112 May 21, 2010 PEOPLE 113 PEOPLE May 21, 2010

WHAT PROMPTED THIS BOOK? I’ve been thinking that children don’t learn any moral science in school and it would be good to teach them the Preamble because you get all the concepts that are important in our Constitution. When you learn it young it becomes part of your con-sciousness.YOU MENTIONED YOU’VE HAD HELP FROM YOUR GRANDKIDS. I have a granddaughter [Nandini, younger son Shantum’s daughter] who was eight when I wrote the book. I told her, ‘I am writing this book so that you become a good citizen’. So she said to me, ‘What is citizen?’ When I used her as a sounding board I realised what was simple for me was quite diffi cult for her.

The book has been formatted in a way that a younger child can enjoy the pictures and older kids can look at the text and information boxes. It’ll appeal to children from six to 11.YOU ALSO RAN THE BOOK PAST SCHOOLKIDS? I took the manuscript to her [Nandini’s] school [Step By Step, Noida]. I purposely didn’t have her around that time and I sat with 10 children from Classes 3 to 5 in the library and read it out to them. And they gave me some ideas... ‘Don’t use this’, or ‘Say That.’ It was a participatory process. At the [launch] I acknowledged those children because they really helped. It was a wonderful experience.

WHAT DOES YOUR SON AND WRITER VIKRAM SETH THINK OF THE BOOK? Vikram helped edit the book and the poem [on the last page]. He didn’t like it so he started

improving it and almost changed it. I was lucky to have a good editor and proofreader in-house. THERE HAVE BEEN GREAT REACTIONS TO THE BOOK. Yes, many grown-ups have also liked it and said, ‘It’s so nice to read it because it brings to mind how wonderful our Constitution is.’ At the launch [in India International Centre, New Delhi] kids enacted the book. They also made jokes… when they read out the part about the

Constitution being the most important book in India, one of them said, ‘After Harry Potter!’

The former Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court demystifi es the Preamble for young readers in We, the Children of India: The Preamble to our Constitution

LEILA SETH’S

COLOURFUL LESSONS IN CIVICS

DID YOU KNOW?One amusing fact revealed in the book is how Jawaharlal Nehru, while signing the Constitution, didn’t leave any space for the President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Finally Dr. Prasad had to squeeze in his signature at an angle above Nehru’s (right). “I thought it was very interesting and that’s why I took a photo,” says Leila, who went to the Parliament House to take a look at the original.

“I hope it is translated into

Hindi,” says Leila, 80, who believes all kids

should read the book. (Inset) Grandkids Nandini (far right) and Anamika (far

left) at the launch.

The second book from the author of the com-pelling The Historian

shuttles between two parallel plots set in contemporary U.S. and 19th century Paris. At the start we meet Robert Oliver, a famous painter, committed to psychiatric care for attacking a painting at the National Portrait gallery in Washington, D.C. The psychiatrist, Dr. Marlow, starts tracking people from Robert’s past after he stops talking. The scene then shifts to Paris, where another artist, impressionist painter Bea-

trice de Clerval’s story unfolds. The story lines are connected by a mystery, the clues of which are hidden in works of art.

This literary thriller (of sorts) is let down by the author’s inept handling of the characters. While descriptions verge on the repetitive, the story meanders towards an uneasy end leav-ing behind many unanswered questions.

REVIEWED BY KIRAN MANRAL

CHALLENGES OF MOVING FROM BLOG TO BOOK FORMAT? Principally two. First, blogs have a limit-ed horizon of relevance—maybe one or two weeks. A book, however, you want people to be reading years after you have written it. So while for blogs, the spotlight is on personali-ties and current events, in books, you want to focus on “themes” that have a much larger time window of relevance.THERE AREN’T TOO MANY INDIANS DAB-BLING IN SATIRE. Considering how easily people take offence and how our legal system

restricts free speech by predicating that it “not hurt sentiments”, no wonder that people don’t want to get into “real” humour, the kind that draws blood and makes people think.BOLLYWOOD IS A FAVE TOPIC. PICK A ROLE YOU WOULD PLAY?

Without doubt the old-school villain. White suit, stroking a tiger... Sure, being a villain entails taking Nirupa Roy prisoner and getting beaten up, but when you are having so much fun what’s a few punches?YOU HAD SET OUT TO WRITE A BOOK ON MITHUNDA. WHAT HAP-PENED? A serious biography

of Mithunda needs extensive inter-views. This needs time and travel inside India, which, given my full-time job as a research scientist in “high-confi dence engineering of software systems” in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., is problematic. However, rest assured, the book will see light of day. —KIRAN MANRAL

The cover describes Manisha Lakhe’s debut novel as Sopranos meets Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron but that’s

really a stretch. Chimanbhai Shah, a Gujarati grocer, wants to bump off rival Supriya, a siren, who is luring his buyers in Portland, Oregon. The Shahs and their two ABCD (American Born

Confused Desi) kids take inspiration from Bolly-wood while plotting to kill Supriya—lacing her curry with arsenic and hiring a contract killer.

Buzz is that Quick Gun Murugun director Sha-shank Ghosh is slated to make a movie of the book (Manisha wrote this as a screenplay ini-tially). Our advice—wait for the movie.

The Betelnut Killersby Manisha Lakhe |

NOVEL

REVIEWED BY KARISHMA UPADHYAY

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova |

NOVEL

The book includes Arnab’s popular blogs. Describing life in the ’90s, he writes, “It wuz da best of tyms, it wuz da wrst of tyms.”

CATCHING UP WITH. . .

ARNAB RAY The blogger-turned-author satirises life in the ’90s, from C-grade

Bollywood fi lms to dotcoms, in May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss!

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