of internationalsports events as a means of projecting ‘soft power’ by China andIndia. It is a good read for sports enthusiasts who are puzzledand frustrated with the off-the -field shenanigans.

Dr. Rajagopalan

Beautiful ThingSonia FaleiroHamish Hamilton

Beautiful Thing is a realistic foray intothe world of young women who dancedin the bars of Mumbai. Revolving

around Leela, a sprightly nineteen year oldbar dancer, the book consists mainly of firstperson accounts. Apart from describing whatled these girls into the profession it talksabout their lives, aspirations and disappoint-ments. All these incidents may remind one ofscenes from a pot boiler produced by the com-

mercial Hindi film industry. Through an engaging and movingnarrative interspersed with a few comparisons between her lifeand theirs, Sonia Faleiro opens up a little known territory.

Pushpa Achanta

JustBooks Connect - March 2011 3

For detailed reviews check out justbooksclc.com

4 JustBooks Connect - March 2011

"The past is a foreign country"Book Review

In an interview, Anita Rau Badamistates, "I don't identify myself with any onecommunity. I left India five years ago.For me it's important to make as cleana break as possible because otherwiseyou're constantly dealing with these twoworlds, two cultures and that can be avery, very difficult experience. You becomecompletely schizophrenic and it's not ahappy state of mind to be in." And yet, eachof her three novels Tamarind Mem, TheHero's Walk and Can You Hear theNightbird Call? measure and map thedistance between India and Canada andback again. Each novel shows that cleanbreaks are not possible however muchone may will them. And, although asSalman Rushdie said, "The past is a foreigncountry" - it is a foreign country that con-stantly impinges on present and futureexistences. Even political events such asthe Anti-Sikh riots of 1984 in Delhi rever-berate and affect the characters in faraway Vancouver in Can You Hear theNightbird Call? The links are not as dis-tant as the proponents of the ChaosTheory might suggest, they are evoked byand directly linked to atavistic identitiesof religion, community and soil.

The dedication and the three epigraphsat the beginning of the book reveal thecentral issues at the core of the novel - theconfusion and relationship between his-

tory and memory, the betrayal of a neigh-bour by another and the tragedy and vio-lence perpetrated on innocent peoplewho had nothing to do with the cause. Ata meta level these are universal issues ofbetrayal, love and desire. But, here, theycome as a domino effect of destructionthat can be traced back through a histori-cal continuum beginning with theKomagatu Maru incident, the Partition,the 1984 Delhi riots and the blowingup of Air India's Kanishkaflight in 1985.

B a d a m irecounts her personal

experience after Indira Gandhi's assassi-nation, of having seen a man being set onfire and then thrown over a culvert.Reaching Delhi she felt "it was like a warzone." The subsequent blowing up of the

Air India flight felt like a continua-tion of that story: "I was struck by thewhole story of how this history, this bag-gage, had travelled to Canada and sim-mered over here and affected a planeloadof innocent people."

The three women protagonists-Bibi-ji, Leela and Nimmo are shapedand caught up in these histories, notof their individual making, but inwhich they play a part as victimsand protagonists. Badami's geniusthough is that although her researchis meticulous and she is fair andeven-handed, she is first and fore-

most a superb story-teller. The narrativeis gripping and moves at a fast pace. Thehistorical events are an integral andorganic part of what propels characters toaction and shapes who they are and whothey become. For instance, a secular, free-thinking Bibi-ji is driven in the end to sidewith a fundamentalist whom she had ear-lier labeled a "loud-mouthed fraud." Thenuanced and sympathetically drawn

characters stand out and draw thereader into the story.

Others like Jasbeer or the EnglishColonel Samuel Hunt are minorcharacters who are touchinglydrawn with great psychologicalinsight making them unforget-table. But Bibiji, Leela andNimmo dominate the landscape- each in their very differentways. Each of them is a sur-vivor and one who battles pri-vate demons to assuage theirnightmares and grief. Bibi-jilives with the double guilt ofhaving stolen her sister'sdestiny and then takenaway her niece's son;Leela, taunted for being a"half and half" by her owngrandmother finallylearns that it can be anadvantage "to live nei-ther here not there, likea frog comfortable inwater and on land";

and Nimmo, twicedestroyed, cannot learn "to let the fear

go" and is destroyed by it. In a quirky reversal of the old adage

that behind every successful man there isa woman, we see here that each of thesewomen have warm, supportive and lov-ing husbands. Nimmo's taxi-driver hus-band Satpal tries to restore her family toher by randomly telling every Canada-bound passenger he ferries to the airportto look out for his wife's aunt Sharanjeetand to give her their address. It is like amessage in a bottle thrown out to sea andyet the utterly impossible does happenand Leela delivers the address to Bibi-ji.

"A bad memory" Bibi-ji says, "was neces-sary for a person wishing to settle in…" butneither Bibi-ji, Leela or Nimmo areblessed with forgetfulness. Their links tothe past shape their destiny. Nimmo mostof all is haunted by terrifying images,vaguely remembered though deeply felt,of a past that may or may not even havebeen hers.

Geetanjali Singh Chanda

Can You Hear the NightbirdCall?

Anita Rau BadamiHarper Collins

“At a meta level these are uni-versal issues of betrayal, love anddesire. But, here, they come as adomino effect of destruction thatcan be traced back through a his-torical continuum beginning withthe Komagatu Maru incident, thePartition, the 1984 Delhi riotsand the blowing up of Air India'sKanishka flight in 1985. “

JustBooks Connect - March 2011 5

Book Review

Katherine Russell Rich has justemerged after battling and surviv-ing cancer and been fired from her

dead-end job as a magazine editor. As anescape route, she impulsively agrees toan assignment in India and once there,decides to learn Hindi in an institutebased out of Rajasthan.

She gives an interesting reason for herforay into Hindi in the book's prologue: Ino longer had the language to describemy own life. So I decided to borrowsomeone else's.

If that sounds as interesting as the title,Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake inAnother Language, unfortunately therest of the book is not.

Sure, there's enough material here to

make for an interesting read. Foremostbeing Rich's desire to delve into anotherlanguage at a time when her life wasfalling apart. She interviews researchersand neurolinguists and records notewor-thy observations. "In navigating anotherlanguage," says Rich after interviewingthe Montreal based linguist MichaelParadis, "you're not using precisely thesame brain you do when employing yourfirst." Apparently, the first time around-emotions, such as encouragement fromthe mother (Can you say that? GoodBoy!), helps a language set.

So far so good. The observations how-ever go on a downhill spree once Richreaches India and starts her course.Refreshingly enough, she chooses to lookat the country through the Hindi lens.Unfortunately, it is coloured in the sameprejudiced taint many western writersview India with. Rich has a condescend-ing manner of describing things, from theinstitute director's Indian English to herfellow learners.

Her experiences, like the diarrhoealecture at the beginning of her

course are funny but if you are an Indianreader no longer happy to see your coun-try served up in the same spoon, the nextline can be jarring: We were in India now,where irreverence was unfathomable.

Her description of her host family, theJains and most of her Indian contacts,remain one-dimensional, seen fromRich's slightly lofty angle. And that,despite Suketu Mehta's glowing praise inthe book jacket and despite the bookmaking it to Oprah's 10 Terrific Reads of2009, remains the problem with Rich'sHindi memoir. Like many westernauthors, she forgets that there are manyIndias. And one India isn't necessarily anaccurate description of the other. So ifsome of the men are dubious, attemptingto take out Western women for beer andsome milky white western woman drivesminor Rajasthan royalty wild, it isn't amicrocosm of what the entire country is.

Despite the misgivings and the bitter-ness with which Rich seems to narrateseveral of her Indian experiences, it canbe fascinating to read her journey intomastering Hindi and the way it mirrorsher thoughts. “In Hindi, you drink a ciga-rette, night spreads, you eat a beating and eatthe sun,” Rich writes, a shining exampleof how your mind works differently inanother language. Rich also delves quitedeep into the science of language acquisi-tion and how your brain functions differ-ently when you are trying to learn a newlanguage.

To most Indian readers, who are famil-iar with at least two or three languages itmay seem surprising but the research andobservations Rich throws up makes forsome interesting and unusual knowledgegathering.

The book is actually the sum of threeparts. One is Rich's Indian experience

and somewhat like a travelogue. Theother is the scientific foray into a new lan-guage acquisition and backed up withsome solid research, while the third partis on the learning of a sign language asshe works among deaf students inRajasthan with Anukul, their dedicatedteacher. It opens a new world of languagefor her in a way that's surprising to bothRich and the reader.

Shortly after Rich's arrival in India, theUS is rocked by 9/11 while India seescommunal violence. Rich weaves these inher narrative, though it makes for asomewhat densely and sometimes, con-fusingly packed memoir. In the end, evenif you choose to be a tolerant reader andignore the condescending observations,Dreaming in Hindi seems an amalgama-tion of too much of everything: A trave-logue, an observation of rising terrorismand communal hatred, a personal jour-ney, a scrutiny of a country, the psychol-ogy of learning a new language, its usageand the different worlds it opens up. Wedo wish, Rich had restricted herself tojust the wonders of the language.

Reshmi Chakraborty

Dreaming in Hindi: ComingAwake in Another Language

Katherine Russell RichTranquebar

Same dreams different realities

Hurry, scurry, rush and dash-thatwhat our lives have boiled downto these days. Aren't we taking

most things and most people for grant-ed?

We have totally forgotten the worth ofthe golden words. Have we ever triedthanking our parents who slog it out forus day in and day out? What about ourteachers who mould us into wonderfulhumans? Or maybe our children whenthey do something really special fromtheir hearts?

When I lived overseas, people therewere so courteous in their dealings thatthey would thank everyone, be it the busdriver who helped them reach their des-tination, the restaurant staff who provid-ed them with a sumptuous meal, thehairdresser who gave them a makeoverthat would make heads turn or even themaid who helped them with their choresmaking their life much simpler!

Believe me uttering words like 'Please,Thank you, Excuse me and Sorry' hardlytakes a fraction of a second but can havemagical effects. I've experienced it andhope all of you will do so too.

Here is a little poem:

Whenever you feel someone's been

true,By buying you a gift or two,

Or helped you chase away your Blues,

Make sure you say Thank you.If you suddenly sneeze,

Or wanna fly past like a Bee,And there's somebody in between,

Its best to use Excuse me.

Then there may be times,When you could have been in a

hurry,And spilled on someone your curry,

Let's not forget the Golden wordSorry.

And last but not the least,Is when you need something,

Be it a book or a piece of cheese,Be generous enough to utter, Please.

So don't hold yourselves back,By simply placing the Golden Words

on the rack,Whether you use them with astranger or even your kin,

One thing is you are sure to Win.

6 JustBooks Connect - March 2011

Reader’s Contribution

Every time I enter JustBooks I thinkof Jorge Luis Borges saying -“Ihave always imagined that Paradise

will be a kind of library.” I have always feltJustBooks is a huge gift hamper for oneto delve in only to find innumerable gifthampers packed one within the other.

I always entered JustBooks with a cer-tain amount of trepidation, a kind ofeager anticipation as to what books willI chance upon. I have never felt disap-pointed in finding the book of my taste.The very act of sitting between theshelves and browsing through is a reju-venating experience. The library has awide selection to cater to everyone'sneeds. It has a welcoming staff and apleasing ambience. I have observedevery member coming there returningwith a happy smile.

I once asked Mr. Ravi Kumar, whoruns the Fraser Town franchise, as towho is genius behind such a venture.For one to start library as a commercialventure, not only daring business acu-men is required but a nobility of mindtoo is very essential.

I am told that I am the first member ofJustBooks, Fraser Town. If so it is ahappy coincidence and I am proud of it.The long felt need of the people of ourarea was more than adequately met byits opening. In the short span I havedeveloped a kinship, that I strongly feelthat our interests are intertwined. I amsure I echo the sentiments of others too!

Vijaya Bhaskara ReddyFraser Town

Reader’sVoice

Dimple Mahesh Tahilramani

Dimple is a mother of a beautiful 10year old daughter and a softskills andlanguage trainer. She loves reading books and interact-ing with people and believes that eachof us is special in his or her way.

Here's an issue that never fails to tickle us when conveyed toprospective members of JustBooks: Returning books bor-rowed. When told not to worry about the three aspects gener-

ally associated withlibraries, they usually go'Whoa'!1. No reading charges perbook.2. No deadlines to returnbooks.3. Therefore, No late fees.

Of course, all this is possi-ble because we have amonthly membership plans-depending on whether youwant 2, 3 or 4 books. Itbegins with a very afford-able Rs. 150 per month -enough to trigger another'Whoa, you're kidding me".

We believe in keepingthings simple as it takesaway the worry library patrons subliminally are concerned with -returning books back!

Take the case of Mr. George Washington. He may have been one ofthe founding fathers of the US, but he appears not to have been amodel library patron.

Since George Washington could never tell a lie, presumably hewould 'fess up to owing 1,677 pounds, 15 shillings and some oddpence in library fines for two books overdue for more than 220 years.

Washington borrowed two books-Law of Nations and Volume 12 ofCommons Debate - from the New York Society Library on Oct. 5,1789, according to the library's first circulation ledger.

Library records do not show him returning it back. They still har-bour a hope that his descendants may do the good deed.In case they do, you know what to do to hear the news here?Return!

From JustBooks blog - http://blog.justbooksclc.com/

JustBooks Connect - March 2011 7

1. This is considered to be oneof the best cricket books:Seabiscuit by LauraHillenbrandBeyond a Boundary by CLRJamesThe Boys ofSummer byRoger Kahn

2. Middle Stage is a:Journal by TehelkaBlog by Chandrahas ChoudhuryBook by Dr. Vijay Nagaswami

3. This Literary festival is not dedicated just to PoetryPoetry With PrakritiThe Hyderabad Literary FestivalJaipur Literary Festival

4. What is Dr. Watson's first name?JohnEdwardGeorge

5. Name the latestbook by OrhanPamuk:

The Museum ofInnocence SnowThe Naïve and theSentimental Novelist

JUSTBOOKSJUSTBOOKSTOP 5TOP 5

NNEWEW AARRIVALSRRIVALS1. The Brief Wondrous Lifeof Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz2. Sirigannada By VivekShanbhag 3. The Tell-Tale Brain by V.S. Ramachandran4. India:A Portrait by PatrickFrench5. Jawaharlal Nehru: Civilizing ASavage World by NayantaraSahgal

RRECOMMENDEDECOMMENDED1. Hitch-22 by ChristopherHitchens2. The Thousand Autumns ofJacob de Zoet by DavidMitchell3. Purple Hibiscus by ChimamandaNgozi Adichie 4. East of the Sun by SiddharthaSarma5. Making India Work by William Nanda Bissell

RRENTALSENTALS1. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown2. 2 States: The Story Of MyMarriage by Chetan Bhagat3. And Thereby Hangs A Tale byJeffery Archer 4. The Red Pyramid (The KaneChronicles) by Rick Riordan 5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: DogDays by Jeff Kinney

1. Beyond a Boundary 2. Blogby Chandrahas Choudhury 3.Jaipur Literary Festival 4.John5. The Naïve and theSentimental Novelist

HHeerree '' ss AA CCaassee FFoorr RReettuurrnniinngg

India seems to have held out sofar against the e-book epidem-ic but for how long?

These days, when I visit alibrary or book shop, Ijudge a book on a factor

besides desirability, price, andhow big a crush I have on theauthor. I quickly calculate howdifficult it would be to get holdof it online.

So far I've resisted the lure ofthe Kindle but this says nothingreally. Unlike a lot of booklovers, I'm not terrible senti-mental about the smell ofbooks. My olfactory senseseems to respond-in very non-erudite fashion-to perfume,incense, flowers and petrichorbut not so much to paper. I alsofind it reasonably easy to readtext off a computer screen.These days I don't carry asmany books with me on holi-day. Instead I carry my net bookwhich has a comforting hoard includingclassics, poetry and comics. But I can'tseem to take the final step towards a morepaperless existence. Despite my deep andabiding concerns about the environment,and more importantly, lack of shelf space.It may have something to do with habit.The heft of them. Brightness. Texture. Aroom without books just does not feelhomey enough.

At the recent DSC Jaipur LiteraryFestival, there was a debate about the

future of the printed book. Everyonetalked about our booming publishingmarket. The printed book will never die.Indians are naturally "inquisitive". Etc.I'm not sure what Indian curiosity has towith printed books versus e-books butwe'll let that go. "Books matter more inIndia than anywhere else we publish them,"said John Makinson, Chairman and CEOof the Penguin Group of publishers. Evenas book sales drop in western countries,the non-academic book market in India isgrowing at a rate of 15 to 18 percent annu-ally (Timeslive.co.za 25 January 2011).

Why printed books continue to trumpe-books in India is not a mystery

really. More people are literate, more peo-

ple are entering the middle class, morepeople are reading. The same people,however, are not so far ahead on theonline buying curve.

Plus e-readers are not cheap. We'revalue-conscious. Few people will buy

a gadget that just does one thing when forthe same price, they can get a gadget thatdoes many things.

But I am puzzled that publishers don'tthink this can change. More and more

people are doing things online from buy-ing railway tickets to booking hotels tobuying books. As access and connectivityget cheaper and easier, this will continue.Already e-reader prices are dropping andwith more competition, they will becheaper.

There are a huge number of publishinghouses in India, and they're generating

content in more than 24 regional lan-guages. Experts feel this is fertile groundfor e-books. ( See The Times of India 12December 2010). Already, I'm wonderingwhether to discontinue taking a newspa-per. I just read all my news online thesedays. Already, I buy classics less. It is notaltogether impossible to envision a daywhen books will be a little like LP

records, collector'sitems, things that aresold or exchanged atmysterious, under-ground places wherepeople handle themwith reverence. Ihope that day nevercomes.

The reasons arewholly senti-

mental. I recentlymoved house andwhile climbing upthe narrow flight ofstairs to my flat, themovers panted andpuffed with myboxes full of books.“Yenide, madam?”one of them askedme. (“What is this?”)

“You have a lot ofthings”, my landlady

said. Not things, I wanted to say. Books.It's been a difficult year on the personal

front but as I sit here, in the living roomwith late afternoon light touching the cur-tains, they remain old and stable. Warm.No gadget is shiny enough to outshinethem. The printed word is hardly perma-nent. All it takes is a flood, a deluge, a fire.And yet it provides an illusion of heldtime, something like permanence.

8 JustBooks Connect - March 2011

The e-book enigmaAnindita Sengupta

Musings

The F-Word nope, nobody rainingabuses, but offering "fiery fresh fra-grant family famished fun fried food

fiesta flavours" as the cover proclaims,and rightly so. It's all about FOOD forthe soul. Remember the comfort foodyour mom made every time you got sick.It made everything better and you could-n't dream of replacing it with any exoticdish on earth? Or recollect the simplesalad that simply took your breathaway? Or how about the chicken youhad that got all its fantastic flavour froma simple marinade?

Mita Kapur's book is all about that andmore. It is as much about exotic dishesas it is about a basic rice and lentil com-bination.

You try but fail to classify the bookunder any specific cuisine, just becauseit is not meant to be. It is all about thecuisine Kapur has enjoyed over theyears. Not necessarily Indian, but a mixof dishes she has ladled out to her nearand dear and enjoyed every minute ofit; a cocktail of sorts.

Her idea of food for a special occa-

sion included kebab, Lebanesesalad, Vietnamese laksa, Thai chick-en curry, Indianized stir-fry, water-melon sorbet and Goan fish, allserved with noodles and boiledrice. It was a hit and that's all thatmattered. After all belly rules themind and happy stomachs meanshappy people.

Mita Kapur takes you along onher journey and entertains

you with events and people in herlife-pre-marriage, the birth of herchildren, their growing years, hermemorable holidays, her sisters,her parents, husband, in-laws,nephews and her children. Mostdishes are associated with memo-ries, both good and bad. The disas-trous pie her sister tried to bakeages ago, or the meethi (sweet) rotithat never fails to provide herhomely comfort. The randomly pickedevents contribute their bit in keeping itinteresting especially since she avoidsdwelling on them, they are mentioned toserve the purpose of connecting the dots(read "recipes").

Her trips, whether to London, Phuketor Pushkar, revolve around food. Sheenjoys delectable fare irrespective ofbeing served in a fancy restaurant or theroadside dhaba. And it's not just the culi-nary pleasure, but the obsessive inquisi-tiveness to know more about it and theexcitement that follows that confirmsshe's a foodie.

She simply revels being a part of goodfood, either as the audience or the artist.An Indian chicken dish such as "Dum kaMurgh" is capable of evoking the sameemotions for her as its Thai counterpart"Gaeng Ped Gai".

Only Mita Kapur with her love forgood cuisine can include a typical Indiandessert such as "Malpua" with equalaplomb alongside a "Mocha Granita" or a"Chocolate Souffle", a trend that you willfind throughout the book.

Anecdotes from her food-obsessed orrather meat-obsessed joint familyabound. You get a peek at all her facets-

the doting yet strict mother, loving wife,impressive daughter-in-law, supportivesister, pampered daughter and an indul-gent cook.

And once in a while there is the short,almost autobiographical interview withthe owner of a restaurant that has beenaround for ages, or of her mother. Storieslong forgotten but which are the threadto the food they cook. The recipes aresimple to follow and Kapur encouragesthe trial and error hands-on method.

As she says "I've learnt not just byobservation but by following all my senses -taste, touch, smell, hearing." And kudos toPrabha Mallya whose illustrations are afun distraction in the book.

The verbatim production of conversa-tions in Hindi might be a bit discon-

certing to readers who are not familiarwith the language. But then, on the otherhand, it might prove entertaining forHindi speaking folks.

For those who pick up this book withthe only aim of sharpening their culinaryskills, they're in for a shock; unlike typi-cal cookbooks, this one does not have asingle photograph of any dish. Might bea bit disheartening and frustrating, espe-cially for the authentic local disheswhich are rare in restaurants and home.

Overall, a great book on food.Kapur's seemingly frank rhetorical isrefreshing, funny, and touching. Readit for the love of food and all thingsgood. Kapur might very well agreewith George Bernard Shaw when hesaid "There is no sincerer love than thelove of food".

Bon appetit!

JustBooks Connect - March 2011 9

The F-Word

Mita KapurHarper Collins

Using the F-word

Aradhana Janga

Food for thought

“ For those who pick up thisbook with the only aim of sharp-ening their culinary skills, they'rein for a shock; unlike typicalcookbooks, this one does not havea single photograph of any dish.”

10 JustBooks Connect - March 2011

Meeting the maker of Suppandi

JustBooks, Nerul recently organ-ized a workshop on Learn The ArtOf Drawing Comics in Mumbai.

The workshop was conducted byTinkle comics' illustrator forSuppandi, Archana Amberkar, dur-ing which she fielded questions fromher young fans. Here are someexcerpts:

How long does it take for you toillustrate one Suppandi story?It depends on the story. If the storyis interesting, then it takes one dayelse it takes two days.

Apart from the characters of Tinklemagazine, who are your favouritecomic characters?Phantom is my favourite comic char-acter.

If there is one thing you can changeabout Suppandi, what would it be?We are already working on to bringlittle changes in Suppandi. Today he ismuch more than just a domestic help.However we would like to maintain hisinnocence.

Who gave the name Suppandi?It was Mr Anant Pai, the founder ofTinkle comics who named the characterSuppandi.

How did you think of creating anddrawing Suppandi?It was my dad, Ram Waeerkar who cre-ated and drew the first Suppandi. Afterhim it was my brother who drewSuppandi for a brief period before I tookover.

Tell us a bit about your childhood?I grew up watching two great artistwork (My father Ram Waeerkar andbrother Sanjeev (who is now withMAAC Institute) both had their studio'sat home) and without realizing I learneda lot about art.

Did you read a lot of comics when youwere young?Yes. I always loved to read comics. Evennow I prefer a comic book to a novel.

If you were not an illustrator, whatwould you be?I would like to be a fashion designer.

How has your dad helped you to shape

your character as an illustrator?I gradually learned from my father, bywatching him draw every day andadmiring his work.

What's the future of children books inIndia?The future is very bright. People areagain cherishing books. Walk into abook store and you will notice that thebiggest section is for the children'sbooks.

When was Suppandi first introduced inTinkle? When did you start drawingSuppandi?Suppandi was introduced in Tinkle No.27 by Ram Waeerkar. I started my careeras cartoonist with Tinkle in 1992. I start-ed drawing three panels of Suppandijokes then switched to full lengthSuppandi stories.

Having completed your graduation incommerce, what made you become anillustrator? Was it family pressure asboth your father and brother were illus-trators?My father always respected my decision.So when I got bored of the odd jobs ofaccounting I told him I would like todraw. He completely supported me.

Your dad taught you drawing! Was he astrict teacher?Yes my father was a very strict teacher. Istarted with A,BC.... in drawing that is,

standing lines, sleeping lines,curve lines and did this for near-ly for 6 to 8 months.

What future plans for Suppandi?Suppandi is soon going to fea-

ture in an animated movie. Themovie team will work on it.

Do you get bored being withSuppandi every single day?

No, I love drawing Suppandi.Apart from Suppandi, I alsoillustrate other characters likePyarelal and Lajo, ZimZim andGotala, Ina, Mina, Mynah, Mofor Tinkle.

You have been drawing somany characters for the Tinklecomics, which character is theeasiest to draw?All the characters are easy todraw. With practice everythingbecomes easy.

If you were to give Suppandi anothername, what would it be?I don't know, I have been drawing

Suppandi all the time…maybe youshould give some suggestion.

Which is your favourite Suppandi story?All Suppandi stories are my favourite.

The one which I relish the most is theone in which Suppandi's employerhands him over a 'CD' and asks him toburn it. Suppandi goes ahead and literal-ly burns the CD.

After spending the whole day withSuppandi, how do you unwind your-self?Drawing Suppandi stories is in a wayrelaxing as his jokes are fun to draw. It'sthe satisfaction of creating and thethought that it will be read and enjoyedby many children that keeps me going.

Would you create a new character?Right now I am too busy with Suppandito think of any another character.Suppandi has his own comic now. It iscalled Suppandi 48, as it has 48 pages.

Any life lessons you want to share withyoung fans of Suppandi?Success comes with hard work . Don'thesitate to choose a career that you like.Only then you will be able to work withpassion and without pressure.

In the dark of night, the world istaken over by creatures that we call"vermin" - cockroaches, spiders, rats,

mites, termites, leeches, mosquitoes etc.It's a bustling community, much morehyperactive than the one which wehumans currently inhabit.

These communities are populated bypopulations' way more diverse than thecombined human population. What'smore, these vermins are much morecapable than we humans make them outto be.

As it goes, this story's central characteris Rishabh the rat, one of those hyperac-tive vermins, who considers himselfvery ordinary. But the circumstanceswhich he finds himself thrust into areextraordinary. Shashee, a spider, whosecharacter entirely contrasts to that ofRishabh, is the next most importantcharacter in the story. She is the matri-arch of the spiders and has quite a highopinion of herself and looks down at herfellow vermins, especially Rishabh.

Rishabh and Shashee live in an oldherb shop, ran by an absent-minded oldman, Venkat Thatha. Rishabh considershimself to be an "organizer" and "datalogger" of all the stuff in Venkat

Thatha's shop and Shashee just spinswebs all over the place and at timesjumps into Venkat Thata's coffee cup orscares the wits out of any spider-hatingcustomer who happened to come by herway.

One night, one of the strangest andunimaginable things happen-Rishabhand Shashee turn into humans due tosome strange magic and the grandadventure begins. Oddly enough, boththe vermins seem to have kept their ver-min talents even when in human form.They manage to prove to VenkatThatha's grandchildren, Deepak andLeela that they used to be the verminswandering the house once and slowlyget settled in the household.

However, being a human also comeswith a price-there is school and lots ofnasty geometry homework which drivesRishabh to his wits end. Even worse,there is a nasty moneylender, called"The Shark", who is not only afterVenkat Thatha's property, but the whole

neighborhood. He intends to convert itinto an influx of steel and concrete, driv-ing millions of vermins to death.Rishabh hears of a treasure hidden awayby an ancient king and sets about to findit, but it turns out to be unbelievablytough. The Shark is also after it, andover the centuries, scores of treasurehunters - humans and vermins alike hadtried, but in vain.

This book was written and publishedin 2010. Monideepa Sahu reverted towriting due to her dreary profession asa banker. She has never looked backever since starting her literary career -now she has several titles under her belt,which includes A Rainbow Feast: NewAsian Stories and The Puffin Book ofMystery Stories. Pooja Pottenkulam, theillustrator is trained as an animationfilmmaker; her professional work alsoincludes illustration, book design andanimation curating.

This story is an easy-paced children'sfiction and does not include an excess ofmagic. It also shows how active the ver-min world really is with amazinglyaccurate descriptions of the scenes anddrawings. The plot could have beenspiced up with a little more complexityinjected into the story. But overall thestory is very effective in portraying thefeelings and preferences of verminswhen compared to our own, hence mak-ing it a perfect read for youngsters,more particularly the ones who are terri-bly scared by the creepy crawlies! Thebizarre and magical events make youlaugh at their absurdity, but in somestrange way, they seem to be startlingpossible and we find it easy to believethat indeed it did happen - that's wherethe real magic of the story lies.

Just KidsJustBooks Connect - March 2011 11

Riddle Of The SeventhStoneMonideepa SahuIllustrator: Pooja PottenkulamAge group: 9-13 yrsPages: 178Young Zubaan Books

JustBooks Picks for Young ReadersBusy Ants by Pulak Biswas

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

Sameer's House by Nina Sabnani

Snoring Shanmugam by RadhikaChadha

The Crow Chronicles by Ranjit Lal

See You Around, Sam by Lois Lowry

Atisa and the Seven Wonders by AnuKumar

The Key Of Chaos by Payal Dhar

Flute in the Forest by Leela GourBroome

Jayanthi Harsha

Having published twelvebooks over threedecades of his writing

career, nine of them collectionsof poetry, Keki N. Daruwalla isthe most important Indian poetwriting in English today. It'snot only that in a climate wherepoetry is hard to publish, he hasbeen consistent. It's also that hehas been active in contributingto the life of the community,editing anthologies, serving asSecretary of the SahityaAkademi, and guiding ayounger generation of poets.

His collected poems, CollectedPoems ( 1970-2005) was pub-lished by Penguin India in 2006.

In an early essay called 'TheDecolonised Muse' (later pub-lished at PoetryInternationalWeb.org), Daruwalla talkedabout the problems of beingan Indian poet writing inEnglish. "The poem had to besecurely fastened to an Indiansetting; should seek freshlyupturned earth under a monsoondownpour," he says and linksto this factor, his abidinginterest in "place, site, land-scape." This concern withhybrid and exiled identitystrongly informs Daruwalla'swork. His poems have the curi-ous quality of being free androoted at the same time. Timeand place are important as isIndian history and society.Winter Poems looks at theEmergency while Crossing ofRivers is about Varanasi. ButGreek wars, astronomy andmyth also find their way in.From the Mahabharat toRoethke, Daruwalla's influencesare diverse, his world wide andvariegated.

His work has sometimes beencriticised for being too literal,too direct in its rendering of his

experiences as a policeofficer. It is true thatriot, crime and pover-ty are part of manypoems. Daruwalla hassaid: "The exteriorworld can't be wishedaway, it is there like theair" (Pratilipi.com June2010). This engage-ment with the worldaround him is palpa-ble. In Map-maker(2002), he writes aseries of dramatic monologuesby mythic and imagined figures.

But his later poems are morephilosophical as well. Concisestyle and powerful imagery aredistinguishing characteristics ofhis work. His tone is often iron-ic, even cynical as he respondsto the disenchantment of hisgeneration with "a landscape ofmeaninglessness":

"Then why should I tread the Kafka beat

or the Waste Land, when Mother, you are near at

handone vast, sprawling defeat?"His poems often have the arc

and energy of paintings and hisdescriptions of nature are espe-cially affecting. Consider 'Fish':

The sea brought her in, wrapped in seaweed

and slapped her on the sand, all five feet of her

with the armour of her scalesand the filigree of her rose

moles. Or ‘Requiem for a Hawk’ in

which both the life and thedeath of the hawk are renderedwith excellent visual charge. Thestarting verses set the scene forthe hawk's death with precisionletting us see the hawk's flight,the hunt, the sky and the wrong-ness of the time like a quietsledge-hammer at the end of thesection.

Then breaking spiral and ring, lean of body, he banked,

climbing in an arc on still, nonchalant

wings.Peering for prey, his eyes

bored through space, till a salt-rinse

of air hit him, and the cavernous

roar,as of a subway train. It wasthe sea in high tide. His eye

took in the heavens in onescouting look.

He had come to the wrong sky.Daruwalla writes formal as

well as free verse and his waywith rhyme is polished, musical-ity an important part of hispoems. For anybody interestedin Indian poetry in English, hiswork is a touchstone alongsideNissim Ezekiel, AK Ramanujanand Dom Moraes.

12 JustBooks Connect - March 2011

AECS Layout65470141Bellandur25740710, 42118813Frazer Town41644449HSR Layout22587430, 7259974251Indira Nagar65831547, 42044157Jayanagar 5th Block9740894014, 42068676JP Nagar-Dollar'sColony42003087JP Nagar42351761Kalyan Nagar42084394, 9986072204Koramangala40982460Malleshwaram41280649Rajarajeshwari Nagar9535854732RMV II Stage23410800Sarjapur Road42129279Vijaya Bank Layout41645690Vijaynagar42117539

Whitefield42053027, 32999406Nerul Mumbai02227729788,09004819059Dombivli02516505544Pune02025896016Hyderabad04030560660

For franchiseinquiriescontact:manager@justbooksclc.com

Locations

Author in focus

Advertise with us, contact (080)-6001-5285 or editor@justbooksclc.com

Keki DaruwallaAnindita Sengupta