Commentary on books by. Gulzar. Becky Morales writes about multicultural
reading. Deepa Agarwal on why reading is important. Former NCERT Director
talks.
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VO L. I | N O. 1 | A P R I L‐J U N E 2013
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Anita Nair shares her passion for reading and writing in her inimitable style Former NCERT Director Krishna Kumar talks about reading & democracy
Poetic Commentary on books by Gulzar
Students talk about reading and its place in their lives Udayan Bhatta travels to the land of Aurora Borealis
Becky Morales writes about multicultural reading
Deepa Agarwal on why reading is important
An exclusive interview of Amish ‘Meluha’ Tripathi
Glimpses of Ninad Naubahar Takshila’s cultural reawakening initiative – Ninad, was organised at Patna, Pune, Ludhiana and Coimbatore recently. Here are some frozen moments from all the cities
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C O N T E N T S COVER STORY
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Barrow of Books – An insight into the mind of Anita Nair
Editorial Board Editor Rajnish Sharma KNOWLEDGE CENTRE Coordinator Shradha DPS PATNA Teacher Coordinator Rupa Verma Student Coordinators Vaibhav Kumar, Kumari Adity DPS PUNE Teacher Coordinator
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Urvi
New Gen Readers Urvi’s 'ulta-pulta' novel 25
Houses of Wisdom
Reading is Holistic
Your Pathway to a Rewarding Career Useful tips on becoming a writer 13
Sarvika Tuli, Nikita Nair
Teacher Coordinator K. R. Shanthi
Becky Morales’ take on multicultural reading
A Classic is forever A commentary on the importance of classical literature
Kitaben Jhankti Hain Gulzar’s poetic tribute to books 36
Read Books to Write Books An author extols the virtues of reading
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Ambience Matters
Reading is Basic to Democracy
Environment impacts reading habit
Krishna Kumar’s take on relevance of literacy
Students' Favourite Novel A survey on who is reading what 51
Showers of Shiva's Blessings Amish Tripathi's exclusive tête-à-tête with TES Orbit 53
Are We being Cruel to Bright Kids An expert view on learning disabilities 54
Long Live the King of Fairy Tales Our homage to Hans Christian Andersen 56
Book Review Many a tome, many a fan! 58
News Capsule 60
Crossword
FORM IV 1. 2. 3.
Ruheen Kaur, A. Akash
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TES Orbit is published & printed by Sanjiv Kumar and is owned by and published at Takshila Educational Society A-22 (Basement), Defence Colony New Delhi 110 024. Telefax: +91 11 41555418/428
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Student Coordinators
Printed at Multi Colour Services Shed No. 92, DSIDC Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi-110020
Why Jaipur attracts so many literati
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Mokshlakshmi Bhan DPS COIMBATORE
A fond recollection of childhood reading
land of Northern Lights
Teacher Coordinator Student Coordinator
Growing up with Children’s Magazines
Encounter with Aurora Borealis Blend of Literature Discover the magical and Tourism
DPS LUDHIANA Ruchika Bhakoo
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Making of World Citizen
Students write about their favourite wizard 44
Role of teachers in making learning addictive
A brief history of libraries across the globe 11
Pottermania
E-books vs Prints
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Myrtle TJ Francis Student Coordinators
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Place of Publication: Periodicity of its Publication: Printer’s Name: Nationality: Address: Publisher’s Name: Nationality: Address: Editor’s Name Nationality: Address: Names and addresses of individuals who own the newspaper and partners or shareholders holding more than one per cent of the total capital. Owner: Address:
Takshila Educational Society, New Delhi Quarterly Sanjiv Kumar Indian C-484, III Floor, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024 Sanjiv Kumar Indian C-484, III Floor, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024 Rajnish Sharma Indian B 1/4, River Bank Colony, Lucknow 226001 (U.P.)
Takshila Educational Society A-22 (Basement), Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024
I, Sanjiv Kumar, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Date: 1st April, 2013
Signature of Publisher
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I
have this one crazy habit. Every time I pick up a new book, I hold it close to my nose and fill my lungs with its heady smell. It’s the scent of the freshly printed pages of a new book that gives me a high. The content follows thereafter. After going through what you all have written, I feel I have precious little to add. But I must say I am amazed at the various dimensions of ‘Reading’ (the theme for this issue) that you have explored and that too, during your exam time. Keep up the good work. I have one unsolicited piece of advice for you. I strongly believe that ‘reading’ must be followed by ‘writing’. It somehow ‘completes’ the experience and brings to a logical conclusion all that you have learnt. I have read so many accounts of foreign travellers in India during ancient and medieval eras but never an Indian traveller’s version of his experiences in Greece, Rome, China, England, Iran or Arabia (with the exception of tales of Guru Nanak’s travels). I would have loved to read any one such travelogue in which the Indian writer narrates and judges the foreign land that he traverses from purely an Indian world view. We can only savour and gain from the experiences of various illustrious personalities from different eras including the current century, if we read about them or their own works. And as you get inspired and widen your horizon thus, remember not to deify these men and women. They are no different from you. Like them, you too can attain all that you want to, once you set your mind on it. Popular children books’ author Ruskin Bond once said reading has always been a minority pastime. Well, it’s time we changed this even as, more than ever, there are distractions galore in this tech-driven day and age. I have often wondered why booklovers are often dismissed as laidback or passive. Nothing 2
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could be further from the truth. While excess of anything is bad, a booklover (as against a bookworm), let me tell you, leads a perfectly active life. It’s just that most of the time, this action takes place inside his head. And it shows in every interaction he has with the outside world. Not all among the wellread may take to activism but they sure can give a constructive direction to the energies of the actionoriented. That’s where their dynamism lies. With this issue, TES Orbit literally moves into an altogether different orbit. We have well-known authors like Anita Nair and Deepa Agarwal writing exclusively for us. We also have Amish Tripathi of Meluha fame sharing his thoughts with us. Anita, Deepa and Amish, welcome aboard!
Rajnish Sharma
TAKSHILA
Fundamental Goal I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve
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-Charles de Montesquieu
uring the past decade, I have become increasingly aware of the need to use school time for encouraging the reading habit. Demographic trends increasingly indicate that many of our students are living in homes with two working parents. Thus, a number of our students enter homes each afternoon with little or no supervision. So, they become involved in too much of television viewing, too much of conversation on mobiles and other activities that displace reading for pleasure. Thus, we must accept the challenge of encouraging the lifetime reading habit in school.
The idea that reading provides comfort is an old notion. An inscription over the ancient Greek library at Thebes read “Places for healing of the Soul.” Montesquieu (1899) wrote: “I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.” Stories give us new hope. You will be glad to know that Takshila schools have initiated Read Program from this year for all levels. Schools are so busy teaching reading skills that they are neglecting to develop readers. As they say, reading can be caught, not taught, just like values. But the evidence seems to suggest that children cannot “catch” it by themselves. They need help and Developing an Developing an enthusiasm for schools must provide it. One of the enthusiasm for reading reading is a fundamental goal of most crucial tasks in Read Program is is a fundamental goal of educational institutions. Schools the transformation of children whose educational institutions. should produce children who ‘should’ attitude towards reading has been one read rather than merely children Schools should produce of indifference and active dislike into who ‘can’ read. A barometer for the avid readers. children who ‘should’ progress and civilization of any nation read rather than merely is the quality and the number of books, “Don’t ask me who’s influenced me. children who ‘can’ read and the number of persons habituated A lion is made up of the lambs he’s to reading them. Formal education digested, and I’ve been reading all my of a person is no criterion of judging a person’s life,” said Charles de Gaulle. Self-concept is closely learning. Children who read frequently possess larger related to reading success and a child who sees himvocabularies, enhanced writing abilities, improved self as a reader, finally develops himself as a reader. spelling and better command on grammar. There is Getting him to see himself so is a task which can be a lot to like about reading. It stimulates conversation, accomplished by effectively teaching him the basic creativity, and comfort. However, its values and uses reading skills, providing him with recreational readmust be demonstrated and experienced personally, ing, encouraging him to read books with which he can and teachers play a vital role by providing an identify himself and by helping him build a feeling environment that supports students’ discovery and of worth concerning himself. Once the reading habinternalization of the values and uses of reading. it has been firmly established, however, it is time to Frank Smith (1989) laments that youngsters seldom encourage children to vary their interests and enrich experience reading other than as a meaningless set their tastes. Success with these approaches requires of activities; he promotes the use of “reading and cooperative support of classroom teachers, librarians, writing to help the brain achieve what the brain does administrators and parents. Such support, of course, best – the creation of worlds”. According to Becoming involves sustainable hard work, but these efforts will a Nation of Readers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & be worth it. Wilkinson, 1985), “The single most important activity z Sanjiv Kumar for building the knowledge required for eventual Secretary, Takshila Educational Society success in reading is reading aloud to children”. Pro Vice-Chairman The authors suggest that it is a practice that should Delhi Public School, Patna, Pune, Ludhiana & Coimbatore continue at all school levels. APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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Urvi’s twist in tale! Inspired by this issue of TES Orbit, Urvi has taken up reading. See how her experience ends...
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Me, poor man, my library Was dukedom large enough. —Prospero, in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest
H
ow often do you visit a library? Of course, you will be going to your school’s reading room or library almost every day, but have you ever been to a public library in your district centre? You must. Libraries pack a lot of knowledge in different forms – books, newspapers and magazines, compact discs, monographs, digital documents, and many other forms. Have you heard about electronic books or e-books? They are paperless and in digital forms. Now there are gadgets available to read them on. Yes, you guessed it right. The iPads, tablets, and similar devices can read e-books. With paperless books growing in number, soon there will be libraries without any physical books. No, it is not a joke. It is happening already. A new 4,989 square-foot library called BiblioTech, in the Bexar County in San Antonio in the United States (US), will hold no physical books. All the titles are in the e-book form.
Take a look at some of the biggest libraries in the world • Jinoy Jose P The mammoth collection of books in the Library of Congress can fill more than 1,300 km of bookshelves
World’s No. 1 The US also has the world’s largest library – The Library of Congress. Established in 1800 in Washington DC, the library is now divided in four buildings. It also has another campus in Virginia. If you measure it in terms of shelf space and the number of books, the Library of Congress is the world’s No. 1 of its kind. In total, it has 151,785,778 items! This includes more than 2 crore catalogued books and 5,600 books that were printed before year 1500, and several monographs, newspapers, reports and other printed material. There are several hundreds of rare books and more than 60 lakh manuscripts.
The Library of Congress
The library administration says this mammoth collection of books can fill more than 1,300 km of bookshelves. The library is open to the public, but mostly it is used by the 541 members of the US Congress, their staff and other members. It is one of the best research and reference centres in the world. Interestingly, this library also runs a service called the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Through this, it offers audio books and books in
the language of the blind, Braille, and serves about 8 lakh people in the US. Want to know more about it? Log on to www.loc.gov
Ancient libraries A lot of people describe ancient Egypt as the cradle of civilizations. So it is no wonder that one of the most important old libraries is located in Egypt. The Royal Library of Alexandria, which is also called the Ancient Library of Alexandria, APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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is located in, as the name suggest, Alexandria – the second largest city of Egypt. In ancient times, this was a place of union for scholars and statesmen. There is no accurate information on when was this library set up. But many believe it was organized by Demetrius of Phaleron during the rule of Ptolemy I Soter (367 BC – 283 BC). An orator and scholar from Athens, Phaleron modelled the study centre after his teacher Aristotle’s school. The library faced several attacks. One of these came in 48 BC from Julius Caesar of Rome, who burned it down. Another one, from Roman emperor Aurelian, also caused much damage. Still the library continued to be a beacon of knowledge for people across Africa and West Asia. Today, the modern version of the library is called Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It is a major cultural centre now. It can hold about 10 lakh books, features an Internet archive, six specialized libraries for arts, video and audio materials, the visually challenged people, children, young people, microforms and rare books and special collections. It also has four museums for Antiquities, Manuscripts, Sadat and the History of Science. The library also runs 15 permanent exhibitions on various subjects, along with a planetarium and four art galleries. Sounds really impressive, right? You can find more online here: www.bibalex.eg Now, what about the most important libraries in India? We have a strong tradition of libraries and teaching. Remember, the Nalanda University that saw its great days during year 427 to 1190s had a very vast library. It was so vast that when an army under army under Bakhtiyar Khilji attacked it in 1193 and set it afire, it took them about three months to burn the whole library down! Since the British started ruling India, the country saw a 6
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series of libraries, especially in cities like Kolkata and Mumbai. The nationalist movement for freedom also gave momentum to libraries. Today, the country has thousands of libraries, including public, government-funded libraries, university libraries, privately-sponsored libraries and cooperative libraries.
In India During the British Raj, the National Library Kolkata was called the Imperial Library. It was formed in 1891. But much before it was set up, there was another library in Kolkata, called Calcutta Public
When Bakhtiyar Khilji’s army set afire the Nalanda University, it took them about three months to burn the whole library down Library (1836). The British later merged both these institutions to create the library we see today. After India got freedom, a legislation in 1948 gave it a special status. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the then Union Minister of Education, opened the library for public use in 1953. Today, it is the largest library in the country and is located on 30 acres in Kolkata’s Belvedere Estate. The library has a total number of about 25 lakh books. Apart from collecting English books, the library has dedicated divisions for regional languages such as Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi,
Kannada, and more. Its Sanskrit division collects and processes Pali and Prakrit books. The library also has a foreign language collection, which includes books from languages such as Chinese, Thai, French, Polish and many more. The library is run by the Union Ministry of Culture. For membership details and other information, you can check its website: www.nationallibrary.gov.in There are several similar libraries in India. Prominent among them is the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi. It is located in Teen Murti Bhavan premises, where Pandit Nehru lived for 16 long years. Interestingly, this building was designed by British architect Robert Tor Russel and built in 1929-30. The library stores all the works that talk about India’s struggle against the British. It also encourages academic research in history. During the past four decades, this library has become an important institution of research. It regularly conducts lectures and seminars. The famous Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture is held here annually. The library houses several thousands of books, along with an impressive manuscript store. Over a thousand precious collections are here; they run into more than 50 lakh pages in 24,000 boxes. Its oral history section boasts of audio interviews with eminent people from India and abroad. The size of this collection is really huge: at the moment, it has 8000 spool tapes running into over 6,000 hours of interviews. Further, it stores about 2,700 audio spool tapes of speeches that Nehru had given. The library is located in the same building that houses the famous Nehru Planetarium in Delhi. More information is available here: www.nehrumemorial.com/ z Jinoy Jose P is a Delhi-based journalist.
Time can be captured in the palm by the very act of holding a book whose pages emit the sweet fragrance of the printed word z Anita Nair
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s a child I was fascinated by words and the thought of spinning stories with words. My passion for stories grew from my parents. My mother fed me stories so I would eat. [I was a very fussy eater and would only do if my attention was diverted]. And my father was a brilliant raconteur whose tales alternated between vintage magic realism and anecdotes that sparkled with wit and were mostly drawn from his working life. They also had a great eye for the absurd and together all of this exercised a great influence on my imagination. APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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I grew up in a suburb called Avadi near Chennai which was filled with numerous Ministry of Defence establishments. Apart from two Ordnance factories, the army, air force, the CRPF and SAP were all stationed there and were drawn from various parts of the country. And so I was introduced to several Indian languages, all at the same time. This had its effect on my reading. On the one hand my favorite books as a child were the popular books of that period The Anne of Green Gables series, The Coral Island, William books and all of Enid Blyton. But I was also reading or entering the world of Indian languages. I would insist my mother read out to me in Malayalam and Tamil, and Hindi and Sanskrit from school. And in the school library I found translations of novels from Indian languages. So my literary influences came as much from Indian writings as from the western world.
Taste in reading But it was English I fell in love with and so I chose to read mostly in English. Perhaps if I had been exposed to Arabic and I had fallen in love with it I may have read it! Eventually it doesn’t matter for what is important is the reading habit. I read a great deal and my taste in reading varied from the highbrow to the pedantic. All of us in my family read a great deal. But they preferred to read popular books and at some point I moved away from that to literary fiction because I was sated by the predictability of popular fiction. I read books with a frenzied hunger then as now. In fact, I read every day for 8
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several hours. Beginning and end-
ing my day with a book. I don’t think I can stay away from books for too long. In fact, the very thought of not having a book at arm’s reach scares me silly. And so I became a collector of books as well.
Old old-book shops A long time ago when Chennai was Madras and Anna Salai, Mount Road, alongside the Central Station was this elegant red building called Moore Market that housed many a bargain. From genuine leather shoes that fell apart by the time you had walked past Ripon building
The only way the readership base can be broadened is when parents, teachers and media take a collective responsibility for apprising the young people the benefits of reading
to Rolex watches that shed gold flakes to silk saris that shrunk when you perspired. But what Moore Market also held in its vast innards were old books. Little cubbyholes stacked high with books that were laden with dust and stories. There is a calm there that is seldom found in regular book shops. The past looms allowing no peer pressure, no posters announcing the arrival of yet another major new talent, no newspaper clippings detailing fabulous advances, no bestseller lists, no need to schmooze… just corridors of dusty, musty old books by either obscure or very dead authors. Old old-book shops have always had a strange effect on me. For one, a rush that’s akin to free-falling. A feeling of not knowing what next, as one cruises through the hallways of print. The romance of chancing upon a find, the excitement of discovery, the rush of blood to the head, sweet fulfilment… In one such cubby-hole, I found what to this day is my prized possession – a first edition of Sorrell and Son by Warwick Deeping. Only then, a first edition meant little except that it was so tattered that I got it for almost nothing.
Sense of triumph Every once in a while, my brother Sunil and I would take the suburban train from Avadi to Madras Central; we were in the city to shop for clothes. But I would insist on staying within Moore Market, quite content to settle for
Chennai’s Moore Market - A famous haunt of book lovers
cheap accoutrements and use the extra for books. I would browse till a mysterious force would lead me to a find in a pile. Sometimes it was merely an author I had always wanted to read; sometimes it was a book that no one obviously had wanted to but it still was an exemplary piece of writing…I never left Moore Market without a book or a sense of triumph.
Anita Nair – the author and a book lover
My uncles and aunts would catch me with my nose buried in a book and sigh. My reading made me unsocial, they thought. “She will give up her obsessive reading once she is grown up,” one of them said. “Once life makes its demands, her reading will go out of the window.” I look at my bedside table now and see how it groans under the weight of books. The pile of books APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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Rendezvous with books Old old-book shops have always had a strange effect on me. For one, a rush that’s akin to free-falling. A feeling of not knowing what next, as one cruises through the hallways of print on it could totter and collapse at any moment. Defying all laws of gravity, they stand, possibly by the sheer weight of their collective intellect, and perhaps my cussedness.
Pure delight Every once in a while, I look at them and can’t suppress a wave of pure delight. This is the joy of a magpie woman who has foraged and found a shiny vein of brilliant writing. Like a child who can’t bear to be parted from a much longed for toy, I want them at my side where I can see and occasionally give them a little pat. This is a woman who has just put to bed her book-buying day. Sometimes I am asked what am I going to do with all the books I buy. Would I read them again? I have a very simple equation. The books that I like very much are the books that live with me. The rest are given away. When a book means a great deal to me I gift those to very close family members. It is my Plan B. This way, I know that if the need ever arises, I can borrow it back from them.
Collective responsibility Reading 10
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always
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considered the pastime of the minority. The only way the readership base can be broadened is when parents, teachers and media take a collective responsibility for apprising the young people the benefits of reading. But there is something else. Every time I travel to a new place, the first thing I do is to look for books. So that whether it is a swank new store, or a little hole in the wall or a flea market or even a barrow of books or a lone shelf in the back room of some café, I know a firm sense of belonging when I get there. As if time can be captured in my palm by the very act of holding a book whose pages emit the sweet and cloying fragrance of the printed word. As if by inhaling this intoxicating fragrance, part memory, part organic, I can feel a tie bonding me to that book. And so for the moment I cease to be author. Teller of stories. Peddler of imagination. I am the supreme creation of the God of books. A reader and a book lover. Anita Nair is the bestselling author of The Better Man, Ladies Coupe, Mistress, Lessons in Forgetting and Cut Like Wound. Her books have been translated into over 30 languages around the world. She is also the founder and editor of the online literary journal The Heavenly Bliss Salon for Men.
Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.
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his is a quote by Anna Quindlen from her book 'How Reading Changed My Life'. Books can spell magic; they transport us to a different world. An inspirational book can change our world for the better. In the early seventies when television was discovered, many had predicted that the era of books was going to come to an end. Then again when computer and internet began to revolutionise our lives, the same prediction was made but it has also been proved wrong. The relevance of books has not gone down; it has, on the contrary, grown by leaps and bounds. Reading is an active mental process. Each and every word you read makes you think which makes you smarter. Books provide information; help us improve our vocabulary, concentration and memory. With a book you can learn anywhere. A well read person is always a pleasure to interact with. There are also findings to show that a good book is a great stress buster. It is very important to introduce young children to age appropriate books. They should be told about the great writers and encouraged to read their books. Once the habit is inculcated in them at a young age they have a friend for a lifetime. “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers," said Charles William Eliot. So let’s befriend and absorb them. z Pratibha Nair, Department of EVS, DPS Coimbatore
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rancis Bacon once said, ‘Reading maketh the man’. I would add to two more words, AND CAREERS! Though we live in an age of information explosion with easy access to a universe of knowledge, yet reading classics, novels and biographies (print or digital versions) is not a popular hobby among students. While today, many more books are being published and made available digitally, it is mainly the older generation that continues to read them. The woe of school and college librarians across the country is that they get the latest books but there are very few takers! Reading books is one of the most vital ingredients for your success in getting a career of your choice. Whether you have to appear for competitive exams for selection to the top campuses of management, law, media, hospitality, design, etc or for SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS or for the government, defence and banking services, your proficiency in the English language and its correct grammatical usage, comprehension and vocabulary will be tested. Even the papers of logical reasoning have topics like syllogisms which require an understanding of words and their meaning.
Intangible benefits
The questions students generally ask is ‘Where do I begin?’, ‘What should I read’, ‘How do I fit reading into a crowded daily schedule?’ and ‘How can reading help me to prepare for a career?’ Let’s discuss each of these. Where do I begin and what should I read?: Start by identifying your interests. For example, in case science as a subject is a passion, you could make a beginning by reading the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling if you have not already devoured them many times over! Some of the other popular science fiction novels are Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell, The End of Eternity and Foundation by Isaac Asimov, Glasshouse by Charles Stross, and Stories of your Life and
Others by Ted Chiang. If you are fascinated by mystery you could read novels by Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Grisham, John Le Carre, Frederick Forsyth, Ken Follett, Jeffrey Archer, Robert Ludlum and Len Deighton among others. If the lives of famous personalities are of interest, biographies and autobiographies are likely to hold you spellbound. For humour, there is nothing to beat the books by PG Wodehouse. Some others are Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis and Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses by David Lodge. Your reading list should include novels by renowned Indian writers like Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, VS Naipaul, Anita Desai, Rohinton Mistry, Amitav Ghosh and Chetan Bhagat. In addition, it is highly recommended that you embark on reading some timeless classics by Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stephenson, Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Victor Hugo and Mark Twain.
Reading books is one of the most vital ingredients for your success in getting a career of your choice z Dr Amrita Dass
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CAREER CORNER
‘The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them’, observed Mark Twain. Undoubtedly, the ability to communicate knowledgeably, effectively and eloquently during group discussions and interviews or as a professional is largely the outcome of being an avid reader. Those who have reading as a hobby, often end up scoring high marks in interviews not merely because they answered the questions related to the books they have read but because the
interviewers are also aware of the tangible and intangible benefits of reading in shaping one’s mind and personality. Most successful students have invariably endorsed these facts and emphasised that their habit of reading regularly made all the difference in giving them a competitive edge.
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Some of the successful Indian authors: (clockwise from top) Rohinton Mistry, Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Kushwant Singh, Arvind Adiga Amitava Ghosh, Chetan Bhagat, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amitav Kumar and Arundhati Roy
CAREER CORNER
Should you be daunted by the prospect of reading an entire novel, start with graphic novels and short stories. ‘The Complete Short Stories’ by Guy de Maupassant, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Quiver full of Arrows and Twist in the Tale by Jeffery Archer have had universal appeal. Check the best seller list of fiction and nonfiction books as this is an indicator of a book worth reading. It is also worthwhile reading motivational and self help books (that provide guidelines to enhance your personality, develop qualities of leadership and other employability skills) by renowned authors like Stephen Covey, Deepak Chopra, Dale Carnegie, Paulo Coelho, Eckart Tolle and Robin Sharma. How do I fit reading into a crowded daily schedule?: Where there 12
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is a will, there is way! Your aim should be to read at least two books a month. This is a doable target. Start by making a list of books that you plan to read in the next six months. Then check whether these are available in your school library. If not, request the librarian to purchase a copy. If for some reason this is not possible, consider spending your pocket money in acquiring a copy and gradually build up a library of your own! Set aside time to read each weekend and on holidays, in case you are unable to do so during weekdays. How can reading help me to prepare for a career?: The benefits of reading are countless. Reading sharpens your mind, makes you more knowledgeable and a lifelong learner, improves your ability to comprehend, enhances your vocabulary, develops your creative
ability and power of imagination. All this boosts your self esteem and confidence. In a nutshell, reading leads to ‘ a smart mind and a smart personality’. This in itself is an excellent launch pad for a rewarding and enriching career. Above all, reading is FUN. So read for the sheer pleasure and enjoyment of it. Consider books among your best friends!
Dr Amrita Dass is a well-known educationist and career consultant.
Encounter with Aurora Borealis Iceland abounds in black volcanic rocks, lush green fields, snow laden hills, glaciers, volcanoes, waterfalls, lakes and rivers z Text & photos: Udayan Bhatta
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th February 2013. Early morning. The jetliner took off from Mumbai. I smiled. Phew... Made it. With extreme work pressures, my leave, though pre-approved was in dire peril and it took me a lot of haggling and diplomacy to make sure it holds good. As I put on my headphones and close my eyes, my thoughts went back to that humid December evening in 2011.
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Travel Times I was sitting with my crazy group of friends in the Bali island of Sunderbans when someone mentioned the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and Iceland. After a thorough research on Google, it was decided that February 2013 is a good month to go chasing the Northern Lights (this was based on the predicted solar activities). The itinerary was planned, flights booked and after an extended discussion on what kind of gear there should be to brace the icy conditions, we finally equipped ourselves with whatever we could. Extra camera batteries were packed, as the batteries die out lot quicker in cold. We were all set to go. After taking a break at London to meet up an old friend, and a quick two and a half hours flight, we finally landed in Keflavik airport, Iceland close to midnight. It was cold and rainy. The moment I stepped out of the terminal building, smelling the crisp air, I looked up scanning the sky for any hint of green. It was cloudy. Darn! But we still had a week to go and the predictions were favourable.
Blue Lagoon Next morning was spent dipping in the hot frosty blue mineral rich waters of the Blue Lagoon. It was an experience to be in the open air pool with temperatures in excess of 40 deg C, while it was sub-zero outside. We had read much about the famous hot dogs of Iceland, and that’s exactly where we headed. After a couple of awesome hot dogs, we bought some provisions and headed out to explore Iceland. We had planned to spend time in the Southern coastal part of the country. A country with a total population of just a little over 3 lakhs! Wow, that’s less than a suburb of Mumbai. So we set off in the huge monstrous super jeep with tyres that reached my shoulders with our cool driver-cumguide, Eggert. Driving by the southern coast next to the Atlantic Ocean, we started soaking in the landscape of Iceland. Iceland abounds in black volcanic rocks scattered all over the place, lush green fields, snow laden hills, glaciers, volcanoes, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, deep blue sky and the cleanest air my lungs have ever inhaled. It is said that Iceland is the only country where you can drink water straight from a stream and you will be fine. I agree. 14
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“Aurora Borealis is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on Earth, are directed by the Earth’s magnetic field into the atmosphere. It is a featureless glow in the sky that may vary in brightness from just barely visible to the naked eye, to bright enough to read a newspaper by at night.” – Source: Wikipedia Water doesn’t taste so good elsewhere. There are very few trees in Iceland and the ones that are there, are small. As Eggert told me, to get lost in a jungle in Iceland, you have to be extremely dumb or heavily drunk. And if you do get lost, all you have to do is stand up and you will find your way out.
The huge cascading waterfall at Gulfoss was our first stop. It was a sight to see. Huge volumes of water flowing down with a roar, sending up mist high up in the air. A finger numbing wind was blowing and I headed down the 200 steps to get to a good point for taking pictures. Now came the challenge. How to adjust the controls? No way was I going to take off my gloves. Then the love for photography took over logical reasoning and off came the gloves. Blistering Barnacles... The cold air stung. I struggled with the camera for a while, taking some pictures and finally gave up. I somehow managed to get back to the warmth of our jeep. It took a good 10 minutes before sensation began creeping back in my hands and face. Close to the waterfall is the Geyser area. There are a few active ones which keep erupting
At Rejkjavik
every 5-7 minutes on an average. What a sight.. Water with temperature ranging from 80-100 deg C, the geyser erupts with a wooooshing sound going high in the air. We checked in Hotel Ranga, which seems to be in the middle of nowhere. Wonderful! That’s what we want. No light pollution when we see the Northern Lights. This hotel is one of the best in Iceland and definitely the best to see the lights. So the skies are clear and the hotel receptionist tells me that the possibility of seeing the lights is at level 3 (which is very good it seems). We tell her to inform us if the lights are visible and go to our comfortable rooms to relax our bones.
Northern Lights The huge cascading waterfall at Gulfoss
The phone rings. The girl’s voice says cheerfully “Hi we are seeing the Northern Lights”. Wow. It’s really happening. Next thing I know I am sprinting through the corridor
towards the exit. I suddenly stop. Damn. Turn back. Sprint back to my room. Put on the 3 layers of warm clothing over me, the woollen socks, the boots, balaclava, inner and outer gloves, mount the camera on the tripod, do the settings right here. I remember what happened earlier in the day. Now I march out of the hotel exit like a soldier holding my camera ready to fire at will. Just one simple problem. Err..Where exactly is the light? And then slowly as my eyes got used to the darkness, I could see it close to the horizon. A faint band of green. It got a bit brighter, but nothing like I had seen in the pictures. A tad disappointed, we called it a day. Sunrise happened at about 9:30 AM and we were out to explore the country again. Today was the day of adventure with the 4 wheel drive to be put to maximum use. We went over boulders and hillocks, splashed our way through APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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Travel Times Aurora Borealis – the Northern Lights
I just stood in awe and witnessed the most spectacular show of nature I have ever seen
streams and rivers. At one point of time our driver had to reduce the tyre pressure from 25 to 8 PSI to get the right traction. We went to a volcanic area, spent some time at the waterfall at Skogafoss and went off-roading on the snow clad hills. However, this day had something in store for me. We wanted the driver to let us off the jeep and take pictures of the jeep crossing the stream with a huge splash. All was well. Just that I never saw that I had positioned myself too close to the track almost at the edge of the stream. I thought that will give me a great angle for the shot. Yeah. Right. It also gave me a great shower. The water was icy cold and the spray came in huge volume. The next two hours were spent in the jeep, teeth clattering. Sigh… I guess the temperatures were beyond the optimal required for the functioning of my brain. And this was not all. 16
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Back in the hotel, good news awaits us. Today the lights are pegged at level 6, which is rare. Shortly after dark, the phone rings again and the same voice: “Hi we are seeing the Northern Lights”. This time I was prepared. The camera was ready on the tripod and all necessary clothing was right there. Within 2 minutes I marched out and chose my vantage point. There were 2 thick dark green bands in the sky. The bands started moving with millions of stars in the background and within no time the dark night sky got converted into a stage with a dazzling light show. The ground lit up and suddenly you could see all around. I, like most others, just stood in awe and witnessed the most spectacular show of nature I have ever seen. The show lasted for 5-10 min and then it reduced in intensity. The lights continued to dance slowly and we could see orange colour also added to it faintly. So we kept getting calls every night, sometimes twice in the night, sometimes while having dinner. We saw the lights of varying intensities and shape and sizes. We kept taking pictures with different angles, different frames, star trails with the lights. I am also told that seeing the lights 6 of the 7 nights was fascinating. It was awesome being up late in the night in the bone chilling cold taking pictures. Of course, we had the steady stream of hot chocolate coming in to keep us warm. The drive to the Jökulsárlónglacial lagoon was the longest, but a breathtaking one. We passed the Atlantic coast through lush green fields, snow fields, volcanic rocks and glaciers. The weather was perfect. We shot videos with the gopro. I again, being the brilliant self I am, tried a low angle shot by extending my arm under the window. At this point of time the jeep was cruising at over 100kph. We were passing through a snow field. I was not wearing gloves. It’s a miracle
Driving through icyscapes
that my friend still possesses that go-pro and I, all five fingers. Jökulsárlón is where the ice meets the ocean. The glacier flows into the Atlantic. The landscape was beautiful with ice crystals of shades of green and blue in the pristine blue waters against the backdrop of snow laden hills. This place is supposed to have ice caves, however, those caves were not accessible at this time. It was another day when we say a few beautiful waterfalls and took pictures of some friendly Icelandic horses that were happy to pose. One of the days we took a break and chilled out in the hotel, enjoying the place, playing pool, lounging on the deck, soaking ourselves in the hot tubs out in the open overlooking snowcapped mountains. Went for a small cross-country walk and accidentally found ourselves trespassing in someone’s property. Got chased by horses, jumped fences to safety and managed all without getting to see the police station. That’s the good part
of a country with such sparse population.
Smokin’ volcano The next day was the highlight of the trip under the sun. We were headed towards Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that had caused havoc in 2010. This was no ordinary drive. We had to drive through miles and miles of knee-deep snow. No roads. No tracks, just the driver’s sense of direction and judgement. We had a back-up jeep accompanying us. The tyre pressure now was brought down to 2 PSI for maximum traction and the chassis was raised. It looked punctured. The big machine painstakingly slowly inched and skidded its way through the sea of snow, kept climbing up at a steady pace. At times it would be sunny, at times cloudy, foggy, then there was this snowfall which started off gently and got a bit heavy. Taking a couple of photo stops, and after climbing up and down a few hills, we finally reached our desAPRIL-JUNE • 2013
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Mother Earth’s wonder on display tination after about four hours of complete disoriented driving. This was a sight. On top of a volcano, smoke still coming out of the earth which was hot in many places and snowy in all other areas. The last few hundred feet had to be trekked on foot. Our drivers had set up a barbecue and it has to be the best burger I have had in my life. The drive back was much easier and then there was this point where we were on a flat land in snow and on the horizon was the Atlantic with the reflection of the sun, while the sun was hidden in the clouds. It’s not often that you get to see a sight like that. The last day was spent in the capital city, Reykjavik, which hosts 200,000 of the 300,000 people of 18
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the country. Neat and clean, for a city with such a small population, it had almost everything a modern city needs to have. We ate at a fancy restaurant and walked the streets, doing souvenir shopping and did a bit of birding at the pond. Though I did not see any other Indian during the entire trip, I was delighted to see an Indian restaurant called Gandhi and another restaurant where a board was displayed written in Gujarati. These Gujjus I tell you… So after a once-in-a-lifetime trip, it was finally time to say goodbye. The next day early morning I found myself back in the Icelandair aircraft. Leaving the country felt sad and that’s when I told myself, don’t cry because it’s over, Smile because
it happened. There are still many pictures I wanted to take, places I wanted to see, so as the plane took off, I looked out of the window and said, I’ll be back…
z Udayan Bhatta works for SAP and manages consulting engagements for clients in India. He is a hobbyist Wildlife and Nature photographer and loves to travel all over the world.
Making of world citizens Reading multicultural literature helps children widen their horizon z Becky Morales
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ave you ever picked up a really good book, that had you on the edge of your seat…and you literally couldn’t put it down? I remember as a child I would be chastised to turn off the light and go to bed, but I would sneak in a flashlight, just to be able to finish the chapter of a thrilling adventure book. Books have the ability to transport us to any time period in the world, to any country, and help us imagine what it would be like to experience a different era, from a distinct viewpoint. Everyone can appreciate good story-telling. While a great story entertains us, kids who would like to learn about another country or culture are wise to begin with a stack of books. When choosing children’s literature to increase global awareness, I think it is important that the books are visually appealing, culturally accurate and
without stereotypes. Books should be age-appropriate, engaging stories that subtly inform and showcase new traditions and people.
Common themes One way to begin learning about other cultures through books is to choose one country per month to “study”. By picking stories that are set in a specific country or region, we begin to experience common cultural themes, and understand the perspectives of some of the people from that country. To extend the learning, you can make food from that country (especially if there are dishes mentioned in the book!), study the map, learn the flag, watch video clips, and decide to read a lot of fiction and non-fiction books. Another way you can use books to understand about the world is to
map out the settings of the books you read. Hang up a world map in your room, and place a marker with the title of every book you read on the country where it takes place. Purposefully choose books to represent a large geographic area so that soon your markers are spread across the globe. This graphic organizer will help you recognize if there are regions of the world that you haven’t covered yet. Check out fairy tales, folklore, and fables from other cultures. Although the storylines are diverse, you will notice everyone has a common need for love from family and friends, hope and security. No matter where the story is from, we all possess feelings of happiness, anger, pride, and loneliness. When reading the fairy tales, notice how different cultures portray and deal with these emotions, and compare them to how you, your family and friends would show the same feelings. APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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Avoid stereotypes In choosing multicultural literature, there are many great titles – but also some pretty awful stories too, that perpetuate stereotypes. When choosing books about a certain culture, it is imperative to make sure the story does not depict indigenous characters inaccurately or negatively, nor lump together various tribes and people into a general and indistinct group. For example, there is a tendency to erroneously teach young children about tipi-living, feather-wearing, tomahawk-carrying “(Red) Indians.” Yet, Native American people are not static or extinct; in fact they are contributing members to society, with deep-rooted traditions and values that are pertinent to our world today. Picking a variety of good-quality books will help to distinguish stories that are purely stereotypical vs stories that are written by people of the specific culture. Reading great books helps to dispel misconceptions and inaccurate stereotypes.
Curious kids Kids around the world are curious about their peers. Whenever we visit a friend’s house, my kids invariably want to go see their bedroom, their garden, their kitchen. I have noticed the same curiosity when other kids come to our house: kids wonder where we sleep, what toys we play with, or even what snacks we have. This natural inquisitiveness is equalled in adults! We can capitalize on this curiosity by taking a fascinating picture tour of homes and kids around the world and then talking about similarities and differences. There are many non-fiction books that showcase children living in different countries around the world. For example, there are books that talk about the different homes – both rural and urban – where families reside, different types of schools around the world, 20
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children of different religions and their celebrations, traditional and contemporary customs, and even how children around the world play with their friends and enjoy life. By paging through these photographic journals, readers get a glimpse of the life of another child halfway across the world. Comparing and contrasting the children’s lives, and think about what makes a home. Is it a safe gathering place for family and friends? A shelter from the elements, where we can sleep comfortable and dry? A place to prepare meals, celebrate holidays, play games, read books, and enjoy our families? How are we similar to and different than the families around the world in the books?
Accepting differences It’s never too early to begin instilling positive attitudes about acceptance and tolerance in children. Reading books about people from other cultures will increase cultural awareness, and help us become more respectful towards people with different backgrounds and perspectives. The important thing is to be exposed to those who might be different than you, because we will often sympathize with others once we’ve become familiar with them. It’s also important, however, to simply encourage the idea that accepting differences is important and that hateful behaviour is not beneficial for anyone. With so much violence in the world today, it is the duty of parents and teachers to teach our children about compassion, showing them kindness and respect, and giving them examples and role models to follow. One way to do this is to study about great leaders who embody peace. It helps kids make better decisions and learn from others’ wisdom as well as from their mistakes. Reading biographies written for kids, and learning about important leaders from around the
world and challenges they have overcome gives children examples of character traits, perspective on current events, and expands their ideas about other countries. For example, you can read wonderful biographies written for children of leaders such as the Dalai Lama, Wangari Maathai, Jane Goodall, or Nelson Mandela.
Cultural heritage Finally, reading books about our own cultural heritage encourages a positive self-concept and selfidentity. Students can benefit from reading literature that reflects their own background because it helps develop a healthy pride in our family background. Whether the books recount a historical event, a national leader, or a child hero from another era, positive stories of our own cultural background help us to understand a bit of what makes us unique and special. Whether in a social studies class, a multicultural unit, or simply for enjoyment, teachers and parents can use these literature journeys to stimulate children’s wonder and increase our cultural awareness of the many different people, cultures, and ways of life around the world.
Becky Morales is a teacher and mom to 4 multicultural children, and shares her ideas of teaching kids about the world at www.kidworldcitizen.org. She believes that if we teach kids cultural awareness while they are young, they will grow up to be compassionate adults who will succeed in our interconnected world.
A classic is forever Classics can even today be used to acquaint young readers with our literary culture and to cultivate a penchant for books
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iterature is art and although it is passé to think of books on paper as the best medium to convey ideas, I am a structuralist at heart; I find it difficult to accept the black and white literature classics turned into new-age colour films. That is why when I went to see the recently released movie Great Expectations, it was with a feeling of trepidation. Was there anything new the movie could offer beyond the 1998 screen version and the classic black and white British version from 1946 directed by David Lean? The contemporary directors deserve all the respect when they show courage to try and reinvent movies tackling subjects that have been made into movies before and have a staunch base of die-hard fans who might not take kindly to deviations.
I came back satisfied. Here was yet another version of a timeless classic, beautifully portrayed, in spite of the presence of naysayers who loudly proclaim that classics can never be remade. The debate, however, persists. We often say we are revisiting Under the Greenwood Tree or rereading Mayor of Casterbridge. People who read these books for the first time put them down with a strange feeling of having discovered something exciting and new. They pick up the same cover one day to find themselves lost in the same magical words on paper, albeit now full of cheeky subtleties and hidden meanings they missed. It is a whole different experience with the same book. I am reminded of the following reflections of Confucius: “At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I planted my feet firm upon the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what the biddings of Heavens were. At sixty, I heard them with docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right”
Life’s perspective At different stages in life, a reader’s understanding of a story, its character and their struggles differs depending upon the life’s perspective from where he or she stands. Classics show us another world outside of our own, a world now brushed with the strokes of age and character, a world quite different from the one we first came upon in those pages. For me, each visitation brings a further nuance to the story, a changed commentary so that I can hear my way through it once more. In Confuscian terms, “hearing the way is to cultivate oneself ”.
In simpler times, men read for pleasure and self-improvement. Today they read to impress. In school, we were taught that the ‘classics’ were timeless, but it was a concept difficult for us to grasp then. I remember it being a struggle for us poring over pages and pages of Thomas Hardy’s description of nature in Tess of the D’urbervilles. Inexplicably, and in spite of myself, I fell in love with his works. Was it the way it was taught to us? Was it the story? Or was it simply my imagination lovingly glorifying Tess as the perfect heroine? After twenty-five years of watching the wheels of education turn, in spite of lessening time for leisure in the evolving modern world, I think classics can still be used to acquaint young readers with our literary culture and cultivate a penchant for books; in all forms, be it paper or celluloid.
Contemporary books Contemporary books seem exciting initially, silly a few months later and embarrassing a year later, says my daughter, a voracious reader of classics. A few days of dubious entertainment that will be noted as the literary legacy of the 21st century. Writers are commercial corporations; mediocrity is advertised as literature and lure of lucre is what drives the industry. What our children read will have rippling socio-cultural ramifications and it is necessary we put critical accreditation to work that deserves it. Of course, classics may represent outdated or outright regressive schools of thought but you either define yourself in relation or in opposition to it. As long time literature teacher and author of ‘Classics in the Classroom’ Michael Clay Thomson so eloquently says, “To be ignorant of humanity’s most wonderful stories, metaphors and ideas is more than a pity; it is a deprivation of joy and enlightenment, a loss of brightness in life”. Classics expose, to children in particular, many of the best expressions humanity has to offer. Ideas and thoughts, entire worlds before their time, spun into engrossing stories. Classical literature offers a slower pace of gratification allowing the story to permeate and tasted gradually in styles ranging from subtle to defiant. It challenges developing minds to think, ponder and create as well as learn to discern and differentiate. Buy your children a classic, revisit them yourself, ponder over poetry by Tennyson, Coleridge and Shelley, write a verse for we have been bequeathed a treasure and we must use it to enrich our lives. z Seema Malik Director, Takshila Educational Society APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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n a recent interview to Hindustan Times, Ruskin Bond said that his new book My adventure with Books describes his childhood adventures with books. He says, “After my father passed away when I was 10, I was a lonely boy with books as my sole friends...I always looked for refuge in books wherever possible....” These feelings to some extent are definitely echoed by all book lovers because books are indeed a man’s best friend. They lend you unconditional company at any time, fill the vacuum and sometimes help you create that personal space so needed by everyone in the hustle and bustle of life these days.
Powerful effect I strongly relate to aforesaid thought and voracious reader that I have always been, my appetite for books remains unsatiated even today. A question commonly posed to all book lovers is “What kind of books do you like to read?” Perhaps for many other readers this question has an apt answer but for me I have never been able to categorise my interest for reading into ‘kind of books’. It has always been about the mood and the right ambience. The environment and the ambience have a powerful effect on a person’s reading experience. The flavour of a book can be overpowering or sometimes imperceptible depending upon when and where you are reading it. Each moment in time is physically characterised by innumerable external influences like silence and noise, dark and light, lonely or crowded or even the temperature as in hot or cold. To add to this the emotional state of a person at that particular time can manipulate all physical activities which includes reading. Thus the general disposition of the person, the place and the time, all hold tremendous authority over reading. Therefore, it is safe to state that mood and ambience do have a remarkable impact on the kind of reading it can generate. Sample this...a winter evening in a log hut in the woods, a crackling fire place, a cup of hot coffee in the favourite mug and a never ending book...ummm! Lo presto! The reader is transported to the very world the author was in at the time of writing the book. 22
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Light reading In stark contrast is a noisy train or a bus with interruptions galore. Ever thought why magazine sellers do brisk business in a place like this? It is because even the most avid reader would find this setting irksome for heavy reading and would never be able to completely absorb himself in the pages. So for both book aficionados and those who aren’t too, light reading in the form of magazines or newspapers is the best engagement. This is a classic example of reading for reading sake where the glossy pages and colourful pictures occupy the mundane moments of the journey and by the time you turn to the last page you might have reached your destination too. Another time, and a favourite of all readers would certainly be bed time. A book by the bedside table would definitely be indicative of a habit so strong that for some it might be the unsung lullaby inviting sweet sleep. Many sleep therapists are of the view that light reading relaxes the brain and induces sleep. Of course, one fighting problems of insomnia would be advised to never take up a book with cliff hangers or tale twisters as that would only get the adrenaline racing faster and would be the harbinger of yet another sleepless night!
Catharsis of sorts The ambience for reading is actually unique for every individual. Generalisation is perhaps not possible because reading is like therapy, especially in reading a novel. There is always a catharsis of sorts. The uninhibited self connects with the characters and a silent bond of empathy is formed. You rejoice in the character’s joy and wallow in its sorrow. In short, you live the words, you live the sentences and you live the pages. Each chapter is like a chapter in your own life. Reading elevates you to a new high where another experience has been gained, another life lived and innumerable lessons learnt. But like all the good things of life, reading is not mechanical. It is an emotional activity which stimulates our senses and has the capacity to affect our innermost sensibilities thereby bringing subtle but positive changes in our personality every day. z Rupa Verma, Department of English, DPS Patna
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he 21st century is witness to a major information revolution. Access to information is made easy to us by various books, magazines and journals. With every passing moment the requirement of information is increasing. We can find information on almost any subject, common or obscure on the World Wide Web. While the information availability and access is increasing, most of the people find that they have less time available to complete the text they are required to read. Many a time it happens that there are books kept in the shelves waiting for their turn to be read and we choose the book of more importance or of finer details. This is at the expense of the material that we would have liked to read if we had time. Speed reading allows us to read more things in the same time. Most of us think that speed reading reduces our comprehension but it is not so. Practising a few techniques and improving the vocabulary will help us skim through the passage very fast. There are many factors that contribute to the decrease in our reading speed. Firstly, our poor eye movement, limited perception span leading to word by word reading, vocalization, false belief that speed reading reduces comprehension, lack of concentration and improper surrounding. We can reduce the effect of these factors and therefore increase our reading speed. It is not a matter of a day or two; it will require a lot of practice and positive attitude. A few things that we need to practise daily. Firstly, instead of reading words one by one we can read it in chunks or even a full sentence. Secondly, eliminate vocalization. We should try not to sound out each word or in the mind. Thirdly, try to avoid reading the text which is already read. Last but not the least, we should always try to skim through the passage. z Saurabh Samir, 9 I, DPS Patna
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Virtual addiction
e comes from school, flings his school bag on the bed and runs towards his computer. One hour passes by, two hours pass..., then three hours, and time seems to slip away. This is the story of a typical 21stcentury child. Playing games and chatting on the computer are the only things that figure prominently in a modern child’s scheme of things. This virtual addiction has resulted in a decline in the reading habit. Only a handful of children are seen going to the library. Children think that reading involves just mugging up your textbooks and passing the exams. But that’s not the case. Children have started judging others on their “cool factor”. According to their rating, someone who reads regularly is not a part of the ‘cool club’ and those who are couch potatoes are the best. The opposite is the truth. But why are the children being driven to this? The video games are very attractive because of their catchy graphics and animations and children easily get addicted to them. Once addicted, they find it hard to give up the habit. Easy access to games through smart phones has added fuel to the fire. How can we prevent a child from wasting his time and energy on this virtual addiction? It’s high time parents played their role and restricted the hours their children spend on the computer. Besides, they should inculcate reading habits in their children. They can do this by reading books to young children and fix a regular reading time. Membership to libraries will also expose them to the wonderful world of books. Last but not the least: “Lead by example.” Parents should pass on their love for reading to the younger generation. “For me, reading books was a way to de-stress. It was never about gathering knowledge. Whenever I wanted to get my mind off cricket, I would pick up books. That’s how I developed the habit of reading.” -Rahul Dravid, Former Indian Cricket Team Captain. z Harshul Surana & Vaanchit Srikumar, 6 C, DPS Pune
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Computer vs Books
ome time back books used to be children’s best friends. Be it fiction, non-fiction or an encyclopaedia, children used to read them with great interest. But nowadays, something new has come into the picture. I don’t actually know what to call it - A boon or a bane of science. It is multimedia. Computers have changed the mindset of children. These days children don’t be-
lieve in reading books... instead, they just love to copy-paste information from Wikipedia and e-books from internet. Albert Einstein once said, ‘’Knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the whole world.’’ While books enhance a child’s imagination, computer and television hamper it. z Pratyush Anand, 9 F, DPS Patna APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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New Gen Readers z Charu Puri I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can’t really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, ‘If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we’ll talk.’ All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don’t want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket.
downloading a book from the comfort of your home, carrying every book for every mood and whipping it out whenever you have time, does have its appeal. Sarah is 24 years old and loves to read. She started off reading her mother’s dusty old Nancy Drews which were carefully preserved for her like an heirloom. But due to her busy schedule she optimizes time by reading on the way to her work. She deals with the conflict of reminiscing about sitting in the shade of a tree and reading for hours, eagerly going through the leaves of the book like unfurling a flower to give its secret and the new age impersonal, almost mechanical way of reading while sitting in the backseat of a car that somehow does not capture the beauty of reading a book.
Does the Looks good on paper… youth today Books have a character of their own. They are old, tattered and battered but that just prefer –Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 shows that they have mattered. The pages e-books or tell their own story (no pun intended). s the world becomes paperless The coffee stains, the folded edges, forgotdo people and floats on cloud(s) computing, ten flowers, and the underlined bits, they still want to what is the future of reading? all make the experience of reading more Will the next generation miss memorable. The feel of the written word is read books out on the enchanting scent of a new book, incomparable to a touch screen. the daunting aisles of books and that quiet (and not corner in a library? There are various pros On the flipside, one could argue about manuscripts and cons to the new generation of readers. the beneficial effects of using technology They love e-books on the go, on an iPad instead of paper to help save trees. which is or their phones and have entire libraries Advanced technology has also simulated what, they encapsulated in the palm of their hands. many aspects of traditional reading, like the bookmarks, putting sticky notes on the say, you get on sides or even highlighting. There are page Instant gratification by page readers in the format of a book the Internet)?
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The iGeneration where the ‘I’ could very well stand for instant, is a generation that does not care for the experience of browsing the library bookshelves, waiting for books to finish so that you can get new ones issued, or longing to go home for those elusive moments with the books on your nightstand. But the instant gratification of 24
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replete with sound effects of a page turning that makes sure that a new generation of readers holds on to the traditional experience of reading a book.
Charu Puri is an intern with Katha – a nonprofit organization working with and in story and storytelling for past 22 years.
Reading is holistic Our goals as teachers should be to help children become lifelong readers z Ruth Rastogi
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s a teacher it is my pleasure to have introduced many young children to the joys of literacy. But I will not go into details about the technicalities of reading and writing. There are many excellent books to guide you about this. Instead I will tell you a few stories about my students and how they became readers. I also wish to start a conversation on the “why” of reading. I remember Akhtar. He was very bright and always was the first to assemble a stove that I had taken apart or repair an iron or fold a paper bird. But now he was nine years old and still didn’t want to read. He often told me stories about what was going on in his life and I would write them and he would read them back to me. But taking a little extra time to decode story books or voluntarily reading from the class library did not fit into his scheme of things. Then one day Akhtar found an NBT book about birds that had more print than illustrations. Akhtar dragged me into a corner and asked me to read it to him. This time, instead of satisfying his rush to “know”, I knew that he knew the basics of Hindi and so I insisted that he read it by himself. The first page went slowly as he decoded the words and I helped him if the pace became too slow. But everyday I insisted that he read to me and gradually his pace of reading improved until he could read fluently in about 2 weeks. Akhtar’s written expression also improved and he was quickly at par with other children in his class. Let’s analyze what may have happened. Akhtar was very active, vocal and perceptive child. His father was a driver and he played in the local fields close to the lake and canals. His father also had a repair shop which is why he could asAPRIL-JUNE • 2013
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semble small machines so patiently and accurately. His life experiences were rich and varied. But he probably did not see reading and writing happen in his home although he had seen it happen at school for 4 years. He knew the basics of Hindi and English and as a teacher, I had been coaxing him to read since he was six years but it seems there is a time for everything. When that time happened he was able to pick up reading very quickly. We often forget that motivation and relevance to children’s lives are the keys to enjoyment for education and for life and living. We must always remember that all children learn at a different pace. I doubt if Ahktar reads for pleasure as he is now a busy entrepreneur but he certainly has the necessary skills to carry on his business. I also have had a few experiences teaching children who never attended school until they were eight or nine. Parshottam was the son of labourers who worked at the factory near our school and Sanju was the daughter of a technician at the factory who had brought her from a remote village. At our small school, we always created first-hand experiences and then used these experiences to learn to read and write. Unless the child has a learning disability, it is the best way to learn. We ask the children about their observations and then write their replies on a chart or blackboard. When we finish “the story” children have told us, we always have a few minutes of mini lessons, either of phonics, grammar structures or perhaps idioms. For Parshottam and Sanju we also started by keeping the alphabet chart and barah khari beside us and having short separate lessons starting with their names and names of family members. In a week I asked them to write by themselves carefully pronouncing the words and showing the barah khari of each syllable. The rule is to keep reading and writing relevant. When reading 26
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and writing is relevant, learning is meaningful and pleasant. Since both homes did not have a culture of reading, it is doubtful if these children continued to read for pleasure or for information. One can have the satisfaction that they would have basic skills to read official records, and be gainfully employed. I have also have seen some children who learned to read very early. My niece Geeta, has read to her two daughters from the time they were 6 months old. Meera was reading fluently without much instruction from the time she was 5 and Varsha was reading when she was 3 years old. I thought she had memorized the sentences. But no, I
The rule is to keep reading and writing relevant. When reading and writing is relevant, learning is meaningful and pleasant gave her another simple book; she was able to read it. I pointed out individual words and she was able to read. Both girls were in the habit of watching Sesame Street for an hour every morning which probably gave them an understanding of phonics and other word segments. Stories and songs are also an integral part of Sesame Street. My own granddaughter at the age of 2 years 3 months can now “read” books by memory. The minute I walk in the door she makes me sit down and read about 6 or 7 stories to her, of her choice. She also “reads” to me as she has memorized 7 or 8 books. Then again she will have a story session after her afternoon nap. This time I choose new books that we have taken from the pub-
lic library. Some new stories… some old stories… that’s the way it should be in school also. At Jingle Bell School in Faizabad, it is common to see primary school children choosing to read. This does not happen overnight. The school has made a conscious decision to have a strong reading and writing programme as there is a clear understanding that reading and writing skills lead to academic success. This is a very slow process that extends into middle school and is not done in isolation. Reading and writing are an integral part of many projects, science experiments and construction projects. Books fairs are a huge success as many children and their families now chose to read for pleasure. Again, let’s analyze. Stories, songs and poems have a completeness and satisfaction that bits and pieces in textbooks cannot give. A story has an introduction that describes a situation. It goes on to the plot where certain incidents happen, either good or bad. These incidents are resolved and a conclusion is made. Stories also depict a great variety of situations and the language and variety is much better than one teacher can provide. Grammar and vocabulary are learned in an exciting context and many discussions can happen which help children analyze and think. But we often get stuck on phonics and grammar when we should be discussing the story and making meaning: Why did Pranav get angry? Why did no one help him? What do you think he should do? And so on. Formal and short mini lessons in spelling, vocabulary and grammar in primary classes can happen individually when children read and write about their projects. I remember another young boy who used to come to our library. Vachaspati would go down the winding hill of our Himalayan vil-
lage reading eagerly. I was afraid he would fall off the edge of the cliff! He still comes to visit when he comes home at Deepawali and gives much credit to that little library that gave him so much enjoyment. He now has a PhD in Entomology and is a Class I scientist with the Central Government. However, he wistfully wishes he was out of it because of the politics in his department. So literacy is no guarantee of humanity, although it can be. Our goals as teachers should be to help children become lifelong readers. We have to educate ourselves and no one school or curriculum can ever do it for us. We need to know how to find information and how to separate the wheat from the chaff as there is plenty of nonsense in books, on the web, and in the media. So simple decoding skills are not enough. It takes much effort and a desire to know and an acute ability to analyze and understand. Even then there will always be many gray areas. Literacy and education are assumed to be good. The more, the better, just like a bank account. How we are educated and how we use our education is an equally important conversation. A fragmented education where we ignore the connections to society and nature has turned out to be destructive. Many middle class homes do not have a culture of reading for pleasure, for thinking, for discussing or for understanding the situation of others in our society. Many of us are “aliterate”: those who can read but choose not too. It may be that our education was so boring that we put away books as soon as possible since the “school of life” is much more interesting. It is most certainly true that we gain valuable knowledge and skills “on the job” and “in the street”. It is common to meet people who have an MA or PhD in the humanities or science but they have not internalized their educa-
tion or attempted to understand “the other”. At a conference at the National Botanical Research Institute in Lucknow, I heard a scientist who was not ashamed to say that “some” have to make a sacrifice for the sake of “scientific development”. Obviously he did not include himself in the “some”. This year I was analyzing the effects of poverty with my NTT students. One very articulate girl said that “the poor” are basically lazy and do not want to work. She was actually able to sway four or five more girls with her rhetoric and they also gave their own examples. Fortunately other members of the class were able to refute her with their own examples and we even got into discussions how certain castes are privileged compared to others. At this time I needed a book from Tulika about the snake boy which so sensitively portrays the feelings of a poor boy in a middle class school. The conversation was left with many more questions than answers but it electrified the class. Being literate is much more then being able to read and write. It must be the springboard for thinking and debate. So there is a dark side to literacy. David Orr reminds us that “It is a matter of no small consequence that the only people who have lived sustainably on the planet for any length of time could not read…..My point is simply that education is no guarantee of decency, prudence or wisdom.” Of course this is not an argument for ignorance. And obviously the supposedly ignorant know a lot more than many scientists. Literacy actually demands much humility for the more we know the more we realize that we know so little.
Our goals as teachers should be to help children become lifelong readers Finally children live for the day. They are not concerned about their future. Today-not tomorrow- they want to hear stories, sing songs, enjoy poems, tell about their lives and experiences, explore and appreciate the wonders of the world. They come to school highly motivated and wanting to learn. At this time in their lives all learning is integrated, holistic, playful and sensual.
Ruth Rastogi is a paedagogy expert from Canada who has authored several stories for children and articles for educators. She works with various schools to keep learning fun, meaningful and relevant. APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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Growing up with children’s magazines Be it Champak, Nandan or Chandamama... they all transport you to a world of kings & monsters, ghosts & ruined monuments, school pranks & outdoor adventures z Monika Pant
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eading was fun. Back in those days when I was a child in the 1970s. Almost half a century back. With about Rs 10 as pocket money, given with strict instructions that we were to spend it wisely (as wise as 8 year-olds could be) I wondered how I could make it last through the month. Pulling along my father or mother to the bookshop, I would gaze wistfully at the books and magazines lined at the display window and wonder if I could cajole them into buying me those delectable collections of stories. My education, so to speak, more than that received at my school, was through these books and children’s magazines that I devoured. The best thing about magazines was that as they came to my door-
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step by subscription, they did not need to be bought like books. Every month or fortnight as the case may be, I would be waiting for the postman to deliver them and then, I would be transported to a world of kings and monsters, ghosts and ruined monuments, school pranks and outdoor adventures. Mysteries, fairy tales, stories of pets and about famous personalities – all of them became my favourites.
Early favourites One of my early favourites was Nandan and I remember waiting for it and opening the page where the puzzles and ‘Spot the Differences’ were featured. That was my initiation into children’s magazines. This was followed by
Champak, a popular monthly magazine for children published by the Delhi Press Group since 1968. The stories about animals and tales that grandmothers told little kids were featured in this magazine and later, I believe, a CD was given free of cost with a pack of Multimedia Edition Champak. The CD contained games and activities for children to learn. I remember the fantastic covers in Chandamama, a classic Indian monthly magazine for children, famous for its illustrations. It also published long-running mythological/magical stories that ran for years. My knowledge of Indian mythology can be attributed to this and the Amar Chitra Kathas that were the precursors of graphic novels of today.
I owed a lot to these magazines. They taught me that to write for children, one has to be one with them...
Flights of fancy The stories were almost always bound by a common thread of moral values, with a grandparents’ style of storytelling and were drawn from numerous historical and modern texts in India, as well as from other countries. Mythology, epics, fables, parables and even useful hearsay were spun suitably to feed our impressionable minds and my mind took flights of fancy that were coloured by the incidents that I read. The stories of the neverending story of King Vikramaditya and Vetal on his shoulder, is something that intrigued me and in each issue, Vetala, in order to prevent the king from fulfilling a vow, posed a typical catch-22 question to king Vikramaditya, involving a moral dilemma. The wise king answered correctly, and was thus defeated by Vetal, forcing the king to capture him all over again, and again. A magazine in the humorous vein which stood up to its name was LotPot, a Hindi comic magazine which had two brothers one fat (Motu) and another slim (Patlu), who were shown being involved in silly plots and were shown as idiots. The supporting characters with them were Master Ghasita Ram and Dr Jhatka. Another character was Chacha Chaudhary, who became legendary. There were other comic strips too in it, like Jasoos Chakram and someone, if I remember correctly, called Chirkut. My Bengali roots also found sustenance in a magazine called Sandesh, which, under Satyajit Ray, the eminent film maker, and his son Sandip Ray, became one of my favourites. By now, I was writing stories and poems myself and I was inspired by the tales of Feluda and Professor Shonku, penned by Satyajit Ray himself. The thriller stories and other science fiction tales such
as Mr Banku’s Friend have stayed in my mind till today.
Children’s World The magazine which was my favourite for a very long time, which had excellent stories, articles and literary pieces was Children’s World, a children’s magazine founded by K Shankar Pillai, a well known cartoonist and which became a forum for writings by children, budding as well as established authors. The magazine had its beginnings in the Shankar’s International Children’s Competition, an event conducted by him, and in 1968, he had decided to publish the entries to the competition in a weekly magazine which became a monthly in March 1972. The illustrations were beautiful and the serial stories of adventure fanned my desire for good literature. I contributed to it often and got my first taste of being published in print, thanks to Children’s World. I would wait for it with impatience and would hug it to my heart as I saw my name printed in beautiful black letters under a short story or poem. Today, as I write my own short stories and novels, and plan my first children’s adventure novel, I cannot help thinking that I owed a lot to these magazines. They taught me that to write for children, one has to be one with them, have fun rather than instruct, be absurd at times rather than logical, be audacious rather than politically correct and infuse the stories with a certain timelessness that will take one’s breath away.
Monika Pant has authored several series of English course books. Her short stories and poems have been published in various collections, including the ‘Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul’ series.
My favourite The children’s magazine which I like the most is Children’s Digest. This magazine caters to the varied interests of children in a distinctive way. The ‘Catchy quotes’, ‘Great lives’, ‘This and that’ and ‘What a word’ are some columns that are a favourites of parents as well as teachers. The ‘Thought for the month’ and the facts given in ‘Do you know’ and ‘Did you know that’ provide information about things we are familiar with but still don’t know that well. Since I became a regular reader of Children’s Digest I came to know ‘How the Banyan tree was chosen as India’s national tree’ and about the great scientist Sigmund Freud. The ‘crossword’, ‘Slylock fox’, ‘Try it’, ‘True or false’ type of puzzles and ‘Fun with words’ make the children put on their thinking caps. ‘A leaf out of literature’, a part of famous classics gives an overview about the book and creates interest in children to read. In every way this magazine is a hundred pages of treasure and each page is a gem.
z Kaveri V Resource Centre In-charge DPS Coimbatore APRIL-JUNE • 2013
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W
e all know Jaipur is called the Pink City, and that it is Rajasthan’s capital. But do you know this city is the venue for one of the world’s largest literature festivals? Since 2005, every January, the Diggi Palace hotel has been hosting the Jaipur Literature Festival, or JLF. This annual event is the initiative of an organisation called the Jaipur Virasat Foundation. What makes this festival so big and beautiful is the number of eminent writers it sees every year and the huge crowds that throng the lawns of the 18th century palace, to see them involved in animated discussions. The latest edition of the event saw about 300 authors as participants and 150 poets, musicians and dancers, and about 2 lakh visitors in just five days!
In the past of couple of years, Jaipur Literature Festival had the presence of some of the world’s best writers and eminent personalities. These include Booker winner JM Coetzee, Tibetan leader Dalai Lama, media personality Oprah Winfrey, scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins, thinker Steven Pinker, Jnanpith Award winner Mahasweta Devi, eminent writers Salman Rushdie, Pico Iyer, Ruskin Bond and many more. What more could lovers of literature ask for! Apart from focussing extensively on literature in English, the festival also highlights works in languages such as Bhojpuri, Maithili, Rajasthani, Santhali, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and many others. It celebrates the diversity of literature.
Blend of literature and tourism The Jaipur Festival is one of the world’s largest literature festivals z Radhika KTP
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Humble start It all started in 2005 in a very humble way. Two writers, William Dalrymple and Namita Gokhale, got together to form a platform for writers of all hues to come together and talk about their love – literature. They got in touch with their friends and fellow writers. But the first year saw only a few dozen people as writers and barely a hundred people as visitors. But people’s love for literature (and to talk about it like there is no tomorrow) kept the spirits raging. From a couple of halls, the festival has been expanded to six separate venues within the palace. Hear what Dalrymple has to say: “In 2006, we had a big enough crowd nearly to fill the Diggi Durbar Hall. About four hundred people came in 2007. But in 2012, we had 1,20,000 footfalls!” His words remind one of what Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) once said: “Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.” This passion kept writers and enthusiasts flocking to taverns, schools, halls and even meadows to talk about their love, meet new talent and enjoy the love of their readers. With the growth in
The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts Hay-on-Wye is often called the town of books. It is a small market town in Powys, Wales. The town, which has more than 30 interesting book shops, is located on the bank of the famous River Wye and falls within the Brecon Beacons National Park. It has become a pet destination for book lovers in the UK and abroad. The Hay Festival, held annually here, runs for 10 days, from the end of May to beginning of June. It used to be held at a variety of venues in the town, including the local primary school. But since 2005, it has moved to a big centre outside the town. Like the Jaipur Festival, the Hay Festival also includes music and dance events, and even film previews. It also has children’s festival called Hay Fever! The festival has become so popular that it now has several sisters in other parts of the globe, including Nairobi, Dhaka, Zacatecas, The Maldives, Beirut, Belfast, Cartagena, the Alhambra Palace, Parc Prison in Bridgend and Segovia.
printing and publishing, books became extremely popular and book festivals started becoming a happy trend. Today, several such gatherings are held around the world. And most of these events are witnessing a multitude of writers, publishers, reviewers, printers, book distributors, illustrators and common readers. Some of these festivals are really important, namely the Hay-on-Wyne festival in the UK, the Melbourne Writers Festival in Australia, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Indonesia, besides others. In 2013 alone, some 30 such festivals are to be held in South Asia alone.
Even in India, apart from the JLF, there are several small and big literary festivals going on throughout the year. Some important ones are: the Hay festival in Kovalam, Kerala; the Hindu Lit for Life festival in Chennai; and the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival. Even our neighbour Bhutan hosts an important literary festival – Siyahi’s Mountain Echoes literary festival.
DSC Prize
meetings quite frequently. Writers in languages such as Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam and Bhojpuri have been part of literary meetings like the JLF, even though they lacked the size and scale of the Jaipur gala. As part of the festival, there is another event that catches a lot of attention: the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. This $50,000 prize goes to the best writing from the South Asian region. The DSC Prize was instituted in 2010 by its founder Surina Narula.
In India, literary gatherings have been in existence for long. Several regional languages have had such
The Jaipur festival has become a pioneer in several ways. It successfully blended tourism and lit-
‘I don’t think so’ Any gathering of literary buffs is a venue of fun and frolic too. The Jaipur Literature Festival is no exception. Here, often, the most hilarious comments come from the sidelines. Here’s a sample: Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk visited the festival in 2011. His session attracted a huge crowd; mainly youngsters. A small group of students was also part of the crowd this time, but it appeared they were in the wrong place. When Pamuk started talking, the crowd started responding with laughter, encore and waves of claps. Observing the sweet commotion keenly, a little girl from the group asked her friend, “Who’s this guy?” “Looks like a big writer,” replied her equally enthused friend. But she was not convinced. “I don’t think he is a great, famous writer,” said she. “Why?” “Because I haven’t heard about him!” pat came the reply.
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Melbourne Writers Festival
than 10,000 attendees, and by 2012, this number has grown to about a lakh.
Ubud Writers & Readers Festival In 2013, this interesting festival from Indonesia celebrates its 10th anniversary. It is one of the most popular and renowned literature gatherings in Southeast Asia. This year, it will be held from 11-15
This festival started in 1986 in, as the name suggests, Australia’s Melbourne. A joint initiative between the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts and the city of Melbourne, this event has become a very important event in the city’s art life. Bali, as you probably know, has a historical connection with India and Hindus form around 90% of its population. It attracts hundreds of writers, publishers and people in the publishing industry. It also attracts several playwrights, poets, film script writers, media persons, lyricists and bloggers. The program includes discussions, readings, film screenings, interviews, musical performances, workshops and book launches. The event also focuses on writings and art from Australia’s various ethnic communities. Of course, there are several programmes for children as well! It’s getting more and more popular. In 1992, the festival saw more erature and showed heritage towns like Jaipur can attract revenues by marrying such art events with tourist objectives. Yes, Jaipur attracts a lot of tourists every year, and the literature festival has just helped the city make more money out of this increased flow of literary
October in Ubud, Bali. The main sessions are held at Left Bank, Indus restaurant and Neka Museum in Sanggingan in Ubud. There are other venues including The Four Seasons, Maya Ubud, Casa Luna and Alila. Most sessions are conducted in English, but there are several bi-lingual programmes, which feature Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia. This festival is also known for its children’s programmes. It hosts several creative programs for children and teenagers. tourists. So the next time you plan your holiday, book a slot for Jaipur in the month of January and make sure you do not miss the Jaipur Literature Festival. Radhika KTP is a science & technology journalist.
Inherited habit
I
can proudly say that I inherited the habit of reading from my father. He exposed me to his tin trunk stacked with Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie and the likes. When I was in the pre-primary grade, my aunt gifted me fairy tales with 3D images. This fascinated me as it transported me to a realm outside my imagination. Another great influence has been my grandmother who has been a teacher for over four decades. She firmly believes that
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a child’s best friend ought to be books. I was gifted my first story book by her when I was in the fourth grade. It was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. The black horse on the cover enchanted me so much that before I knew, I was already halfway through it. I vividly remember the characters of Ginger and Sir Oliver and the various masters that Beauty had to live under. But what is etched in my memory is the lesson that Beauty’s mother taught her which is very much the same that my mother doles out from time to time. I would like to conclude with some lines from the story which is very relevant in my
life because they are being drilled into me by my parents. ‘There are a great many kinds of men; there are good, thoughtful men like our master, that any horse may be proud to serve; but there are bad, cruel men, who never ought to have a horse or dog to call their own. I hope you will fall into good hands; but a horse never knows who may buy him, or who may drive him; it is all a chance for us, but still I say, do your best wherever it is, and keep up your good name.’ z Geet Sinha, 6 H, DPS Patna
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