JustBooks Connect - May 2011 newsletter

On April 23rd, UNESCO celebratedWorld Book and Copyright Day. My betis not everyone attended that party. Mybet is that even among myfriends and fellow-writers,there would have beensome arguments on thatfront. With Kindle, Googlebooks and Wikipedia,copyright (and copyleft) isone of the hotplate ques-tions of our day and itseems as good a time asany to bring it up.Copyleft is the opposite ofcopyright; it makes a par-ticular work free anddemands that all modifiedand extended versions ofthe program also be givenfor free. Works undercopyleft may be repro-duced, adapted or distrib-uted. In his book FreeCulture, which is consid-ered a seminal work of thecopyleft, free culturemovement, lawyer andpolitical activist LawrenceLessig points out that before the Internetcame along, culture was bifurcated alongthe lines of free culture and commercialculture. The former included plays, story-telling, poetry recitation, mixing tapesand so on; the latter was art made andsold commercially. Then the Interneterased or blurred the lines between thetwo. It provided a space where free andcommercial could overlap and intermin-gle. Big media felt a need to nose in. Andmore and more, that part of culturewhich was earlier free came under the

purview of the law and commercial regu-lations. "The technology that preserved thebalance of our history-between uses of ourculture that were free and uses of our culturethat were only upon permission-has beenundone," he says. Lessig goes on to outline the many dan-

gers of copyright and restrictive access. Itwithholds information from people whodon't have the means to pay for it. In cer-tain cases such as academic journals, thisis harmful for, say, cancer patients whohave no way to access what is going on interms of cancer research. But it is alsoharmful for the scholars themselves whoincreasingly feel they are writing only foreach other. As a result, academiabecomes a claustrophic and narrow spacewhere nerds talk only to each other in alanguage that only they understand.

Let me pull the copyright question closerto home. To writing. As a poet, I'm awareof the perils of art. It's a precarious occu-pation. In some cases-like English poetryin India-it's not an occupation at all. Thatis to say, it demands the same time andeffort that an occupation would but does-n't somehow garner the status. 'But whatdo you really do?' is the question everypoet faces at some point. Would I not liketo earn some money from books. Ofcourse, I would. Do I want to give mywork away for free? Not really. At the same time, I can't imagine living

CONNECTDid You Copy that? Pg 9

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Volume 2 Issue 3www.justbooksclc.comblog.justbooksclc.com

May 2011 For limited circulation

A JustBooks Publication

contd on pg 2...

Anindita Sengupta

2 JustBooks Connect - May 2011

From the Editor’sDesk

Today books and reading are asimportant as they were before.Hence it becomes imperative that

books are accessible and available toone and all and book reading is encour-aged.

This is where the importance of WorldBook and Copyright Day, which is cele-brated on April 23rd of each year, comesin.

The World Book and Copyright Day iscelebrated to promote reading, publish-ing and protection of intellectual prop-erty through copyright.

The future of books and the copyrightissue concerns all of us-readers, writers,publishers.

In this e-books and e-readers erawhere we have wikis, blogs, and freedownloads available, this day alsoemphasises on the importance of andadherence to copyright laws and othermeasures to protect intellectual proper-ty through copyright.

For year 2011, UNESCO suggestedthat during the events organized on thisoccasion special attention be given tothe evolution of book production, fromwriting to digital, their complementari-ty and future challenges.

One other interesting event that hap-pens on this day is the selection of aWorld Book Capital City.

World Book Capital is a title bestowedby UNESCO to a city in recognition ofthe quality of its programs that promotebooks and foster reading. The designa-tion runs from one World Book andCopyright Day to the next.

Buenos Aires was the World BookCapital for year 2011, whereas Yerevan(capital of Armenia) is named as the2012 World Book Capital by UNESCO.

Lastly, as you must have noticed thisyear JustBooks is expanding like neverbefore. And it's bound to reflect inJustBooks Connect too.

From this edition onwards, JustBooksConnect will be of 16 pages. This meansmore content for you to read, and moreways of making connection with you forus.

We encourage our members to con-tribute to our reader's section and availthe free reading fee offer. Do tell uswhat you think of this edition and sendus your feedback to [email protected].

As always happy reading!

without free access tothe hundreds of jour-nals now available onthe Internet.

They allow me toread poetry fromaround the world.Mostly, they're free.Richard Stallman whofounded the GNU freesoftware system usedcopyright law to build aworld of free software.

Software licensedunder the GNU PublicLicense can be modifiedand distributed freely,provided the newsource code is alsomade available for oth-ers, a sort of pay it for-ward logic. Perhaps,the same applies here.Poets publish in onlinejournals, usually with-out payment, becausethey're happy to be ableto read other poetsdoing the same. Free culture is growingevery day. Wikipedia, avolunteer-run encyclo-pedia, contains over 15million entries in morethan 270 languages andis among the 10 mostvisited websites on theplanet. Recently, theInternational MusicScore Library Projectcreated waves when tra-ditional music publish-ers started taking alarmat its growing archive of 85,000 classi-cal music scores. Working on the sameprinciples as Gutenberg or Wikipedia,IMSLP adds several thousand scoreseach month.

It is run by volunteers, completelycrowd-sourced and loose about miss-ing pages and copyright issues.Publishers are worried that nobodywill buy music scores if they are avail-able for free. The same could apply towriting. But it's also important to think aboutthis: when I read a little of somebody'swriting for free, chances are that I willbuy more if I like it. Which is exactlywhy some artists give away some oftheir work for free and require pay-ment for the rest of it. Somewhere between the barricades ofAll Rights Reserved and the detritus ofNo Rights Reserved, there is a middle

path. Creative Commons, for example.creativecommons.org develops softwarethat allows people to choose their ownlicenses. These licenses "provide simple,standardized alternatives to the "all rightsreserved" paradigm of traditional copy-right". There are problems here too andthese are being debated hotly.Whatever the outcome of these thank-fully bloodless wars, copyright is cer-tainly one of the burning issues of thedecade. As writers and readers, weneed to think about how free-or not-wewant our content to be and what we'rewilling to do for that.

Sources:Free Trove of Music Scores on Web HitsSensitive Copyright Note, NYTimes.com, 22February 2011 ; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/arts/music/22music-imslp.html.Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig, 2004;http://www.free-culture.cc/freeculture.pdf

contd from pg 1...

The book gives a blow by blow account ofthe last phase of Indian independencestruggle: starting from the day Louise

Mountbatten is offered the job as the last Viceroyof India to the fateful day of Mahatma Gandhi'smurder and his funeral. Though the authorshave visibly tried to be impartial, the whiteman's burden gets in to their view and the localcharacters are portrayed unfairly at times.

None of these though obstruct the flow enough to cause ebb ininterest. This book is a must read for anyone interested inunderstanding the more-bitter-less-sweet dynamics prevalentin Indian sub-continent and highly recommended to everyonewho loves reading.

Freedom at MidnightLarry Collins & Dominique LapierrePenguin

Bihag Bhatt

Inspector Singh Investigates: The SingaporeSchool of VillainyShamini FlintPiatkus

Mark Thompson, a British lawyer isfound murdered in his office. InSingapore the murder of a "foreign

talent" as expat professionals are called, is avery serious matter as it can seriously tarnishSingapore's reputation as a safe business cen-tre. The police would prefer to limit damagewith a quick resolution of the case. But the

meticulous, lumbering Inspector Singh cannot be hurried. Allthe characters - the present and ex-wives of the victim as wellas each of his colleagues have plausible motives for murderand each lead the portly inspector into the dark underbelly ofthe life of the privileged in Singapore. In his pursuit of thekiller the plodding Inspectors also proves that sharp minds arenot antithetical to layered girth and sweaty armpits.

Geetanjali Singh Chanda

Chai, Chai: Travels in Places Where you Stopbut Never Get OffBishwanath GhoshTranquebar Press

When I first heard the name of this book,I expected it to have a connection tointercity trains in India. But on read-

ing Chai, Chai one will find that journalistBishwanath Ghosh (now an assistant editorwith Times of India in Chennai) offers muchmore than that. It is a collection of delightfulanecdotes of his train journeys and short visits

to certain towns across the country. And it also has some interesting and perhaps little known facts

about these small places which are actually important junctionsthat make the lifeline of Indian Railways. It is not an exaggera-tion to state that the subtitle of the book, Travels in Places WhereYou Stop but Never Get Off captures the essence of its contents ina nutshell.

Pushpa Achanta

Profit ZoneAdrian J. Slywotzky & David J. MorrisonThree Rivers Press

Many companies who focus on grow-ing their market share first and prof-its later, struggle to make profits.

Profit Zone presents stories of businesseswho succeeded by focusing on sustainableprofits before expanding their market share.

It is important for businesses to own con-sumer relationship, create uniqueness and

follow the value than volume to reach and remain in the profitzone. Written in an engaging and easy to read style, the bookreached the best seller's list . The authors provide inspirationand insight on making profits for entrepreneurs and all thoseresponsible for profits of their businesses.

Manjula Sundharam

The Greatest Show on EarthRichard Dawkins Bantam

We marvel at the complex beauty of lifeforms and the web of ecosystems. Thesheer elegance of a cheetah or the

beauty of a peacock tempts us to imagine thehands of a master designer, God. But what isthe evidence for creationism? Should it betaught in schools anymore? The theory of natu-ral selection provides a cohesive, simple andelegant explanation supported by excellent evi-

dence- from artificial selection while breeding domesticated ani-mals and plants, fossil finds and developments in cellular andmolecular biology. Dawkins marshals all these beautifully toargue his case for banishing the creationists from schools.

Dr. Rajagopalan

Where the Serpent LivesRuth PadelHachette

Rosamund is a bored, disillusionedhousewife stuck in an unhappy mar-riage with a philandering man. They

have not shared a bedroom for years. Theirson Russell has retreated into a cocoon of dis-gust and dope. Rosamund's struggle toemerge from her fugue is padded to novellength by some reasonably interesting detailson India's forests, the lives of serpents, factsabout wildlife conservation and a climactic

twist that involves dangers, both animal and human. Padel isprecise, powerful and tender when dealing with the animalworld. At the end, one feels as if one has gorged on beautifulphrases and been left unsatisfied.

Anindita Sengupta

JustBooks Connect - May 2011 3

For detailed reviews check out justbooksclc.com


Finding her musical notesBook Review

This is anauto-biog-r a p h i c a l

effort relating tothe author'sefforts at learningmusic from amaster. Howeverit is more of abiography of the

musical icons of the Hindustani musicsince Namita has kept her role to a mini-mum. This book is about DhondutaiKulkarni, a little known Hindustani clas-sical singer and her life. It covers over 100years of musical heritage relating to theJaipur gharana. Even a musical novicelike me (I can appreciate great music, butcannot understand the intricacies) wasable to get a lot of enriching informationrelating to the world of music.

Namita Devidayal is a journalist withTimes of India, Mumbai. She was educat-ed at Princeton, New Jersey. This bookwon the Vodafone Crossword PopularBook award for 2007 and was named anOutlook book of 2007.

The book starts with Namita's mothertaking her to Dhondutai's house to learnmusic. Namita is not exactly excited athaving to go to shady Kennedy Bridge.

In their first meeting itself, Dhondutai,while making tea, talks about the need tothink about the number of people whohave worked hard to bring the tea to thetable. The grower, the plucker, the pack-er, the milkman, the gur maker and so on.Namita is fascinated by the positive atti-

tude of the three old ladies sharing asmall apartment and is slowly won over.Now the music lessons start.

Namita talks at various points in thebook the special aspects of learning musicand the differences between Hindustani(Indian) and Western music.

The importance of Guru-Shishyaparampara in which the Guru passes onall his or her knowledge in a leisurelymanner, which is the base of learning ofIndian music, is brought out beautifully.

The book is sprinkled with beautifulanecdotes from historic musical figureslike Tansen, Haridas and contemporarymusicians like Chaurasiya, Dagar broth-ers, Omkarnath Thakur and so on. Thereis a beautiful explanation of the idea andprofundity of the Ragas. At various

stages in the bookmany Ragas arebrought into the dis-cussion and a briefexplanation is avail-able as to the nature of the Raga andwhen it is sung. Bhairavi and Bhoop arethe Ragas covered in depth.

There is a nice episode on Namita ask-ing to be taught a two-note taan and aftermastering it Dhondutai tells her "This isnot a Satyanarayan Prasad to be distributedfor free. You will only reveal this to your stu-dent". This emphasizes the importancegiven to the Guru-Shishya parampara.

The two major musical figures who arecovered in depth are Alladiya Khan andKesarbai Kerkar. The first is the foundingfigure of the Jaipur Gharana and the sec-ond is a tempestuous and haughty stu-dent of Alladiya Khan. In turnDhondutai, who is a much mellower fig-ure, learns from Kesarbai.

The contrast between the music teach-ers is brought out very well. Namita is

accepted by Dhondutai quite easily whileDhondutai herself has to struggle a lotbefore she is accepted by Kesarbai who inturn learns from Alladiya Khan.

While Alladiya Khan and Dhondutaiare quite ready to accept the disciplesKesarbai is reticent and makes Dhondutaiwait a bit.

The tumultuous happenings at BabriMasjid during December 1992 arebrought to life through a wonderful gath-ering of musicians of different faiths atDadar, the hotbed of Shiv Sena politics.Surprisingly the 1993 riots in Mumbai aregiven the miss. Namita has not made anyattempt to paper over the deep-rootedprejudices which exist betweenMaharashtrian upper class and lowerclass or other faiths. On the other hand,

the contribution of Islamic musi-cians to Hindustani classicalmusic is very revealing and thewonderful manner in which thetwo religions work together isdepicted informatively.

The transformation of the rela-tionship between Namita and

Dhondutai, whichstarts as one between amaster and a reluctantstudent and endsalmost like a mother-daughter bonding, isbrought about slowlybut in a warm andbeautiful manner.

What Namita learnsis not just music butlife in general, themusical history andthe greatness of the

masters of the past.The language of the book is not flowery,

as many Indian authors tend to lapse into,but simple and common-place. Thisseems to have been deliberately done byNamita to make sure that the essence ofthe book is not lost amongst language dif-ficult-to-understand.

The book has received critical acclaim.However the fact that it can be read,understood and appreciated by a person,who would not understand the differencebetween a two-note taan and four-notetaan, means that the book has achieved itspurpose.

This book is an excellent musical biog-raphy without resorting to high-browtechnical stuff. Do not miss this one. Yourlife will be enriched when you read it.

Y. Ananthanarayanan

The Music Room

Namita DevidayalRandom House

The transformation of therelationship between Namitaand Dhondutai, which startsas one between a master and areluctant student and endsalmost like a mother-daughterbonding.”


Book Review

It's a very different Kashmir the readerencounters in Chef, Jaspreet Singh'sslow and steady record of the harsh-

ness of military life in Kashmir. TheKashmir here is beautiful but bar-ren and evoked more through itsfood than through a descriptionof its beauty. Kip, as Kirpal Singhis better known, is the son of awar hero whose body vanishedinto the Siachen glacier after aplane crash. "An officer's son willalways become an officer," says ChefKishen, Kip's mentor in the novelbut Kip chooses the kitcheninstead, though he has been puton a fast track to promotion.

There he is coached by Kishenin the nuances of food and sex.Kishen teaches Kirpal about cook-ing both Indian and internationalcuisine and also teaches him togive food its due honour.

Kishen is eccentric and philo-sophical in equal measure and acharacter you remember from thebook even though he is somewhatloathsome. "Before cutting a toma-to, give it the reverence it deservesand ask: Tomato, what would you liketo become? Do you want to be alone?Or do you prefer company? Apricot,what would you like to become?Would you like to become more thanyourself in the company of saffron?"

Such instructions aside, Kip, who is dis-tracted with a 20-year-old's constantobsession of finding a woman, leads asomewhat lonely and silent life in thecamp. He is also a keen observer of themany unavoidable intricacies of armylife-from the officer's flirty wife to thearmy's dinner diplomacy with religiousclerics.

As Kishen moves to Siachen after hesees Kip's interest in the hospital nurse heshares a past with, Kip gets more respon-sibility and understands much of the pri-

vate scandals that permeate the armylife.

Kip goes back and forth betweenmemories as he returns to cook for

the ex-General's (now Governor)daughter's wedding.

He is an ill man now with a tumourgrowing inside his brain and this is ajourney both for demanding answersand his own personal redemption afterhis resignation 14 years ago.

Rubiya, the General's daughter has aPakistani fiancé and the Generalbelieves the wedding cuisine requires atouch of Kirpal's magic to smooth the

relations. Kirpal on the other hand has hisown personal agenda for meeting theGeneral and his daughter.

The Siachen Glacier looms large in thenovel, both in Kirpal's mind as it took hisfather and in the sequence of events.Despite the serious issue it unravels (i.e.,corruption and abuse among army topbrass), Chef remains a lyrical novel thatmoves along in a slow pace, much like alovingly, slow cooked meal. Innovativelyenough, Singh uses the difference incooking styles to show the futility of warbased on religion as India and Pakistan

clash in the border. "There is aHindu Rogan Josh and a MuslimRogan Josh," he says. "Over the yearsI have developed my own recipe, aRogan Josh inspired by these two greattraditions."

As a Sikh, his loyalties lie withIndia but he is able to have a

dispassionate view of the Indo-Pakwarfare and its history. Gradually,as he encounters the 'enemywoman' who has floated acciden-tally to India and is suspected to bea terrorist, he is instructed by theGeneral to find out her every secretby getting close to her.

Kip falls in love with her, ques-tioning his own sense of right andwrong, morality and justice whichare given a severe shake. It alsoshows the extent to which the armywill go to get information about theenemy.

Years later, as Kirpal travels backto Kashmir and encounters Rubiya,

the General's daughter, he seeks answersto a few questions he has always hadregarding Irem, the 'enemy woman' andfinds them, leading the novel to a shock-ing yet not surprising end that hints atthe rot that affects our country's defenceservices.

Kashmir is a tricky topic to write on butSingh manages to infuse Kip with a muchneeded detachment throughout the book.It makes him a great observer and givesthe book an ambiguity that is often leftupon the reader to interpret. His writingis simple yet rather lyrical, especiallywhen describing Kashmir.

Reshmi Chakraborty

Chef: A Novel

Jaspreet SinghPenguin

All is fair in love and food

During the 60'S, 70's and 80's,much of the Tamil populationdispersed across Indian cities

had one thing in common-the love forreading serial stories by well-knownauthors. Tamil stories serialised in mag-azines used to be a rage then. Tamilmagazines like AnandaVikatan, Kumudam andKalki dominated the sceneoffering a plethora ofoptions to upcoming writersto show casetheir writingtalent.

Be itMumbai orPune or Delhior Nasik orBengaluru,readers rel-ished readingthese storiesand discussing them withtheir friends and neighbours.Similarly Chitralekha was amagazine in Gujarat thatmade serial stories a house-hold affair whereas Balamitra was apopular Telugu magazine specificallyaimed at children.

The moment of suspense came whenthe serial story was about to end. Fordays, the possible ending of the storywould be discussed! Popular writerManian's serial stories in AnandaVikatan, most of which, revolvedaround middle class families and theirstruggles to meet both ends meet, wereimmensely popular. Well known writerSivasankari's story "47 days" made theTamilians paranoid.

The story detailed the travails of aninnocent girl called Visalam who mar-ries a Tamilian boy settled in the USonly to discover that the boy hasalready married an American woman.Visalam ends up becoming an unpaidhousemaid in her own home butmusters up the courage to escape whenher husband becomes barbaric.

People exchanged magazines witheach other and there was a time whenhousewives finished their householdchores early to read through the maga-zines in the afternoon.

Many Tamilian households also had

this practice of tearing off the pages ofthe serial stories and binding them as abook for reading at a later date and pre-serving them for posterity.

Once upon a time, short stories seri-alised in Doordarshan carried a hardhitting message too. Doordarshanbroadcast Hrishikesh Mukherjee's won-derful tele-serial called "Darpan". Everyweek, a story by a famous regionalwriter was translated as a one-episodeserial. Then came Manju Singh's great

serial, "Ek Kahani" on similarlines.

Two short stories stand out inmy memory. The first one - an

adaptation of aSindhi story- isabout a man whovents out hisoffice frustrationson his wife andchildren day afterday. Ostensibly,his boss is givinghim a hard time.Eventually, under

counselling advice, he buys apair of punching bags and everyevening, he lets out his anger onthe punching bags after cominghome. He is much more relaxednow.

The second one was about a dark andpodgy Bengali girl. She gets married toa handsome young man, who finds itdifficult to consummate the marriage.

Patient and sincere, the girl diverts herattention to prayers. Eventually, theman thaws and realises that inner beau-ty matters the most and this culminatesin a happy ending.

However today, our households arehooked onto the idiot box to watch oneT.V serial after the other.

Magazines still exist; but they hardlycarry any serial stories; even if theycarry one, you are not sure how manywill actually read them. In this bleakscenario, there is a ray of hope.JustBooks has some wonderful books intheir collection. We may not be able torecreate the past but we can certainlyrelive the past by reading such books.


Reader’s Contribution

Reading is a simple, relaxing andenjoyable way for parents tospend time with children. It is an

excellent way to bond and show themthat they are important to us.

The summer holidays are the perfecttime to encourage your child to read,and what better way of doing that thanbecoming a member of a library.

JustBooks has provided a much-need-ed 'oasis' for 'thirsty' readers of NaviMumbai! I have been a member of thelibrary since they opened in Nerul inMay 2010. It has been exciting to seetheir collection growing each month.Recently, the library has also begunorganizing storytelling sessions onSunday mornings.

My daughter is an avid reader andenjoys visiting the library each week.My son, who is a beginner reader, alsoenjoys reading thanks to inspirationfrom his sister and the family.

Before the library was established, weused to hang out at the mall. But now, ifthe children are bored, they want to goto JustBooks to browse and borrowbooks.

Visiting the JustBooks library is anouting the entire family looks forwardto.

Mrs. Vidhya Venkat, Nerul, Navi Mumbai

Reader’sVoice

G Venkatesh

G Venkatesh lives in HAL stage IIIand works for a private firm in IndiraNagar. Reading has fuelled his cre-ativity all these years, he also writeswhen he has the urge to share histhoughts with others. He is a strongvotary of the logic that - "Knowledgealways give you the edge".

Ah! The Joys of reading... have youever had the snug feeling ofbeing tucked up on a

cold wintry day with a book inyour hands and a hot beverageto go with it? There is nothingmore pleasurable than engag-ing in the simple pleasures oflife that one gets by readingbooks.

In recent years, with theadvent of television and theinternet, reading books hastaken a backseat though thefaithful continue to insistthat books are the realMcCoy and everythingelse comes second. Thepleasures and joys ofreading are unmatchedand though one needs toengage with the booksthat one reads unlike thecompressed attentionspans and reduced con-centration that medialike TV and the internetfosters on us, it is notnecessarily the casethat reading a book isonly for the greyhaired intellectualswith thick glasses.

For instance, theHarry Potter seriesby J.K. Rowling is widelycredited with bringing a renaissance inthe art of reading among kids though itneeds to be seen if this is a one off won-der or an enduring passion.

As the internet has revolutionized theway we communicate in this digital age,the invention of the printing press byJohannes Gutenberg in 1440 was one ofthe turning points that was pivotal inushering the Enlightenment era that lift-ed Europe out of the Dark Ages. Tillthen, knowledge was passed down oral-ly and through edifices.

The printing press made the acquisi-tion of knowledge accessible to one andall and this is how the saga of the read-ing as a habit began to take hold.

The rest as they say is history and weare now at a threshold where we need torekindle (no pun intended) the reading

habit among the children of today if weare to progress and evolve. Though read-ing as a habit needs initiation and a bitof hand holding, there are instanceswhere people have taken to books likeducks to water (the so-called self taughtpeople) without any external help.

It isthe duty of parents andelders in the family to teach children toread widely and deeply to succeed inthis uber competitive knowledge age.Knowledge is power and the emergingparadigm requires that one is knowl-edgeable in one's areas of expertise aswell as an engaged with the world with-in and without if one wants to succeed inthe globalized world economy. Morethan anything else, books hold a mirroronto ourselves and let us introspect in acritical manner. This leads to develop-ment of self and personality to tackle themyriad challenges that life throws up atevery stage.

Reading as a habit can be cultivated atany age though the proverbial early

bird catching the worm is a truism for

many who start reading books youngand grow old with books for company.However, this is not to dissuade adultsfrom reading and as recent trends show,a book that captivates one's imaginationcan convert even the diehard pessimistinto the faithful.

What we need is a kind of HarryPotter phenomenon for adults as well

where an enterprisingauthor comes up withan innovative idea thathooks the adults too likeChetan Bhagat or chick-lit? Reading books can beundertaken as a compan-ion in journeys or tospend one's weekends in aquiet and relaxed manner.

What better way toescape the concrete

jungle than to pick up abook and lose one in the tra-vails of the main charactersrelating to them as onewould to our family mem-bers? By the end of the book,it would be hard to saywhether one has read thebook or the book has read us.

Book readers come in differ-ent varieties and though somemight insist on finishing a bookin one setting, there are otherswho take their own sweet timeto complete the book.

The point here is that like onewalks on cloud nine after watch-ing a movie or a play in a theatre,books can similarly make one feeluplifted and what better, they canshow a path to the reader to mullover and think about long after the

book is read. Reading books as a habit has some-

what taken a beating in recent years dueto various reasons.

However, all is not lost since the pub-lishing industry has evolved with thetimes and is rolling out innovative strate-gies not only to "Catch them young" butalso to convince the adults as well. It isin this context that the pleasures of read-ing need to be told and repeated to oneand all to welcome as many as possibleinto the world of delights of reading.And as Joe Ryan said- There's nothing tomatch curling up with a good book whenthere's a repair job to be done around thehouse.


Discovering the joys of readingRam Mohan Susarla

As we see it

Apicture is worth a thousandwords. Is that why almost everybook irrespective of its genre has

at least a few pictures or illustrations?What purpose does a drawing or photo-graph serve? Well, it can depict the sub-ject of the book or some facets of it tofamiliarize the reader with it.

For example, an autobiography cancontain one or more photographs of theperson, members of her or his family,ancestral home or town and other per-sons, places orevents connectedwith the individual.Fictional work like amurder mystery or aromance might nothave any illustra-tions at all. Theobjective of animage is to comple-ment or supplementthe text but notreplace it. Unless it'sabout photography,painting or othervisual art formswhere words areminimal.

Or it's a picturebook for kids - onewhere the illustra-tions primarily narrate a story or conveysome information. Actually, books forchildren are perhaps incomplete withoutdrawings or graphics.

Comics featuring Asterix and Obelix,Peanuts, Dilbert, The Phantom et al haveall gained immense worldwide followingacross generations and even inspiredfilms, theme parks and merchandise.

They are essentially fictional works thatpresent their story through multicoloured pictures or black and whitedrawings and text.

In India, the well known ones are theAmar Chitra Katha series (literally

meaning Immortal Picture Stories) thatnarrate myths, legends, folk tales, historyand parables through colour illustrationsand words. Launched in 1967 by the lateAnant Pai along with India Book House,they have been fairly sought after espe-cially by kids.

But some of the publications were criti-cized for stereotypical and regressive rep-resentations of gender and caste. There

are abridged, graphic versions of interna-tional cultural epics, literary classics,adventure novels and many other sub-jects produced particularly for a youngaudience.

Classics Illustrated anthologieslaunched in 1941 in the United States aregood examples. One can also find booksof fiction like the Sherlock Holmes or theDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde series in similarformats.

Graphic Works

Graphic novels emerged as a distinctgenre a few decades ago although

they have probably existed for much

longer. Will Eisner apparently catego-rized his first book A Contract with Godand Other Tenement Stories (BaronetBooks, October 1978) as a graphic novel toimpress a busy executive at BantamBooks.

He is sometimes credited with popular-ising this modern classification. The dustjacket and introduction to RichardCorben's Bloodstar (1976), adapted fromRobert E. Howard's story had the phrase"graphic novel".

The earliest known citation of the words"graphic novel" was by Richard Kyle inCapa-Alpha #2 (November 1964), ComicAmateur Press Alliance's newsletter.

Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor'sTale (1972-1991, Apex Novelties, RAWMagazine, Pantheon Books), a memoir ofthe author's Holocaust survivor father,Vladek Spiegelman, is a graphic narrativedepicting Jews as mice and Germans ascats. It is the only comic book that wonthe Pulitzer Prize. Persepolis (2000,

L'Association, US: Pantheon Books) aFrench autobiographical comic byMarjane Satrapi portrays her childhooduntil her adolescence in Iran during andafter the Islamic revolution.

Drawn in black and white, the graphicnovel gained popularity and was ren-dered in many languages. MarvelComics' brought out collections ofCaptain Marvel, Spiderman, DoctorDoom, etc. and DC Comics' producedCatwoman, Batman, Superman antholo-gies, in print and digital versions.

Similarly, tankobon, dedicated book-sized volumes of the Japanese mangacomics sell greatly in Japan and have

influenced charactersin Taiwanese andSouth Korean car-toons. Further, theyare released inFrench, English andon the Internet.

All these demon-strate the range ofbooks with visualcontent having awide appeal. SarnathBanerjee's Corridor(Penguin, 2004), waswidely advertised asIndia's first graphicnovel.

However, Delhibased artist

Orijit Sen's sixty pagecomic, River ofStories (Kalpavriksh,

1994) about the Narmada Dam controver-sy, is considered an important precedent.Chennai based Blaft Publications enteredthe graphic novel arena with GeorgeMathen or Appupen's Moonward (2009).

Graphic novels are also called comicnovel, picture novella, trade paperbacks,etc. by marketers or critics like the writerAlan Moore or the cartoonist Seth.European and Japanese graphic albums,adopted the label to designate artistically"serious" comics.

Book CoversIrrespective of a book's theme, its cover

matters much. Small wonder that special-ized artists and designers decide its front,rear and inner look. Most books have animage outside and behind with theauthor's photograph inside.

That the legendary film maker andfamous children's writer Satyajit Raydrew and designed all his works reiter-ates the value of pictures in a book.


When words come alivePuspha Achanta

Musings

Arecent report in the media has many people voicing theiropinion that the sales of digital books in India is expected topick up in coming months but that will not impact the afi-

cionados love for hardcover books as has been the case in the West.Foremost are the opinions of Kapish Mehra, MD, Rupa & Co, who

does not see iPads or Kindle book readers replacing the hard copy. A similar view is echoedby Vivek Mehra, MD andCEO, SAGE Publicationswho opines that it is verydifficult to believe that dig-ital books will replacepaper books.The strongest votary ofbooks, Chairman and CEOof the Penguin Group, JohnMakinson says "The idea ofthe book dying comes up allthe time which is wrong.Books matter more in Indiathan anywhere else we publishthem."Consider all of the abovewith this prediction by Forrester Research: 2010 will end with $966million in eBooks sold to consumers. By 2015, the industry will havenearly tripled to almost $3 billion, a point at which the industry willbe forever altered.Some interesting statistics too:1. where 7% of online adults who read books read eBooks. But that7% happens to be a very attractive bunch: they read the most booksand spend the most money on books.2. The average eBook reader already consumes 41% of books in digi-tal form. Oh, and that includes the people who don't have aneReader yet, which is nearly half of them. For those that have aKindle or other eReader, they read 66% of their books digitally.


1. World Book and CopyrightDay is celebrated on:May 1stApril 23rdMay 23rd

2. World Book and Copyright Day isorganized by:UNICEF World BankUNESCO

3. Whose death anniversary coincideswith World Book and Copyright Day?CervantesLord ByronRabindranath Tagore

4. World Book and Copyright Day was first celebrated in:192619952000

5. What does World Bookand Copyright Day pro-mote?Publishing.Reading.All of the above.

JUSTBOOKSJUSTBOOKSTOP 5TOP 5

NNEWEW AARRIVALSRRIVALS1. Deliverance by GauriDeshpande2. The Sly Company of PeopleWho Care by RahulBhattacharya3. The Vague Woman’sHandbook by Devapriya Roy4. The Nowhere Nation byAshok Mitra5. From the Brink OfBankruptcy by Vinay BharatRam

RRECOMMENDEDECOMMENDED1. Fugitive Histories by GithaHariharan2. Never Let Me Go by KazuoIshiguro3. Salim Must Die by MukulDeva4. The Buck Stops Here byAshutosh Garg5. Incoming! by Ted Nield

RRENTALSENTALS1. Only Time Will Tell by JefferyArcher2. And Thereby Hangs A Tale byJeffery Archer3. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown4. The Red Pyramid (The KaneChronicles)by Rick Riordan5. 2 States: The Story Of MyMarriage by Chetan Bhagat

1.April 23rd 2.UNESCO 3.Cervantes 4.1995 5.All of the above.

WWiill ll ee--bbooookkss rreeppllaacceebbooookkss??

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


A Day of ReckoningEveryone knows

about them. Most ofus dream of getting

into it. Some get a calland a select few get in.

We have all heardabout the (in) famousstarting packages and thetop-jobs offered at IIMs.We also know theamount of pressure andpain inflicted on students.But neither of these is ona student's mind on theday of his graduation ashe walks the ramp.

It's a pleasure to watchthe sea of studentsdressed in convocationrobes of different colorson a convocation day.Pride glows on the stu-dent and parents' facesalike, as they watch theirward walk towards thepodium.

This is the day whereall their efforts culminate.This is the day when allthose sleepless nights, tough subjects,surprise quizzes and intense prepara-tions come to an end. This is the daywhen one of the most premier institu-tions in the country recognizes theirachievement and gives credence to theeffort they have put in.

2011's ceremony at IIM Bangalore wasits 36th Annual Convocation and waspresided over by Mukesh Ambani,chairman of IIM, Bangalore and KapilSibal, the current HRD minister.

While Mukesh was given the painfuljob of distributing certificates to about450 students, Kapil had the job of hand-ing out awards to toppers. Handing over450 certificates is no short order. Nameswere being called out in rapid order;students would barely shake Mukesh'shands, smile at the camera and walk off.Even then after a point of time, onewould start losing count of how manyhad already walked.

While it can be argued that the pres-sure on students to pass examinations atIIMs is quite high, the outcome seems tojustify the means. It's almost impossibleto pass by mugging up syllabus or hav-ing photo-graphic memory.

For whatever they are worth, eachsubject needs to be understood by itsconcepts, to be able to tackle the exam

questions.Each student is almost ready to take

on a corporate job by the time they com-pletes the course, having understood theunderlying principles and experiencedreal-life scenarios.

IIMs also take the role of tuning a stu-dent's psych towards a corporate job.Students get accustomed to unusualworking hours, tight deadlines and peer-pressure. No wonder top InvestmentBanks and FMCG companies like P&Gprefer hiring their next generation lead-ers directly from campus and never takelaterals.

Apart from the business knowledgerequired to sustain in the corporate

world, a major benefit a student derivesout of such institutions is networking. 5years from hence, people who passedout from a single batch will be in suchwide and varied fields that just main-taining contact between them can turnout to be extremely profitable in whatev-er domain they are.

Many have taken the literary route andgiven us a peek into what goes onbehind these IIM walls.

Karan Bajaj's Keep Off the Grassdepicts the struggles and coming of ageof an immigrant, while facing pressureand extreme competition in an IIM envi-ronment. Joker in the Pack by Neeraj

Pahlajani and Ritesh Sharma puts forth asimilar story of a boy next door, whodreams big and pursues a career in man-agement, before becoming disillusionedand questioning the choices he hadmade.

Love, a rather bad idea by AnirbanMukherjee gives us a taste of campus

politics and details how experiences inIIM can change personalities.

Then there are also those who discard-ed the conventional path and choose tomake a difference in lesser known areas.Rashmi Bansal describes 25 such peoplein her book Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.People who chose to be entrepreneursthan taking up a high paying corporatejob. Some of them became social entre-preneurs, which meant working forsocial and public causes for very less oralmost no money. Their stories willinspire more graduates to take theuntrodden path.

The hope that our IIMs graduate willdo well not just in investment banks andFMCGs but also contribute to our publicsector and policies, will be alive till suchbrave graduates exist.

As for the IIMs, they will continue tooccupy a place among India's most pre-mier education institutions as long asthere are top-jobs on offer and excellenceis on demand.

On the bandwagon


Lost in time

Sewell's book, which was a pioneer-ing venture in his time, still enthrallsthe reader. He modestly comments

on his own work by saying "The resultwill perhaps seem disjointed, crude and unin-teresting but let it be remembered that it isonly a first attempt." The apology is totallyunwarranted as it is one of those rarebooks on history, which is written so wellthat it is as absorbing as a novel.

The first chapters of the book, whichruns to nearly 200 pages is Sewell's ownaccount of the origin of the Empire, itsearly kings, the growth of the empire, adetailed study of Devaraya I and II of theearly 15th century, and the city ofVijayanagara in its early years.

The second half of the book is a trans-lation of the accounts of Domingo Paesand Fernao Nuniz, two 16th centuryPortuguese travelers who spent sometime in Vijayanagara and have leftdetailed accounts of the many facets ofthe empire.

In the preface the author tells us howthe manuscripts were found in Paris andhad been sent from Goa to Portugal andsomehow landed up in the Bibliothequein Paris. His methodology in the first partof the book is that of describing anaccount of an event by one foreign travel-er and then comparing it with that givenby another traveler and finally, whenpossible, verifying the data through astudy of inscriptional sources.

All this sounds rather pedantic but theauthor manages to communicate hisenthusiasm for the subject and takes uson a journey of unraveling the mysteriesof the empire and his style is that of tak-ing the reader along with him.

The journey with him as a guide andtranslator is a romantic journey of discov-ery, of seeing say Krishna Deva Rayathrough the eyes of Domingo Paes, whowas actually present in court. He high-lights the nature of political intrigues and

commercial maneuverings in the rela-tionship of Vijayanagara kings with thePortugese in Goa. The importance of thehorse trade is emphasized and the domi-nance of this trade by the Portugese madethem intrepid players in the game ofpower.

He stops in his telling of the story todraw our attention to yet another versionof the same story. Duarte Barbosa, acousin of Magellan, has left a descriptionof the capital in the beginning of the 16thcentury and his version sometimes dif-

fers from another person's telling of thestory. The author gently brings out thesediscrepancies. .

The heartrending drama of destructionis told in the style of a Greek tragedy.

"The plunder was so great that every privateman in the Allied army (i.e. the confederationof the Deccani Sultans) became rich in gold,jewels, effects, tents, horses…" He adds"This was not a defeat merely, it was a cata-clysm". "Never perhaps in the history of theworld has such havoc been wrought andwrought so suddenly on so splendid a city;teeming with a wealthy and industrious pop-ulation in the full plenitude of prosperity oneday, and on the next seized, pillaged andreduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage mas-sacre and horrors beggaring description"(p.173).

While the author is very sympatheticto the rulers of Vijayanagara, he

balances his account by often quotingFarishta, who had a definite slant

towards the Muslim courts as he wasemployed by one of them. He was thecourt historian of Adil Shah of Bijapur.

Sewell's account is based on the writ-ings, apart from those of the two

Portugese eye witnesses mentionedabove, of the Italian traveler NicoloConti, who visited India during the reignof Devaraya II of Vijayanagar and ofAbdul Razzak, who was a Persianambassador and also visited the court ofDevaraya II. Paes was a visitor at thecourt of Krishna Deva Raya, (1509-1530),

the greatest king of theVijayanagar Empire.

The second part of the book isa sensitive translation of theeye witness accounts of Paesand Nuniz. The discreet andshort footnotes make it easierfor us to understand the narra-tive as these writers hadstrange spellings for names ofpeople and places such asBisnaga for Vijayanagara, usedby the Portugese, while theRussian Nikitin calls itBichenagar and Conti refers toit as Bizenaglia and so on.Where the account becomesunintelligible, the author givesan editorial footnote, whichcomes as a welcome relief tothe general reader.

Since Sewell's book, numer-ous tomes have been written onthe Vijayanagara Empire and

equally plentiful works have been pub-lished on the city of Hampi, its art andarchitecture.

The writers have contributed theirexpertise to the state of art, literature,music, administration, religious life, posi-tion of women, patterns of feudalism andthe claim of Vijayanagara kings to bedefenders of the faith of Hinduismagainst Islamic onslaught, and have dealtwith many more subjects relating to theLife and Times under this medievalempire.

Sometimes, they have pointed out fac-tual errors in Sewell's writing.Nevertheless, this book, though writtenwell over a hundred years ago, stillretains its own special flavour. It has, ifanything, improved with age, like selectvintage wine, for as any wine connois-seur knows, only few wines improvewith age, and only a few of these accrueany significant value.

Dr. Rajeshwari Ghose

A Forgotten Empire, (Vijayanagar):A Contribution to the History ofIndia

Robert SewellIndyPublish

Portrait of a Vanished World

Italo Calvino was the most-translatedcontemporary Italian writer at thetime of his death. Calvino started off

writing realist novels but came into hisown in allegorical novels that skillfullytwined fantasy, fable, history and story.The turning point came in 1965 when hepublished Cosmicomics, twelve fantasticstories that take off from scientific factsand muse about the creation of the uni-verse, man, society.

The multi-layered worlds in his booksfree the reader. His stories are playful butnot self-indulgent. Meaning is notobscured by text. It is made to explode inresplendent ways. Reading Calvino is abit like watching fireworks, full of unex-pected whorls and colours.

Jeanette Winterson credits Calvino withfreeing up post-war fiction from socialrealism (The Sunday Times; May 7, 2009).His brave and experimental short fictionin Invisible Cities (1972) has influencedgenerations of writers. Written as a con-versation between an aging Kublai Khanand explorer Marco Polo, the book con-tains 55 prose poems, each one describinga different, imagined city that Poloreports on.

Each city is fascinating on its ownterms, lends new ways to look at the waycities function, what we make of them,

what we need from them. Each cityalso lends itself to metaphorical read-

ings. Take this descrip-tion of Armilla:

"The fact remains that ithas no walls, no ceilings, nofloors: it has nothing thatmakes it seem a city exceptthe water pipes that rise ver-tically where the housesshould be and spread outhorizontally where thefloors should be: a forest ofpipes that end in taps,showers, spouts, overflows.Against the sky a lavabo'swhite stands out, or a bath-tub, or some other porcelain,like late fruit still hangingfrom the boughs. You wouldthink that the plumbers hadfinished their job and goneaway before the bricklayersarrived; or else theirhydraulic systems, inde-structable, had survived acatastrophe, an earthquake,or the corrosion of ter-mites." Armilla is a cityreduced-or streamlined-

to its most basic needs. Then the highly meta-fictional If on

a winter's night a traveler is about areader trying to read a book called Ifon a winter's night a traveler.Alternate chapters are written in thesecond person telling the reader whathe is doing in preparation for readingthe next chapter. Even-numberedchapters are single chapters fromwhichever book the reader is tryingto read.

Calvino explores the relationshipbetween reader and writer, amongother things and the carefully struc-tured novel is like a mathematicaldance. If all of this sounds heavy, thefault lies in my description becauseCalvino's writing reflects one of hiscore values, that of lightness.

Which reader hasn't felt that senseof defeat (even as there is excitement)as he or she enters a bookshop,knowing that a majority of booksmust remain unread? Calvino looksat this familiar situation with sharphumour. Calvino was a strong contenderfor the Nobel Prize but never received it.This matters little when one looks at hisbody of work and feels a bit like the hap-less reader in his book, knowing thatthese are ‘Books That You Must Read

Before You Die’ if you are to feel that youhave known enough of life.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.orghttp://www.guardian.co.uk http://www.des.emory.edu


Italo Calvino (1923-1985)

Anindita Sengupta IN A NUTSHELL

Born in: A small suburb ofHavana, Cuba.Raised in: San Remo, Italy.Parents were: Botanists, travelersand experimenters, secular, paci-fist.In childhood: he felt like a misfitbecause of his love for literatureover science.Studied: Agriculture to please hisfamily; later, literature at theUniversity of Turin where he didhis thesis on Joseph Conrad.Day jobs: At a publishing house;as a journalist.At 21 he joined the ItalianResistance for 20 months of fight-ing in the Maritime Alps.Politics: Was a member of theItalian Communist Party but theSoviet invasion of Hungary disillu-sioned him and he left. He wasdeeply affected by Ernest CheGuevara.Married: Argentinian translatorEsther Judith Singer (Chichita) in1964 in Havana.Lived most of his life in: Paris.First book: The Crow Comes Last(1949), a collection of stories basedon wartime experiences.Major Works: Cosmicomics(1968), Invisible Cities (1972), andIf on a winter's night a traveler(1979). Also wrote: Essays and Lectures.Influences: Cesare Pavese, Kafka,Mann, Borges; the Oulipo Groupincluding Roland Barthes, GeorgesPerec, and Claude Lévi-Strauss.Awards and Honours: HonoraryMember of the American Academy(1975); Austrian State Prize forEuropean Literature (1976); FrenchLégion d'honneur (1981).Other Interests: Film.


In Focus

In this article, we introduce to youanother proud JustBooks franchiseowner, Mr. Shekar Krishnamurthy.Mr. Krishnamurthy has been run-ning our HSR Layout franchise inBangalore. HSR Layout has justcompleted one year of its operationsand it services the reading require-ments of more than a thousandmembers. Here Mr. Krishnamurthyshares with us his life experiencesinside and outside of JustBooks.

Tell us a little bit about yourself andyour familyI was born and brought up in Bangalore.After finishing my 10th std. in aBangalore school, I took up my first jobat the age of 16 yrs. Later I did B.Comthrough correspondence.

I worked for the next 31 years, mostlyin Accounts and Finance departments,later I moved to commercials. In com-mercials, I handled various areas likeoperations, procurement, merchandising,warehouse manager, training, new ware-house set-up, etc.

My Wife, who hails from Hassan,Karnataka, works for E&Y in Bangaloreand our 16-year old daughter has justcompleted 1st PUC.

What were you doing before joiningJustBooks as an employee?As I mentioned above, I started my careerat the age of 16 yrs in Coorg where Iworked for 3 years as an Assistant DepotManager. Then I relocated to Bangaloreand for the next 25 years worked in theAccounts and Finance areas. Later I got an opportunity to serve thehealthcare service sector.

How was your experience withJustBooks as an employee?I had never heard of JustBooks before Imet Mr. Sundar Rajan (Founder MD ofStrata Retail) at Whitefield. I got anassignment for two months to complete adocumentation process, after whichSundar gave me an opportunity to join inas Senior Commercial Manager. And thisway I became a member of JustBooks

family. I resigned in Oct 2010 on my ownand started the HSR Layout franchise on19th Feb 2010.

Why and how did this franchise optionhappen?Two years before joining Strata, I wasthinking of becoming an entrepreneur.My job did not give enough satisfactionthough money was not a problem. Manyoptions were explored right fromGrocery shop, Stationery shop, pharma-cy, fancy and gifts stores, door delivery ofmedicines, etc. But there is always riskinvolved in any business. Hence I wasreluctant to choose an option.

While working in Strata, one of my wellwisher suggested taking up a JustBooksfranchise. However, initial capital invest-ment was a worry for me.

After working for 3 months, I under-stood the franchise concept well and triedfor smaller format franchise (1400 sq. Ft)which meant low capital investment.And that was it!

How has been the customer response toJustBooks as a concept & your library, inparticular?The concept was well accepted and alsomuch appreciated. The need for such alibrary was expected by HSR Layoutcommunity.

What do you think will be a great addi-

tion in terms of value toyour existing members?Timely delivery of request-ed books and availability ofwide category of books willbe helpful to our existingmembers.

How much of time do youspend at the JustBooks out-let personally? Howrewarding is the experienceof interacting with yourmembers?Initially I used to be theredaily, but once the librarygot established I needed togo twice or thrice a week.Our members are happywith the service, most of themember interactions arerelated to questions onwhen the book will bereceived after they haveplaced a request for it.

What kind of books do you read person-ally? Who are your favourite authors?I read mostly Kannada books. T.K RamaRao is my favourite author.

What is your advice to book lovers whowould like to turn entrepreneursthrough JustBooks?Like any business this also needs initial

investment. But the smaller format makesit possible for those who want to start anddo not have much starting capital. Thereis no repeated investment required.Books need to be replenished frequentlyhence there is no hassle of investing oninventory. The library software is period-ically updated. Overall this is goodchoice for those who are looking for achange from monotonous job profile tosomething new.

We then talked to one of JustBooks'members from HSR Layout and this iswhat he had to say:"Many congratulations on having com-pleted a year. My family is very happywith the exceptionally good service youhave provided and also at the large andstill expanding collection of books youhave. Hope that you continue and bringin more books for us to leisurely borrowand read. Thank You, JustBooks"—Shouvonik Sengupta

Ravi Kumar

Getting on board

Everyone knows about World WarII, the war which is more knownfor the infamous atomic bombing

of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But fewpeople will remember that the Japaneseattempted to invade Britain-occupiedIndia during this world war. During theearly stages of the invasion, the Japanesesurged forward, taking several impor-tant cities like Burma and Imphal, meet-ing little or no resistance from the tribalsliving in the forests until the Britishswung into action and sent in forces tostop the Japanese from reaching theplains. The tribals were the ones whosuffered the most due to this invasion,facing heavy causalities in the intensefighting between these two powers. Oneday a Japanese battalion led by anaggressive and proud colonel known asShunroku Mori attacked one village andmassacred all the tribals living there,suspecting a British unit to be hidingthere. Among those killed was a boy,called Uti, who was the Ao tribal chief-tain's grandson.

The group of armed runners, racing infrom the west with a message from anold man to leave the village quicklyarrives three hours too late.

It was the evening of 18 March 1944.Uti's grandfather vows revenge and

declares a private tribal war on theJapanese and sends a party of hand-picked men to track down and kill Mori.The story's central character is GojenRajkhowa, Uti's best friend who helps togather information, proving that Moriwas behind the massacre. Naturally, dueto his young age and the amount of riskinvolved with the mission, Gojen isbarred from joining the attacking party,but Gojen had been trained in the waysof hunting by the tribe along with Utiand he is a not only an adept sharp-shooter but an incredible strategist too.Before long, Gojen sneaks out of hisgrandfather's-a wealthy plantationowner-house and catches up with thehunting party.

The mission is extreme as it involveshunting down Mori, the Japanese cam-

paign's leader. The tribals have to trans-verse difficult terrain, avoid the fightinggrounds and sneak through theJapanese lines. The hilly terrain com-pounds the problem as hiding places areaplenty. And Mori is no hard soldier,ready to fight on the frontlines, butrather he is more concerned about hisown personal safety and has ensuredthat he is well hidden and protected onall sides.

Read on to find out how this interest-ing tribal campaign winds up.

The Grasshopper's Run is SiddharthaSarma's debut novel, which was pub-lished in 2009. He hails from Guwahati,Assam and is currently based in Delhiand works for Outlook Money. Afterthis novel, he has gone on to write twomore-103 Journeys Voyages Trip andEast of the Sun.

The story is very interesting as it isbased mostly on real-life events, namelythe war. Most of the things in the novel-the Japanese generals and troop move-ments described are true. The only fic-tional addition is the tribal campaignagainst Mori and Mori himself. Hence, itcan be said that this story derives mostof its success from its non-fiction foun-dation which people are more likely tobelieve and understand in the story. Theproblem in the story is largely in theviolence involved - not violence in gen-eral, but how it's portrayed to the reader- grisly deaths of soldiers as they fell tobullets are described in much too detail.

The description of how Gojen and histribal friends carried out their mission isalso very realistic and never goes overthe top in terms of events and happen-ings in the story and is a part of thenovel's overall appeal.

Just Kids14 JustBooks Connect - May 2011

The Grasshopper's Run

Siddhartha Sarma

Age group: 12-17 yrsPages: 200Scholastic

JustBooks Picks for Young ReadersDaddoo's Day Out by Prabhjot Kaur

Lion on the Loose by Paro Anand

Who will Rule? by Meena Raghunathan

Kaleh and the SingSong Castle by RizioYohannan Raj

It's Graduation Day! by GraceMaccarone

Awful End by Philip Ardagh

A Killer in Kathmandu by SatyajitRay

Gulla and the Hangul by MariamKarim

Chip of the Old Blockhead by RupaGulab

Jayanthi Harsha

Few post-modern writers excite asmuch adulation and criticism asPaul Auster. He is known for his

meta-fictional writing which involvesstories within stories. The New YorkTrilogy, a trilogy of detective novels islauded for its ambition and style and likemany of his books, it is difficult todescribe or summarise. In the first book,City of Glass, a man called Quinn gets acall one day. The caller wants to speak tosomeone called Paul Auster. Quinndecided to pretend to be Paul Auster.And so it begins. You get the picture.

Bizarre accidents, mind games, unex-pected twists and a denouement thatoften reveals everything to be suspectare often part of Auster novels. Hisbooks have been accused of being for-mulaic. Eighty percent of a typicalAuster novel proceeds in a mannerindistinguishable from American real-ism; the remaining twenty per cent doesa kind of postmodern surgery on theeighty percent, often casting doubt onthe veracity of the plot (Wood, 2009).

The fact remains that Auster's particu-lar brand of surrealist suspense makeshis books gripping. Identity, isolationand death are just part of the heady con-coction. In Man in the Dark, AugustusBrill is a man in his seventies who isfighting insomnia, grief and paralysis. Toescape from his current hell, he invents adream (nightmare) life: a story about aman called Brick who wakes from a deepsleep to find himself in the middle of anew American Civil War. This sense ofsymmetry, of worlds within world, istypical of Auster. In Book of Illusions, a

literature professor namedZimmer has (again) recently losthis wife and two sons in a planecrash. He becomes an alcoholicand watches television for daysuntil an obscure silent film starcalled Hector Mann reachesthrough the fog in his brain. Hedecides to find all of Mann'sfilms which have been archivedat museums around the world.What begins as an obsession spi-rals into intrigue, further com-plexity and a maze of eventsboth confusing and fascinating.

In many of his books, the proseis easy to read, pacy even. Onecan read an Auster much as onewould read a mystery novel. Thelanguage is lucid though certainbooks like Invisible have beenaccused of playing to rarefiedappetites with their references toLacan, Mobius Strips andFrancophilia (Broun, 2009).There's no doubt that Auster'snovels are driven by their the-matic concerns and picking upone without being interested inthese would lead to a poor expe-rience. The many layers of iden-tity, blurring realities and theimportance of chance are whatAuster grapples with time aftertime. The universe of thesebooks is uncertain and hazy.There are no pat answers and you canexpect to come away feeling slightlybewildered or like too many knots havebeen deliberately loosened rather thanneatly tied up. But for those who enjoyambiguity in their fiction, it is this ele-ment of teasing that makes it slightlyaddictive.

Sources:1. Broun, B. (2009, November 6). Who Reads

Paul Auster? Retrieved April 4, 2011, from TheSunday Times.

2. Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Auster

3. Wood, J. (2009, November 30). ShallowGraves. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from The NewYorker.


Paul Auster (1947 - present )

Anindita Sengupta

in a nutshell

Born in: Newark, New Jersey.

Raised in: South Orange, New Jersey.

Parents: Jewish and middle class, Polishdescent. Father was a furniture salesman,later a property speculator.

Studied: Columbia University.

Day jobs: Translator of French writing.

First book: The Invention of Solitude (1970).

Major Works: The New York Trilogy (1987),Moon Palace (1989), The Music of Chance(1990), The Book of Illusions (2002) and TheBrooklyn Follies (2005).

Also writes: Essays, memoirs, screenplays,poetry.

Lives in: Brooklyn, New York.

Influences: Montaigne, Shakespeare,Cervantes, Charles Dickens, Dostoyevsky,Tolstoy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Franz Kafka,Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Celine, F ScottFitzgerald, William Faulkner.

Awards and Honours: 1989 Prix FranceCulture de Littérature Étrangère for The NewYork Trilogy; 1990 Morton Dauwen ZabelAward from the American Academy of Artsand Letters; 1991 PEN/Faulkner Award forFiction finalist for The Music of Chance; 1993Prix Médicis Étranger for Leviathan; 1996Bodil Awards - Best American Film: Smoke;1996 Independent Spirit Award - Best FirstScreenplay: Smoke; 1996 John WilliamCorrington Award for Literary Excellence;2006 Prince of Asturias Award for Literature(received in previous years by Günter Grass,Arthur Miller and Mario Vargas Llosa); 2006Elected to the American Academy of Artsand Letters for Literature; 2007 Honorarydoctor from the University of Liège.

Shweta Krishnappa,a practising advocateat the high court ofKarnataka, conduct-ed a reading sessionfor kids with puppetsat JustBooks ,Malleshwaram

Kids are known to loveand enjoy storytelling sessions since

time immemorial. By readingstories to my daughter Irealised that she enjoys thebooks with some animals,adventures, exciting soundsand those filled with fun.

I found the appropriatebook titled Good Fun Farmwritten by Ian Whybrow andIllustrated by Jonathan Allen.I imagined that using pup-pets and making it an inter-active story reading sessionwould enthuse the youngminds of children further.

So one evening with mybag filled with puppets alongwith my little assistant RiyaSuhas, my four year olddaughter we went toJustBooks, Malleshwaram, tomake reading fun for kidswith the use of hand pup-pets.

We were welcomed by agroup of enthusiastic childrenwith gleaming excited eyeswaiting with eager anticipa-tion for us to enter a world offun time.

I initiated an ice-breakerstory about good and badbugs and had the childrenhammer the bad insect with awhacky laughing soft toyhammer. After this the chil-dren were at ease to interactand be a part of the storyGood Fun Farm.

A couple of children volun-

teered to help me enact theroles of the animals in thestory by using the hand pup-pets.

Since the story had all thefarm animals the childrenwere most confident makingthe respective sounds of theanimals. I narrated the storywith the kids trying to enactthe roles of the various ani-mals and how the animals ofthe farm wanted to have funand not do the same boringthings every day. So the ani-mals discovered "Football" agame that all the animals

could play at one time havingloads of fun.

With the children assistingme and giving me the back-ground scores of sound cou-pled with the use of handpuppets-the reading of thestory Good Fun Farm becamea frolic fun time for one andall.

Doing things togethermakes it more exciting andrejuvenating and that's what Itook home after the storyreading session with the chil-dren at JustBooks,Malleshwaram.


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When its all about good funJustBooks Events

JustBooks Connect - May 2011 newsletter

Education

Transcript of JustBooks Connect - May 2011 newsletter