JustBooks Connect (May-June 2012)

As you watch the mercury reachthose dreaded heights you lookfor an escape. Escape into a cool-

er drier climate where you can forget theheat for a while. And probably many ofyou do get to make these lucky escapes.But what about the rest who have tobrave the heat, dust and sweat of ourtypical Indian summer? What are thechoices before you? Endless visits to themonotonously similar malls, movie halls,food joints?

Wait — maybe there is another option.If you cannot ‘beam’ yourself physically,like Captain James T. Kirk from the StarTrek series, you can at least transportyourself mentally into another sphere,another land or another planet. By read-ing, of course! For it is reading that offersus this unique opportunity to sit hereand yet imagine ourselves somewherefar beyond.

So brace yourself, go out in the heat toyour nearest library or a bookstore andlose yourself in those books. And if youneed moral support to help take that firststep, here’s what a few other childrenhave to say about reading and books:

“The first book that really made an impres-sion on me was a book about a farmhouse byEnid Blyton,” recalled Krishnapriya whois in Class IX in Kendriya VidyalayaSchool, Jalahalli. “I could picturise thestory, it was so well described.” she added.For the entire time she was reading thatbook, Krishnapriya was ‘living’ in thatfarmhouse. She recently finished MyName Is Mina by David Almond. Andhow does she choose her books? “Oh Ijust browse around and if I find anythinginteresting I pick it up,” she smiles. Hermother, Sugandhi, a biology teacher atCluny Convent adds, “I let my childrenchoose their books themselves.”

Sharanya another Class IX student ofDelhi Public School, Yelahanka clearly

remembers Ghost In The Garden whichshe read when she was in Class III. Shewas so frightened that her mother had tosleep beside her for a few nights. LikeKrishnapriya, Sharanya too had literally‘transported’ herself to this garden andwas seeing the ghost! Sharanya can stillvividly remember the little girl in thebook who wore pleated skirts and balle-rina shoes and had a band in her hair. Asshe grew older, Sharanya enjoyed read-ing Nancy Drew and continues to readbooks for teens.

CONNECTI Know What You Are Doing This Summer

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Kids

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May-June 2012 For limited circulation

A JustBooks Publication

Continued on page 2

Jayalakshmi Chatterjee

2 JustBooks Connect - May-June 2012

From the Editor’sDesk

Enid Blyton’s Famous Five turned70 years old this past month.Generations grew up reading her

staple of Famous Five, Secret Seven, St.Clare’s, Five Find-Outers besides herother 800 books. I remember our sum-mer holidays spent in being immersedin Malory Towers and Famous Five.Sucking mangoes over hot summerdays, we had no inkling of a scone or anapple pie, what we loved was beingtransported to a cool, pristine, charmingEnglish countryside to solve a mysterywith little or no adult help.

Indian summers are still the same —holidays, heat and mangoes, in thatorder! We thought it will be fun to findout what kids are reading or planning toread during their summer holidays. Itwas interesting to note that kids arespoilt for choices these days. Each agegroup has its own favourite series orwriter and they are getting what theywant, thanks to JustBooks libraries.

And sure enough, Enid Blyton and allher books are still being read by vastnumber of kids. Partly perhaps becausekids these days do get to eat scones andapple pie. Overall, it’s heartening to seethat JustBooks’ kids are reading vora-ciously. It’s resulting in increasing con-tributions of poems, stories and bookreviews to our newsletter. May theirtribe increase as JustBooks remainscommitted to encourage the pleasure forreading and writing.

There are a series of summer eventsbeing organised in various JustBooksbranches, call your branch to participateand write to us about your experience atthe event.

Hope you like this summer edition ofJustBooks Connect. Send in your feed-back and contributions to [email protected].

Lastly, don’t forget to check out theApril-May edition of Books & More atyour JustBooks branch. We have someinteresting articles for young readersalong with recommended books.

Happy reading, eating mangoes and

beating the heat, in that order! n

Arjun is a very confident and articu-late student of Class XII, NationalPublic School, Rajajinagar. He remem-bers how from Class III he had made avow to himself to read 3 to 4 booksevery month! He now likes to readbooks by Dan Brown. “Have you seenthe movie theymade of his bookThe Da Vinci

Code?” I askedhim. “Yes, but itwas rather upset-ting how theymissed out the mostimportant part inthe movie: that ofthe brother and sis-ter meeting in theend!” he rued.

Atideepth is inClass VII at SriSri RavishankarVidya Mandir,Vidyaranyapura.He says heremembers hisfirst picture bookwhen he was one year old: that of ababy and an aeroplane (his mother,Geeta, suggested he had probablynoticed this when he watched videosof his childhood!). Atideepth is nowreading fantasy novels, such asHarry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and heplans to stick with fantasy for thenext two to three years.

All these children distinctlyremember one thing that reading didand continues to do for them: Itmade them happy.

The same happiness that lit upVinod’s 4-years old face when helooked at the pictures of ChhotaBheem, Raju and Chutki. As he waspointing them out to me from a comicbook, he was ‘there’ in that villageDholakpur with his friends.

And Likit, barely two-and-a-half-years-old, shared a smile as he gentlyfelt the fur on teddy’s ears from a‘touch and feel’ read it yourself book.

Happiness aside, what are the otherbenefits of reading? First and foremostyou get to learn new words, wordswith which to express your innermostdesires and fears. Your spelling tooimproves and you will find that youneed to refer less to your parent or

older sibling or even a dictionary tocheck if a word is spelt with an ‘s’ or a‘c’ every time you falter as you write.End result: you become more confidentas you learn to express your thoughtsfreely both in speech and on paper.And this is the best part of it all.

So what are you waiting for? Rush toyour nearest book-store or library andget started on thejourney of your life-time. And if youneed any pointerson what other chil-dren are reading,here is a sample:Rajiv Chilaka(Chhota Bheem

series) for the little ones, Jeff Kinney(Diary Of A Wimpy Kid), SuzanneCollins (Hunger Games), Rick Riordan(Heroes Of Olympus) for the fullfledged teenagers. Comics which cutacross all age barriers include Herge(Tintin) and Vic Bloom & BobMontana (Archies). (Source: JustBooks,Vidyaranyapura)

My all time favourites? JamesHerriot, the veterinary surgeon and theautobiographical stories on his animalpractice, Dick Francis, the jockey withhis novels on horse racing, JeffreyArcher the master storyteller and IsaacAsimov’s fascinating world of sciencefiction.

Convinced? Yes, I know what you

are going to do this summer! n

continued from page 1

While we shop forBritannia biscuits orGodrej appliances, seek

services from Apollo Hospitals orICICI bank or watch the youtharound us enjoy the programsfrom UTV Bindass, how many ofus are aware that they are allheaded by Indian women?

Despite personal tragedies suchas losing a parent, sibling, spouseor facing a physical disability at ayoung age, these women havemoved ahead with their dreams.

Corporate Divas talks abouteighteen successful Indian women who head varied companies,from sugar and chemical manufacturing plants to financial andlaw services firms. Author Sonia Golani, founder of a recruit-ment consulting organization and an experienced journalist,has engagingly narrated the personal and business stories ofthese women. Women, who are considered amongst the pow-erful women leaders in India and have withstood competitionin the global market. Their life stories provide an inspiration toaspiring business leaders and entrepreneurs. n

Pushpa Achanta

Living by the WordAlice WalkerPhoenix

Pamela Meyer has come outwith a very useful book.We must all realize that we

often want and help others to lieto us. But how do we protectourselves from lies which areconsequential? We can learn afew skills. We need to spot facialexpressions and body languagewhich indicate a mismatchbetween words and emotions ofthe liar. We must resist our urgeto ‘catch’ the liar red-handed andlearn to listen patiently — toboth what is said and not said.

It is quite a shock to learn the truth that we are lied to about200 times a day! The bulk of these are white lies — those harm-less ones we tell each other on how good we look or how cuteour neighbour’s kids are. They simply help make our socialinteractions pleasant. These are not consequential.

If you are involved in complex business negotiations or inrecruitment interviews, you could get several useful tips forimproving your performance. If you aspire to be an actor, youcan learn how not to create a ham scene in lying. n

LiespottingPamela Meyer St. Martin’s Press

Subir Ghosh

Non Stop IndiaMark TullyPenguin

Alice Walker is a PulitzerPrize-winning Americanauthor, poet and essay-

ist. At the same time she hasrelentlessly campaigned for therights of women, wildlife, peopleof African and Cherokee origin,the economically marginalized,persons with altered sexual ori-entation, et al. A person of multi-ple yet unique dimensions,Walker has written with prideand poignancy about her Africanand American Indian ancestors.

Walker is sixty eight years oldnow. She continues to enthral her followers and fans with thepower of the spoken and written word.

An evocative anthology of letters, verses, true stories, LivingBy The Word portrays many of these sides of Walker. Thepieces also show the depth and variety of this prolific writerwho seems to be able to connect with a vast number of readers.Among the essays is one where she discusses with great can-dour and some pain about the controversy that was stirred upby her highly acclaimed novel The Color Purple. n

Dr. Rajagopalan

Mark Tully’s Non StopIndia, which comes 20years after No Full

Stops In India, is a classic tome ofnarrative non-fiction. It is not asequel. This collection of essaystakes the narrative further.

Books by Indophiles make fortedious reading. They are usuallyunreadable and insufferable.Much as they try not to, they areinvariably condescending andtake the reader on a journey ofcultural tourism that Indian read-ers are never interested in. Such

books need to be read only to ascertain what perception out-siders hold of India. Mark Tully is an exception.

Tully takes the reader across India as much as he can (he lim-its himself to the north, east, and northeast) with his anecdotalstorytelling. The vignettes that he paints of India are those fromhis travels. Non Stop India can be seen as a classic textbook forold school journalism — he apparently does not take sides, helends voices to the people he meets, and provides just the opti-mal background that is necessary to understand the context. n

Manjula Sundharam

Corporate DivasSonia GolaniPenguin India

JustBooks Connect - May-June 2012 3

For full reviews check out justbooksclc.com


Bookish Pleasures, No ScaresMissing Fangs

Vlad III, 15th century Prince ofWallachia, commonly known asVlad the Impaler, was a fascinat-

ing enough character. His unremittingbattle against the Ottoman empire, hischildhood imprisonment in their campand his favourite form of execution —impaling people on stakes — have allmade him the stuff of both legend andhorror and inspired one of the greatestmythical beasts of all time: Dracula.Kostova is working with rich materialhere. Her years in the MFA program atUniversity of Michigan (where she appar-ently wrote the book) have also given herthe basics of structure and form. The

novel is lucid, competently written,smoothly combining its plot with folkoreand history.

The novel begins with a young girl whofinds a mysterious book in her father’slibrary. Her father, Paul, is an academicand diplomat, enigmatic and with the airof someone who is secretly tortured. Hisdaughter’s discovery sends him reelinginto his own past — as a graduate studentin the 1950s, he found a similar book andtook it to his mentor ProfessorBartholomew Rossi who revealed that hehad, in turn, found a similar book in hisyounger years. The book had unleashed aset of evil and terrifying events.

The book then is a powerful holder ofthings, a symbol that will carry the noveland serve as basis for some of its morecompelling moments. Later in the narra-tive, there will be a fight and a near-mur-der in an archival library, for instance,and the final revelation about

Dracula/Vlad will alsohave much to do withbooks and what theystand for.

With all this symbolismthrown in early on,Kostova is clearly tryingto write “a serious novel”,something she has spokenof in interviews. But formuch of the book, thestory unfurls too slowlywith indifferent revela-tions. The voices of thetwo narrators — fatherand daughter — soundtoo similar to make eitherof them very credible.Actually, Rossi as the1930s narrator, Paul, anOxonian don, his teenagedaughter and stray book-sellers in Turkey soundmore or less the same.The relationship betweenthe father and daughterseems hastily drawn (heis willing to take her trav-eling with him all overEurope and tell her horrorstories about her past buthas a problem when shegoes to the town’s publiclibrary by herself).Historical atmosphere is

flimsy and Kostova seems truly comfort-able with different eras only when she isdirectly including text from other places.Serious novel? I think not.

Given this, the least I wanted was agood yarn. Some reviewers have

compared the book to Dan Brown farebecause of the similar formulation of his-tory, mystery and suspense. Kostova’sprose style has more texture. The stretch-es in Istanbul and Budapest are arrestingby dint of location and she has a talent for

describing places, their mood andmoment. Her ruminations on theOttoman empire provide some interest.But the plot simply fails to hold it togeth-er. Even important moments in the bookfeel throwaway. A budding romancebetween Paul and Helen, a historianwhom he convinces to accompany him ona quest for the book’s origins, is so disaf-fecting that one can make a sandwich, eatit and watch television while glancingthrough their sophomoric efforts to nottouch each other. A teenage girl’s questfor her father, something that shouldarouse fear and sympathy, feels ho-hum.And the final twist, when it comes, hasnone of the shock that a dark story must.(Think Roald Dahl or even some of JoyceCarol Oates’ short fiction.)

Kostova is clearly fascinated withscholastic research — the people, theplaces (universities, archives, libraries),the process and the thinginess of thingscontained in books, papers, documents.This enthusiasm is infectious. At the endI was left with a longing for the dustyhalf-light of book-filled rooms, the pleas-ures of being able to choose from a cornu-copia of them. I spent the next few dayslamenting the lack of good publiclibraries. Is this enough to recommend abook that’s 500 odd pages, sways pendu-lously between being a serious novel anda horror story, and in the end, manages to

be neither? You tell me. n

The HistorianElizabeth Kostova

Little Brown

Anindita Sengupta

“Kostova is clearly fascinat-ed with scholastic research —the people, the places, theprocess and the thinginess ofthings contained in books,papers, documents. Thisenthusiasm is infectious.”


Epic tale

This book, a painstakingly-researched scholary work, is cer-tainly not an easy read but well

worth the effort. The Indian Mutiny of1857, in the perspective and rationale ofthe writer, has not attracted serious ana-lytical discourse. We don’t know therebels of 1857, their personalities or eventheir specific plans, as the author tells us.We know very little for example, evenabout leaders like Begum Hazrat Mahal,the courtesan turned Begum Sahiba ofOudh or Tantia Tope, the military com-mander of the Kanpur uprising. Thepaucity of material from the Indian sideis surprising considering that it was thelargest conflagration confronted by anycolonial power in the 19th century. Insharp contrast, tomes of material areavailable from the British perspective.

What the author has achieved in thisbook is to rectify this lack of informationto a small degree and has presented apicture of the city of Delhi, as it appearedto the diverse population of Dilliwallahs,while the so-called mutiny was in fullswing. This is a monograph on Delhiduring the days of the rebellion fromMay 1857 to December 1858. It is proba-bly the first subaltern account of themutiny, though it deals in ample meas-ure with courtly firmans and letters fromthe emperor and the elite of the thenDelhi as well.

Mahmood Farooqui, inspired by thework of William Dalrymple, The LastMughal and by the euphoria of the cele-brations of 150th year of the 1857 ghadar,set about to explore the hitherto unedited,untranslated and little noticed documentsin the National Archives Of India. Heconcentrated on the Urdu documentswritten in Shikastah (literally broken orcursive script). He tells us that he had toselect from over ten thousand documents,grouped under the rubric ‘Indian MutinyPapers’.

It is a story of the Dilliwallahs piecedtogether from letters sent to court as wellas petitions from the people, whichinclude requests from a butcher, aMughal prince, a tailor, a soldier, a harlotand many others from different walks oflife. These letters often besiege theEmperor to protect the common peopleagainst the looting and pillaging by thesoldiers, who were often deprecatinglyreferred to as Tilangs (rebels from theTelingana units of the East IndiaCompany). Merchants beg for order asthey are unable to pursue their trade.

The work is divided into distinct sec-tions. It provides a clear dateline of eventsthat took place in Delhi to make it easy tofollow the narrative. It then, as if in aplay, introduces the Dramatis Personnaebeginning with the Emperor BahadurShah (1775-1862) followed by theBadshah’s C-in-C, his Prime Minister andphysician, and the other actors, some ofwhom were also imperial princes.

Farooqui makes a subtle distinctionbetween a fight led by religious senti-

ments and a jihad or holy war. He refersto the recorded grievances of HazratMahal and Prince Feroz Shah, whoaddressed several secular issues such asequality before the law, favouringEnglish medium schools and supportingwestern medicine over the indigenoussystem, etc. and coupled them with reli-gious grievances.

However since much of the protestswere couched in religious vocabu-

lary, the revolt of 1857, left a strongimprint, in the words of the author, “on

the ways in which Indiawould come to be seen – as aconglomerate of two commu-nities, with other minorclaimants”, the two beingHindu and Muslim. Thereis little of this widely heldperception in the papersthemselves which aremore concerned with day-to-day administrativeuncertainties. The ideolo-gy and its interpretationsreflect post event specula-tions but the realities onground at the time justi-fies it being called aghadar (an uprising, may-hem, turmoil, confusion).

Having tried to put thepieces of the jigsawtogether, the authorleaves the reader withmany unanswered ques-tions. What was it thatmotivated the many tojoin against the British?How was even a mini-mum of administrationpossible without fundsand a central command?

Even if reading the book from cover tocover may be an arduous task, justglimpsing through the accounts and pick-ing and choosing to read a few docu-ments will reveal the multi-layeredresponses of the Dillihwallas to the greatghadar. The author’s introduction and thechapters which analyse these events pro-vide an interesting read. It is the rawmaterial of translated documents in theearly chapters that make the work a littledense. Changing the order of the chapters

would have made it easier to read. n

Dr. Rajeshwari Ghose

Besieged: Voices from Delhi 1857

Compiled and Translated byMahmood Farooqui

Penguin Viking

Trials And Tribulations

At one time or the other, most of usread for educational purposesand for reference. Not the reading

that we do as part of our education andprofessional work; but the reading toeducate ourselves about the latest hap-penings or whenever we need to look upsomething that comes across our way.The other type of reading many of us dois to while away the time by reading forfun and entertainment. This is the classicinstance of trying to read a pulp fictionbook or a comic or even the latest thrillerjust for unwinding over the weekends.

Now, if we compare and contrast thesedifferent kinds of reading, we find thatreading for education is something thatwe do occasionally whereas reading forentertainment and fun is something thatmany of us indulge in often. When wepick up the tome on architecture or homedesigning in order to redecorate ourhomes, we are indulging in reading forreference and as a means of educatingourselves about what is in and what isnot. On the other hand, we might just liketo stretch and sit back with our feet upand flip through a John Grisham orStephen Fry novel.

There are many who would nod inagreement with me when I say that weneed all types of reference and education-al books from time to time as getting toknow about a place, a monument or anevent in history would be difficult other-wise. Reading for educational purposescan be both fun and informational innature and one should not discount the

myriad uses that such reading can conferon people. There are many coffee tablebooks that come in regular intervalsabout one topic or the other and thoughsome of these are quite expensive, itmight be worth the effort to locate themin your library so that one gets a sense ofthe varied subjects that these books cover.

Having said that, I am not dismissingreading for entertainment as some-

thing that is inferior to other forms ofreading; what better way to while away asalubrious weekend or a holiday than torelax with a gripping novel. The way theauthors these days research material andprovide nuggets of information in pulpfiction makes one wonder whether read-ing for entertainment has ceased to be justfor fun and can be construed as a experi-ential experience as well.

Given the fact that the recent releases offiction haveinterestingand littlek n o w nd e t a i l sabout thef i n a n c i a lworld andthe wheel-ing anddealing inthe world ofb u s i n e s s ,reading fore n t e r t a i n -ment mightjust educate

oneself as well. So, for all you fiction fans,here is a piece of advice. When you pickup any of these thrillers or action packedmysteries, remember that you are alsobuying into the idea that such readingwould not be easy on your mind. Instead,what you get are fact filled books abouthow the world works and how the pro-tagonist navigates the treacherous andtricky world by surmounting all odds.

There is nothing in these books thatsuggests that they are for passing timealone. On the contrary, you might end thebook with an understanding of complexfinancial terms like swaps, futures andoptions that would otherwise have leftyou confounded.

Let me share my experiences in readingfor educational purposes vs. reading forentertainment. I have felt that when onereads for entertainment, the book can befinished in a few sittings stretching over afew days. I have done this by reading onmy way to work and by making time dur-ing weekday evenings as well. On theother hand, coffee table books and refer-ential books are like constant companionsduring the course of getting a particularchore or work done. For instance, if youwant to redecorate your house, you mightwant to look up the latest trends in interi-or designing or if you want to try out thelatest recipes of the master chefs, thesereferential books will come in handy.

Read and read widely whether it is forfun and entertainment or for educational

purpose. Carpe Diem. n


Types Of Reading

Ram Mohan Susarla

Musings


When the grand chef of the TajGroup of Hotels, HemantOberoi decides to put together

some of his best recipes, the result is TheMasala Art. In the words of the author,“Masala Art is the culmination of my travelsand experience in the global world of food. Ihave tried to incorporate timeless classics withmodern cuisines to create something delight-ful to the palate.”

Mouth-watering pic-tures of dishes withelaborate presentationstyle leave you in nodoubt that an experi-enced chef's hand wasinvolved. Some 70recipes (all with accom-panying pictures of thedishes) are spread oversoups, seafood, chick-en, lamb, vegetarian,rice and desserts. Theusual choices in Indiancookbooks, such aschicken tandoori, or dalmakhani or vegetablekofta, are conspicuous-ly missing, making youcurious about therecipes that did make it.And the ones that didmake it are for sureinteresting. Whether itis a simple ladyfingercurry with a twist ofsesame seeds andcoconut or a gulabjamun dessert wherethe gulab jamuns formthe pie filling, ChefOberoi does present an interesting mix ofdishes, both simple and complex. Thoughthe author insists that this book is a col-lection of recipes from all over the coun-try, North Indian cuisine contributes themost with just a few recipes from otherparts of India.

Written by a renowned chef, one wouldexpect basic requirements of a recipe tobe met such as time required for prepara-

tion (typically broken down into time forpreparation and time for cooking) and thenumber of people it would serve. ChefOberoi has evidently not stepped into atypical Indian kitchen in a very long time,given that he has his own kitchen studio.For example, an ice-cream makingmachine is not really something a typicalIndian household has lying around in thekitchen. The recipes are inconsistentthroughout the book; at times ChefOberoi goes to great lengths to translateeven basic ingredients such as ginger andgarlic into Hindi (not all the time), whileat times he does not bother to explainwhat ‘morels’, ‘haricot verte’ or ‘coulis’ are.

Some recipes are half-baked — read therecipe completely before attempting

them. A Masala tea ice cream in brandyschnapp cups recipe does not tell youhow to make the Brandy schnapp cups,but tells you to serve the ice cream inthem. A Gulab Jamun Brulee is servedwith caramelized castor sugar; unlessyou've seen it done before, the photo-graph is sure to leave you perplexedabout how to ensure that your presenta-tion matches the one in the book, becausethe author does not help you with any

hints whatsoever.

‘Prawn Idiappam rolls’ is another recipewhose presentation is bound to leave youawed yet wondering. Serving suggestionsare missing at places, so one is not quitesure if it is to be served as an appetizer orwith accompaniment such as roti or rice.

Priced at Rs. 795, with its hardboundcover, glossy prints of food, and writ-

ten by a ‘super chef’ (“who has fed primeministers and visiting presidents as well asHollywood and Bollywood celebrities and cor-porate heavy-weights”), one is bound toexpect better editing than what is pre-sented.

Chef Oberoi does succeed in helpingyou devour food with your eyes,although the same cannot be said aboutcooking the dishes given the gaps in thebook. But trying some of the recipes cansurely make you feel good going by theconclusion to Vir Sanghvi's foreword“these are the recipes to the dishes that makeIndia's best restaurants so successful.” Withits mix of recipes and photographs, it also

makes up for a good coffee table book. n

Indian Haute CuisineSecret ingredient

The Masala Art

Hemant OberoiRoli Books

Aradhana Janga

“Whether it is a simple ladyfin-ger curry with a twist of sesameseeds and coconut or a gulabjamun dessert where the gulabjamuns form the pie filling, ChefOberoi does present an interest-ing mix of dishes”

A ‘Thank You’ Note To JustBooks

I’d like to thank the JustBooks team from the bottom of myheart. When I shifted to Pune, I felt very lonely and bored. Iwas thinking what I could do next.

After wasting my first four months in Pune, I became amember of JustBooks in October 2011. During my collegedays I used the library the most. After so many years, Just-Books library is quenching my thirst for good books. I amproud to be a member of JustBooks.

I want to thank the team in Aundh branch for their pa-tience because I usually go with my one-year-old son. Heenjoys being there. He takes down all the children’s books,out of curiosity, and does try to keep it back with little suc-cess. Then I have to keep the books back. Sometimes I amnot able to do because of his naughtiness. Thanks for your

patience! n

Srividhya SreenivaasanAundh, Pune

Reader’sVoice

Will you be here tomor-row, Adityan? If yes,then we can all go to

the local library,” I asked. “I don’tknow, Aunty,” he shrugged. “Ifwe will be, then we will come”. Ididn’t correct him because I re-alised my scientific Adityan wasoptimising the use of words toconvey the meaning. And whynot, I wondered?

This obsession we have withthe proper use of nouns, verbs,adjectives etc. is self-defeating.Why do we need a languageafter all? To express and com-municate our innermostthoughts, passions, pain. Sincethe invention of first verbal andlater written communication bymankind I wonder when we me-andered into the path of obfus-cation and sometimes criminalmisrepresentation.

For those of us who have stud-ied in English medium schoolswe take pride in our grasp of theEnglish language. So did I. Till Ijoined UNICEF and startedworking with colleagues fromnations across the world.

I remember this American col-league, Carrie, who would typeon her computer at manic speedtrying to edit all the reports thatwere being sent to our Delhi of-fice. As the chief of UNICEFKolkata office she would leaveboth the doors to her room wideopen for staff members to ap-proach her whenever theywanted. And she almost alwaysspoke her mind, no diplomatictip-toeing.

For those of us who sat on thesame floor, it was extremely ed-ucative and entertaining. “Whatis this you have written in your re-port?” she would demand impe-riously. “It doesn’t meananything, these words. What doyou want to say?” and she wouldproceed to pare and shear thedocument much like a gardenerwith his lawn mower and clip-pers.

Why was Carrie so good atthis? Because she was brutallyhonest about what she wanted tosay and she would write exactlywhat she wanted to say. Shewould often remark, “Why? Whycan’t you say what you mean?What’s with you guys?” I wouldoften tell her, “It’s our educationsystem that doesn’t encourage di-rectness like yours. We tend to me-ander, use big words when smalleralternatives are possible. And thesystem encourages us to do this.”Hence I decided that I will let thekids express their thoughtsfreely, jumbled with verbs, miss-ing adverbs and all. Let themfirst learn how to communicateand then they can be initiatedinto the intricacies of the lan-guage so that they grow into fineadults who neither obfuscate normisrepresent.


Jayalakshmi Chatterjee

Reader’s contribution

Ms. Jayalakshmi Chatterjee, amember of JustBooks Vid-yaranyapura, is a developmentprofessional with a postgradu-ate degree in Life Sciences (Zool-ogy) who embraces diversity andenjoys working in multidiscipli-nary and multicultural teams.Passionate about children’s is-sues, she has worked in UNICEF,Kolkata for close to twodecades. n

On Communication

“

In The Wandering Falcon, authorJamil Ahmad takes readers on a tourof an obscure region lying between

Pakistan and Afghanistan, going backseveral decades. It’s the same regionwhich has gained a notorious reputationnow for honour killings, terror acts, vio-lence and bloodshed. The novel compris-es several stories loosely bound togetherthrough the life of a character called TorBaz. After witnessing, through the pagesof the novel, his life since his birth as alove child born out of wedlock, readerscould find Tor Baz endearing. As his par-ents are killed by their own tribesmen, thechild grows up with people of a differentcalling.

The stories move across an entire spec-trum, touching upon the mundane andthe quotidian, the lofty and the sublime,where cruelty and tenderness, honestyand deception are all in the game. Thebook is delightful because it unfolds thetruth of different tribal societies (thetribes are not a monolith — Brahui,Siahpads, Kharot, Bhittani, Afridi,Mahsud and the unfortunate Sherakai areall constituted into a hierarchy) with

their own complex ways oflife and value systems.

An exchange between thearmy commander and theman on the run portrays thenorms and the ethos withwhich the tribal people leadtheir lives. After the man has‘diminished himself’ by ask-ing for refuge, the army com-mander replies: “Refuge … Icannot offer. I know your lawswell and neither I nor any man ofmine shall come between a manand the law of his tribe.” Theman bit his lips with the painthat roiled within him. “Iaccept the reply,” he said. “Ishall not seek refuge of you. CanI have food and shelter for a fewdays?” “That we shall give you… Shelter is yours for the asking.For as long as you wish it, for aslong as you want to stay….”

The geographical setting isof a rugged landscape —rocky mountains and deserts.The harsh wind blows sand sothick that a person must stayindoors for days together. Food is scarce.Tribes are compelled to lead a migratorylife, for they must move where the foodis. When they descend to the plains, theyare mocked, ridiculed and captured,sometimes for reasons they simply do notunderstand. The consequences of a clashbetween two different ways of life is easi-ly predictable. Would not the modernstate always emerge the victor with itsboundaries, its complicated laws and jus-tice dispensation? To quote Jamil, “Thepressures were inexorable. One set of values,one way of life had to die. In this clash, thestate, as always, proved stronger than theindividual.”

While the state and its laws are beyondtribal understanding, their blind faithcauses a massacre when Dawa Khan’swife barges ahead with the Koran on herhead despite warnings that their convoywould be shot.

The novel offers poignant insights intothe life of women in the region. One

finds gun wielding matriarchs of greatdaring among them, as also those whowould never waver in offering hospitali-ty. At the same time, they may be readilysold by their men for a kg of opium. The

novel ends on a positive note with a hintof Tor Baz taking an abandoned womanas his wife rather than selling her off to abrothel.

Jamil, who spent long years in theregion as an administrator, cracks open aworld that has so far been hidden, myste-rious, and obscure. He brings out theessence of the tribal life with great empa-thy, sensitivity and understanding. Theprose is simple and unpretentious, flow-ing like clear cool water. In short, animmensely enjoyable book.


The State And The TribalSulekha Kumar

Reader’s contribution

Sulekha Kumar, a member ofJustBooks, RMV II Stage, is a free-lance writer who has publishedshort stories in Hindi and English.A gold medallist in EnglishLiterature and Russian from BhopalUniversity, she taught at MLBCollege before joining (and assist-ing) her husband in his diplomaticassignments. During their homepostings, she held many editorialpositions, of which she particularlyenjoyed her stint at the Children'sBook Trust. n

The Wandering Falcon

Jamil Ahmad(Penguin)

Author Jamil Ahmad

1. when was the firstFamous Five published?o1940

o1939

o1942

2. which is not FamousFive's favourite drink?oGinger Beer

oLemonade

oOrange Juice

3. dick is kidnappedin this adventure:oFive Get IntoTrouble

oFive Fall IntoAdventure

oFive Go To MysteryMoor

4. George's parents own this island:oTimmy

oKirrin

oTreasure

5. Name the last book in theFamous Five series.oFive Have a Wonderful Time

oFive Have a Mystery to Solve

oFive Are Together Again

JustBooks recently commissioned the ace photographer ShamanthPatil in Bangalore to shoot libraries with a view to put them up onour new website.

While work on the website is underway, we have used some of thepictures onto a new ad of ours. As you can see we’ve taken some cre-ative licence around the name as well.

Hope you like the way our libraries look. Our members do, for

sure. n


JJustustBBooksooks

ttopop 55New ArrivAls

1. the sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer2. the Monk, the Moor and Moses Ben Jalloun by

saeed Akhtar Mirza3. the Buddha in the Attic by Julie otsuka4. Battle Hymn of the tiger Mother by Amy Chua5. Quiet: the power of introverts in a world that

Can't stop talking by susan Cain

reCoMMeNded

1. My Father Baliah by Y B satyanarayana2. lost loves by Arshia sattar3. A small Circus by Hans Fallada 4. out of the Blue: rajasthan's road to the ranji

by Aakash Chopra 5. the Business of words by Andre schiffrin

reNtAls

1. diary of A wimpy kid (Book 6) by Jeff kinney2. revolution 2020 by Chetan Bhagat3. the Heroes of olympus (Book 2) by rick riordan4. the sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer5. diary of a wimpy kid (Book 2) by Jeff kinney

1942, Orange Juice, Five Get Into Trouble, Kirrin, Five Are Together Again

What the Dickens...

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

This quiz is tocelebrate

70 years ofFamous Five


Margaret Atwood

BIOGRAPHY

At seventy two, Margaret Atwoodis known as many things — a nov-elist and poet, a critic, a feminist

and a social campaigner. More signifi-cantly, she has been acclaimed in many ofthese roles. A winner of the Arthur C.Clarke Award and Prince of Asturiasaward for Literature, she has been short-listed for the Booker Prize five times (wononce) and has been a finalist for theGovernor General's Award seven times.She has also won awards for her poetry.It’s no wonder when Margaret Atwooddoes something, it’s news — whether it’swriting about the debt crisis or bloggingabout a new book. In the literary world,Atwood is a giant.

Born in 1939, in Ottawa, Canada,Margaret Eleanor Atwood was the sec-ond of three children in a heavily scientif-ic family. Her father’s ongoing research inforest entomology meant that she had anunusual upbringing, spent more time inforests rather than schools. In fact, shefirst attended school full-time when shewas 11. Her interest in reading seems tohave taken over after that and she beganreading everything she could. She hadalready started writing at age six andwhen she turned 16, Atwood decided shewanted to be a writer.

In 1968, Atwood married Jim Polk,whom she divorced in 1973. She thenentered into a relationship with fellownovelist Graeme Gibson and moved toAlliston, Ontario, north of Toronto. Theyhad a daughter in 1976.

Her first book was a collection of poemscalled Double Persephone (1961), whichwon the E.J. Pratt Medal. She was only 19.Soon after, she obtained a master's degreefrom Radcliffe and pursued further stud-ies at Harvard for two years but she nevercompleted a dissertation and left withouther PhD. Atwood went on to teach atnumerous universities.

Another early collection, The CircleGame, received the Canadian GovernorGeneral's Award for poetry in 1966. In1969, her feminist treatise, The EdibleWoman intrigued and terrified readers

with the story of a young woman whostops eating after she’s engaged to bemarried. The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) is adystopian tale about a world in whichwomen have no freedom, even that oflanguage. The book received the very firstArthur C. Clarke Award for the best sci-ence fiction novel first published in theUnited Kingdom. It was also nominatedfor the 1986 Nebula Award, and the 1987Prometheus Award.

The Blind Assassin (2000) earnedAtwood the Booker Prize, Britain's top lit-erary award for fiction. Besides realisticfiction, Atwood has written science fic-tion or speculative fiction. In Life BeforeMan (1979), she discussed a world inwhich marriage is a vanishing way of life.Oryx And Crake (2003) was a love trian-gle set in the near future where humanbeings have all but destroyed the planet.Besides novels, Atwood has published 15collections of poetry. She has also beenpolitically active in PEN and in AmnestyInternational.

HER WRITING

Atwood is knownfor her feminismand many of her

books explicate theoppression of womenthrough realistic ormythological themes.Her novels often exploreand examine contempo-rary urban life and sexu-al politics through plotsthat are funny, bizarreand even terrifying. Shehas been called a “scintil-lating wordsmith” and an“expert literary critic”(The Economist). Her sto-ries are often open-ended and leave thereader to imagine how itturned out for the pro-tagonist. Though largelyset in her native Canada,they reflect a variety ofinfluences from acrossthe world.

She traces her poetry toher childhood: “Dividedbetween the forest, in thewarmer parts of the year,

and various cities, in the colder parts. I wasthus able to develop the rudiments of the dou-ble personality so necessary for a poet. I alsohad lots of time for meditation. In the bushthere were no theatres, movies, parades, orvery functional radios; there were also notmany other people. The result was that Ilearned to read early — I was lucky enough tohave a mother who read out loud, but shecouldn't be doing it all the time and you hadto amuse yourself with something or otherwhen it rained. I became a reading addict, andhave remained so ever since.” (WritingPhilosophy)

At one time, Atwood was upset thatThe Handmaid's Tale or Oryx AndCrake were categorized as science fiction,insisting on the definition ‘speculative fic-tion’ instead: “Science fiction has monstersand spaceships; speculative fiction could real-ly happen” (Guardian). She has since saidthat she does, at times, write science fic-tion, and that The Handmaid's Tale andOryx And Crake can be called science fic-tion. Her latest science fiction novel, TheYear Of Flood, is a continuation of Oryx

And Crake. n

Author Profile

Anindita Sengupta

“Nothing is or ever will be perfect.”

Every single child has at some pointin his/her childhood wonderedhow the future would be like — not

the near future, but the distant one —when everything could be drastically dif-ferent. This novel is set in such a Utopiansociety, where everything is differentfrom how it is today. There are no prob-lems of the nature which we face today.War, hunger or sickness is unheard of.Jonas, a 12-year-old boy lives in a com-munity, living in perfection and utmostdiscipline, obeying all rules of the com-munity. Until he is given a job.

Every 12-year-old is given a job in thecommunity by the elders. But Jonas is thechosen one and is given the most danger-ous job. He is chosen to be the receiver ofthe memory of the past. The communityrulebook says that a single person fromthe community has to keep all the memo-ries and protect others from it. As Jonasreceives more and more memories fromthe former receiver, now ‘The Giver’, he

begins to get wiser. He begins to under-stand things like love and true happi-ness. More importantly, he begins todisagree with the community’s way oflife. One day, Jonas finally uncovers themost terrible secret of them all, whichmakes the community cease to look likea Utopian society. Jonas decides to put astop to the fallacies and to disseminatethe information that he has receivedabout life. His former receivers havetried their hands at this and failed. WillJonas be able to succeed?

The Giver has been widely regardedas one of the most controversial

novels of its time. Some people get life-long inspirations from it, others getscared by its implications; still othersconsider it against the very basis of reli-gion. But, naturally the most controver-sial novels are always the most soughtafter and they always live up to theirpotential. Jonas’ relationship with ‘TheGiver’ is also of considerable interest. Thetwo of them are the only people in thewhole community who seem to care. Theending of the novel is quite ironic and it isup to the reader to decide its true signifi-cance.

The novel derives most of its interestquotient from the portrayal of “same-ness” – where everything possible is con-verted to constants. For example, thereare no rich or poor people in the commu-nity. Everyone has the same type of houseand transport (bicycles). All of thesethings are described in perfect detail, in amanner which children can truly enjoy.The book also includes additional facts at

the end by the author, exploring theeffects of the novel in detail and bringingout the contrasts between sameness andordinary life.

This book was written and published in1993. The author, Lois Lowry used to be aphotographer and a freelance journalist.Her works as a journalist quickly drewattention from publishing companies andshe was encouraged to write books. Sincethen, she has written over 30 books forchildren. Number The Stars is anotherfamous novel written by Lowry.Gathering Blue and Messenger are thenovels which continue the series started

by The Giver. n

Just Kids12 JustBooks Connect - May-June 2012

JustBooks Picks for Young Readers

Jayanthi Harsha

The Giver

Lois LowryPaul Cox (Illustrator)Age group: 12+Pages: 240HarperCollins

My Dad by Anthony Browne

Nasty Stinky Sneakers by EveBunting

A Baby Lion Learns To Roar by InduRana

Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo

Stitching Stories by Nina Sabnani

The Boastful Centipede And OtherCreatures In Verse by Zai Whitaker

The Secret Diary of Adrian MoleAged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend

Mumbai Roller Coaster by RajorshiChakraborti

The Timeless Land by Payal Dhar

Just Kids


Young Readers can send their contribution to [email protected]

FICTION

Fiction's all about imagination,Like any book of Rick Riordan,Something like Percy Jackson,

Or about Camp Jupiter's Jason.

Oh, yeah! Rowling's Harry Potter,Even King Midas' daughter,

Don't forget the Wizard Of Oz,You want any book?

I could give it of course.

What about the Golden Fleece?Or Zeus, the lord of wind and breeze?

So go ahead now, rack your brains,Have YOU read any of these books,

Maybe while riding on trains?NO? Then you ought to read them soon,'cause they make you feel like you're on

the Moon!

Mythri Prakash, 7th Standard, PSBB LLA, Bangalore.

Mythri is a member of JustBooks, JPNagar. She loves reading books andswimming. Her main hobby is to writestories and poems. n

One day, the marine engineer ofNational Underwater andMarine Agency (NUMA), Dirk

Pitt receives a distress call from a groupof Peruvian archaeological students whoclaim to have lost two of their divers in adreaded and ancient sinkhole high in theAndes and need Dirk’s help. Dirk man-

ages to rescue the divers but the studentsand Dirk get kidnapped by a bunch ofterrorists who would not hesitate to pullthe trigger. They are kidnapped andtaken to a place called the City of theDead which was a burial site forPeruvian kings. Any archaeologistwould have sacrificed a year’s salary toexcavate this ancient site.

Thanks to Dirk’s bravery and skill, thestudents escape along with him. Whileescaping from the hands of the terrorists,Dirk stumbles upon a clue which leadshim to a lost Spanish ship deep inside thePeruvian jungle. This ship then leadsDirk to a vast amount of Inca treasureburied deep inside a mountain but Dirkhas other competitors who are extreme-ly desperate to get their hands on thistreasure and will kill anyone who comesin their way. So will Dirk even surviveon the path which is leading to the treas-ure? To find out more read the book.

Dirk Pitt is a character who loves chal-lenging the unknown and no matter

how difficult and scarythe task is, he is alwaysconfident that he can fin-ish the task triumphant-ly. He loves collectingantique cars. One of hiscollections in his previ-ous adventures includeda bathtub with an out-board motor attached toit with which he crossedan entire shark-infestedsea.

Clive Cussler has writ-ten 58 books so far,many are famous andaward winning bookslike the Iceberg, Sahara,Cyclops, Treasure OfKhan, and Dragon andmost have been best-sellers. He wrote his firstbook in 1973 which wasThe MediterraneanCaper. All of the DirkPitt series are fun-filledand action-packed — avery good source ofentertainment for actionenthusiasts.

Rahul Rajpal, 9th Standard,St. Joseph's Central School, Mysore.

Rahul is a member of JustBooks, KDRoad, Mysore. He is a voracious readerand loves mimicry. He also likes toswim and play badminton. He wants tobecome an actor when he grows up. n

Inca Gold (Dirk Pitt Series #12)

Inca Gold (Dirk Pitt Series #12)

Author: Clive CusslerAge Group: 12 - 18yrsPages: 618Publisher: HarperCollins


Venturing out

Koramangala is one of the most sought afterlocalities of Bangalore. Its tree lined roads, bigbungalows, multi-cuisine restaurants, malls,shopping centers and IT offices beckon oneand all. It was but natural that JustBooksopened a branch thereand it helped thatDeepa Kasiraman, anIT professional turnedentrepreneur was theone who started it. Sosuccessful was her firstbranch that she openedanother one inKoramanagala!

We find out fromDeepa, how it all start-ed and what her experi-ences have been so far.

JB: Tell us a little bit about yourself andyour family.

I did my Masters in Computer Scienceand had worked in various capacities inthe IT Industry before deciding to call it aday to test my skills in managing aJustBooks library. Ours is a small nuclearfamily, consisting of our four-year-olddaughter who gets everybody’s attention,my husband, an IT professional and mymother-in-law, a homemaker.

JB: Why and how did this franchiseoption happen?

My IT job was getting monotonous. Itwas not fulfilling my aspirations to be anentrepreneur, hence I decided to take up

something that’s different and not beendone by many others. I was a member ofJustBooks Whitefield, where I got to expe-rience the ambience and the functioningof a library. The idea of becoming aJustBooks franchisee came from there.

JB: Tell us about your experience onstarting and taking care ofthis franchise.

Once I decided to take upthe Koramangala JustBooksfranchise, every passing daybecame a challenge. Thelearning that I went throughwas phenomenal. Butthanks to the tremendoussupport from Strata, I wasable to go through thisprocess very smoothly andtoday I am able to success-fully manage not one but

two branches!

JB: How has the customerresponse been toJustBooks, as a concept, andyour library, in particular?

The response that I gotfrom the community wasvery encouraging, so muchso that I have expanded thefacility to two more loca-tions within the locality inless than two years of com-mencing our first operation.This would have not beenpossible without the supportof our member base.

JB: What do you think willbe a great addition in terms

of value to yourexisting mem-bers?

JustBooksshould be in theforefront in offer-ing new servicesto their members.JustBooks shouldintroduce serviceslike e-books,audio books,mobile libraryand a readinglounge to its com-munity.

JB: How much ofyour time do you

spend at the JustBooks outlet personal-ly? How rewarding is the experience ofinteracting with your members?

More than being physically present atthe branch, my thoughts are always filledwith JustBooks. I spend at least 3 days ina week at the branch to ensure that ourmembers get the best out of JustBooksand have a wonderful experience at ourbranch. Interacting with our members hasbeen very rewarding indeed. I have metso many wonderful people and learnedfrom them.

JB: What kind of books do you read?Who are your favourite authors?

Mostly I read thrillers and Indian fictionbooks. I also love to read Tintin andAsterix, both of which bring back memo-ries of my school days. Jeffrey Archer,Sidney Sheldon, James Patterson, ChetanBhagat, Ruskin Bond are some of myfavourite authors. I also read books writ-

ten by new andupcoming Indianauthors.

JB: Based on yourinteraction withthe members, whatdo you think aboutthe reading prefer-ences of your area?

The communityaround our branch-es is very varied.We have a goodmix of children,teenagers, workingprofessionals, entre-preneurs, home-makers and senior

citizens. Hence Children and YoungAdult literature, Fiction, Management,Romance and Thrillers are the most pop-ular genres amongst our members.

JB: What is your advice to book loverswho would like to turn entrepreneursthrough JustBooks?

Setting up and running a JustBooksfacility is not only commercially reward-ing but it also gives you tremendous per-sonal satisfaction. You feel that you arebeing instrumental in spreading knowl-edge to the local community by being afranchisee. I wish every individual thevery best in taking up a JustBooks fran-chise. If I was given an opportunity, Iwould like to guide them in setting up a

facility. n

Sapana Rawat

Managing Two Branches

Deepa Kasiraman

Ashwini, staff member

Ageneral awareness talk on cyclingwas organized and held atJustBooks, Kuvempu Nagar,

Mysore. The topics discussed were: originof cycles, different kinds of cycling, bene-fits and advantages of cycling, cycle rick-shaws as public transport, pollution andcycling.

The talk by ardent cyclist Arjun Jois,provided an opportunity for children tospeak and share their ideas, experiences

and opinions. Many participants wereinterested in the health benefits of cyclingand needed advise as to how to go aboutstarting a cycling lifestyle. Everyoneagreed that cycling is fun and the need ofthe hour is to build awareness in our soci-ety about pollution caused due to auto-mobiles.

The talk was followed by a Q&A ses-sion and a general discussion. Arjun, whohas cycled in different regions around the

world, was also asked toshare some of his experienceswhich made many peoplesmile. Everyone was enthusi-astic about creating a groupof cycling enthusiasts inMysore to go for short 20-30km rides around the city orjust outside.

One of the participants, Mr.Sunder Rao, a senior citizen,asked Arjun to join him for acycle ride to Srirangapatna(and back) at 5 AM the nextday. While he rode, Mr Raosaid the key to his health wascycling. Arjun was amazed to

see how comfortably he covered the 40kmride. His enthusiasm was incredible.

Another group of students from anengineering college in Mysore

approached Arjun after the talk andspoke about a cycling event they wereorganising as part of their college fest.They wanted a guest talk before the kick-off. Dr. Renuka and her son also metArjun the next day to discuss more aboutcycling.

The JustBooks team, consisting ofKavya, Sujan and Neha, contributed a lotto the program. Cheers to all our partici-pants for creating awareness and tryingto build cycling as an integral part of our

lifestyle in Mysore. n


Cycling To Make Mysore A Better Place

JustBooks Mangalore is hosting a series of following events for its members, especially theyoung ones, during this summer vacation:

Summer Break!

JustBooks Events

After a successful run atJustBooks Koramangala,Xyo Learning Systems is

proud to have their learning sys-tems used by kids at JustBooks HSRLayout and Varthur Rd.

Children enjoy the challengingproblems offered by Xyo. The threepillars of the Xyo Learning Systemare: (i) a structured approach tolearning, (ii) tracking and analyzingthe child's progress, and (iii) unlim-ited practice for the child. Together,these help strengthen fundamentals,completely internalize mathemati-cal concepts, and sharpen the ana-lytical aptitude, logical skills, andmental ability of the child.

A summer camp is being held atJustBooks HSR Layout and VarthurRoad from May 8 to May 26. This isaimed at giving the JustBooks kidsan edge by covering their maths in astress free manner before the busy

schedule of school starts. n

Math Fun

Event

Cooking Party

3rd May 2012

4 PM to 5 PM

Teddy Bear Party

10th May 2012

4 PM to 5 PM

Pirate Party

17th May 2012

4 PM to 5 PM

Details

Cooking party

for kids

5 - 15 years

Fun party

for kids

3 - 9 years

Theme dress

party for kids

5 - 15 years

Vidyaranyapura in Bangalore is blessed with twolakes and Narsipura Lake/Old boat club is one ofthem. As part of the lake restoration excise, this

lake is now being cleaned-up.

Pancharatnas are a group of 5 young kids (age group 7-11 years), who along with their mentor Ms. JayalakshmiChatterjee from BEL 2nd Block have started to take aninterest in the avian life around them. In order to spreadawareness and build a strong team of young crusaders insupport of these birds, they made a presentation calledBirds of Narsipura Lake at JustBooks, Vidyaranyapura.

Dr. Subbu Subramanya, a well-known ornithologist, waspresent to answer the questions posed by the eager chil-dren who attended this session. He stressed on planting theright kind of trees in order to attract birds and insects. After theevent, Dr. Subramanya commented, “I must say that I was veryglad that I participated in this small meeting at JustBooksVidyaranyapura, where the ‘Pancharatnas’ made a wonderful presen-tation on ‘Birds of Narsipura Lake’. I was overwhelmed by the interestand enthusiasm shown by the children in trying to create awarenessabout their surroundings amongst other children, parents and themembers of JustBooks. I was also pleased by the wonderful ambiance atJustBooks, which I found to be such a departure from other circulating

libraries - in trying to be a hub of knowledge and learning by initiat-ing such interactive meetings and providing its space for participato-ry learning. I sincerely hope that JustBooks would organize manymore such interaction meetings with writers and other subject matterspecialists to broaden the knowledge of children and people around,spread the joy of reading and turn its facility into a centre of learningfor the community.”

The presentation ended with all the children vowing to jointhe crusade for their feathered friends in one of the few remain-

ing bastions of greenery in the city. n


AECS Layout65470141

Banashankari 41637052, 9535854732

Basaveshwarnagar40951324, 9739988376

Bellandur25740710, 42118813

Brigade Metropolis22652217

Electronic City 41105922, 9945421900

Frazer Town41644449

HSR Layout22587430, 7259974251

Indira Nagar65831547, 42044157

Jayanagar 5th Block9740894014, 42068676

JP Nagar, Dollar'sColony

42228168

JP Nagar42106418

Kagdaspura65474465

Kalyan Nagar42084394, 9986072204

Kanakapura 8867501033

Koramangala40982460

Koramangala 8th Block25702799

Langford Road22222375

Malleshwaram41280649

Prestige Shantiniketan,Whitefield43364183

Rajarajeshwari Nagar28607751, 9535854732

RMV II Stage23410800

Sahakar Nagar 41713941

Sarjapur Road42129279

Vidyaranyapura23644501, 8095854950

Vijaya Bank Layout41645690

Vijaynagar42117539

Whitefield41260396, 32999406

Whitefield (Sat) 65970953, 28543405

Yelahanka42138080

Chennai – Adyar04445501188, 9176078188

Hyderabad - ECIL 04030226209

Hyderabad - Karkhana04040189957, 9849024415

Hyderabad - Kondapur9032490978

Hyderabad Kukatpalli 04040036387

Kochi - Panampilly Nagar04844015949

Kolkata - Salt Lake City 03340012211

Mangalore - Bejai08242214040

Mumbai - Kandivali9769556165

Mumbai - Nerul 02227729788, 9004819059

Mumbai - Powai02240158736/8408

Mumbai - Thane 02241002061, 9987512059

Mysore - Kalidasa Road 08214253237, 9900012611

Mysore - KuvempuNagar

08214241181, 9900012611

Pune - Aundh02025896016, 7385022201

Pune - Kothrud02041303676, 8605382202

Pune-Magarpatta City02067231020, 9561550003

Pune-Viman Nagar02026633134, 9561550002

Pune - Wanowarie02030116811, 7385022202

For franchise inquiries contact: [email protected]

Nurturing NatureJustBooks Events

JustBooks Connect (May-June 2012)

Documents

Transcript of JustBooks Connect (May-June 2012)