March-April 2013 For limited circulation A JustBooks Publication
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Volume 4 Issue 2 www.justbooksclc.com blog.justbooksclc.com
Pictures And A Thousand Words Page 5 Book Review
Page 6 Author Profile
Page 11 Just Kids Rachna Bisht Rawat
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or some, it is literature dumbed down for a generation in a hurry; for others, a work of art that sometimes, though not very often, ends up walking away with a Pulitzer. The graphic novel is the new flavour on the tongue of a generation that is finding its own means of expression and however much traditional book readers desire, it can’t be stacked away in the comics racks of a book store between the Astrix and the Archies. Avid comic reader Shalini Srinivasan from Bangalore, who grew up on Tintin and Astrix and Amar Chitra Katha, says what she enjoys in graphic novels is more or less what she enjoys in novels she reads — good writing, nicely-crafted plots, fun characters and wordplay. The art, she feels, creates a mood, fleshes out, supplements and enhances the experience. For Sanghamitra Biswas, who works with a publishing house in Delhi, graphic novels are a very satisfying experience because she can see an author’s words come to life on a page, through an artist’s
pen. Sometimes, she points out, a simple story can be transformed by spectacular artwork, such as in Blankets by Craig Thompson. Thompson’s beautiful artwork, Sanghamitra feels, breath life into a fairly simple, bildungsroman tale. The autobiographical and searing Blankets talks about Thompson’s upbringing in a conservative Christian home, his awkward adolescence, and the first time he fell in love. The book won Harvey and Eisner Awards. Passionate book reader and academician Anjana Joshi is not a graphic novel fan. Actually, she wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. That hardly qualifies her as a critic. But, she says, she has flipped through them, just out of curiosity, and has emerged from the experience, unimpressed. What hit her hard when she was skimming through abridged versions of Agatha Christie novels and classics like Great Expectations in graphic form was their sheer “ugliness”. The descriptions are completely lost and minute details that you appreciate in the book are missing,
too, she insists. “I feel graphic novels are like a 20/20 cricket match. I find them highly unappealing. Maybe, youngsters like these condensed versions because they have less time and patience.” Aswathy Senan, PhD in Comic Cultural Industry, Delhi University, who also worked with Campfire Graphic Novels as editor, calls Anjana’s last statement ‘a myth’. “I never believed lack of time has led to diminishing reading habits. In fact, I think the current generation is more into such works. Call it media induced Potter mania, kids have been reading the series more than once. So, I can’t really agree to calling them a time-deficientgeneration”, she says. “I actually take longer to read a page of a graphic novel than a book,” says Shalini.
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From the Editor’s Desk
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ccording to Nielsen’s research, the growth in the sales of physical books in India during the first 10 months of 2012 was 38.2%. When everyone is concerned about the future of print publishing and reading in general, it’s good to hear such news. One genre that has a growing number of fans is graphic novels, which is slowly creating its own space. Wellreceived books of Indian graphic novelists like Appupen (Moonward, Legends of Halahala) and Pratheek Thomas of Manta Ray Comics (Hush, Love Like A Sunset) show the upward trend of Indian graphic novels. Many of us refer to graphic novels as comics, a term that may not always go well with the connoisseurs of this genre! In our lead piece, “Pictures And A Thousand Words”, we discuss this and more about what readers in India think about graphic novels. One of our young members, Vivek Krishnaswamy, has started a project Quillpad (www.quillpad.org) and written a book Write Better Stories to help young authors to get started on writing and publish their written works on Quillpad. At JustBooks, we are committed to promoting reading, while we encourage the young readers to write literary articles via our newsletter. In this light, it’s delightful to see that Vivek has gone a step ahead and actually created a platform for young readers to write and publish. To celebrate the International Women’s day we talked to a highly accomplished writer — Sabah Carrim, author of Humeriah, where the protagonist, Humeriah, seeks recognition as a human being, rather than as a woman. Do read the book to find out more about Humeriah. The anniversary edition of our bimonthly magazine Books & More is available in all the JustBooks outlets. We hope you like it. Let the editors know what you think about it by writing to them at editor@booksandmoremagazine.in. Your contributions and feedback about the newsletter are welcome at editor@justbooksclc.com. As always, happy reading!
March-April 2013 Continued from page 1 “
“With a book, you read right through. With a graphic novel, you have to read it, look at the images, re-read, possibly re-look at the images since there are two ways of storytelling happening simultaneously.” And sometimes, she says, there is something so lovely that you just want to gawk at an image for a long, long time. This is an emotion that a book lover and graphic hater like Anjana would also identify with. Persepolis is the book that got most serious readers, including Sanghamitra, hooked to the genre. It is Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed bitter-sweet memoir of a girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution in a country rife with danger and upheaval. Maus, the dazzling biographical fable that won Art Spiegelman a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 is another popular book. The two-volume narrative tells the story of Art’s father, Vladek, a Polish Jew, before and after World War II. The true-life account depicts Jews as mice and Germans as cats, amplifying the relationship between hunter and prey and lending a fantastical but haunting element to the story. It has been called one of the best historical comics ever written. The best list also includes American Splendor by Harvey Pekar (illustrated by Robert Crumb, Gary Dumm, Frank Stack) which is the story of Harvey Pekar, an eternally worried and pessimistic guy from Cleveland. The series began in 1976, and it was ahead of its time for being so blunt and enjoyably ordinary. The novel Our Cancer Year dealt with Pekar’s battle with lymphoma. The work was autobiographical - constructed as it was lived. Pekar died in July 2010 from prostate cancer. Aswathy loves Maus, for the simple way of depicting such a devastating and horrifying incident, Persepolis, for the mere visual pleasure, Bhimyana, for the art work and Palestine for the intensi-
ty. Manga is another favourite with her. “The Japanese really know how to make short, intense stories in visual strips,” she says. There might not be many graphic novel readers now but it’s an increasing tribe. “The industry is growing. There is a mushrooming of comic publishing houses in India and abroad and major authors want their books illustrated in the comic format,” says Aswathy. “The earlier skepticism that was attached with this genre has been lost.” The debate has been raging for a while about comics and graphic novels which like to distance themselves from the light genre of the former by calling themselves by a different name. Call them comics or graphic novels, the fact re-
mains that these books have created a niche for delicately nuanced and deeply personal tales that used to be almost nonexistent in comics. Graphic novels are blending humour with pain and the written word with artistic skill making it an exquisite experience for their fans. Maybe more people need to try them for their fine way of blending of personal experiences with imagination. Isn’t that what every form of literature is all about?
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March-April 2013
The Thing Around Your Neck Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Fourth Estate Pushpa Achanta
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he Thing Around Your Neck, a collection of short stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is full of engaging tales in which the United States of America figures regularly. However, the interesting aspect is that each tale has a distinct plot. Not surprisingly, like the author herself, all the protagonists have a strong connection with Nigeria. There is no doubt that Chimamanda Adichie is a writer with immense talent and ability to capture the attention and sustain the interest of a reader. Intriguing and moving, these seemingly simple yet meaningful stories from an awardwinning author are worth a read.
The Picador Book of Modern Literature Amit Chaudhuri Picador Rajeshwari Ghose
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riter Amit Chaudhuri has chosen works of eighteen writers of the English language and twenty from select Indian vernacular languages for this anthology. However, many vernaculars with rich literary traditions are conspicuous by their absence. Chaudhuri recognizes this limitation at the very outset. He also accepts the fact that writers in English occupy a larger space than they possibly need to. The selections are varied and from different genre, each tries to understand the plural and diverse ways in which Indians, encountering an alien value system, adjusted to their own notions of modernity and modernization.
Girl In Translation Jean Kwok Fig Tree
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Vijay Nair
his debut novel of Jean Kwok’s has been published in 17 countries and translated into 15 languages. In a sense, it is a curious book in which the protagonist Kimberly Chang manages to overcome all the odds stacked against her, including the shortcomings of the novel that features her in the lead. The novel is a compelling read, not because it is exceptionally well written, but because the central character is exceptional. The reader cannot question any situation in the book, however implausible it may appear to be. Since Kwok herself survived the miseries of her childhood with a mixture of grit and fortitude, we are forced to extend the same courtesy to the protagonist she has created.
Every Love Story is a Ghost Story DT Max Viking
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Aman Anand
he problem with tragedies is that their brutal final act overwhelms the remainder of the narrative, marginalising the actual story that leads us to the conclusion. This is the first biography of David Wallace, one of the most talented authors of his generation, who penned, Infinite Jest, regarded as one of the great novels of the past 30 years, as well as several highly acclaimed pieces of nonfiction and short stories. At the time of his death, he was working on his third novel The Pale King, which was released unfinished in 2011. DT Max, a staff writer at The New Yorker, was given the difficult task of telling the story of this outrageously gifted and contradictory man. And Max does not disappoint.
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March-April 2013
Not a regular ‘who dunnit’
A Complex Plot comfiture, she discovers that the way out is not that simple as her heart rejects the man who Publisher: Rupa & Co appears, no longer as an idea, but in Dr. Rajeshwari Ghose flesh and blood. She escapes to his is an engrossing novella. It comher sister’s house, mands attention. I read it from answering to a call cover to cover at one go. The author from her brother-indescribes it as her first attempt at writing law for help in deal‘crime fiction’. It just about qualifies for ing with his very sick that genre. There is an unnatural death wife. The unexpectand a body at the centre of the drama. ed confronts her. There is however no classical Poirot like Her sister, whom character piecing the jigsaw puzzle and she believes, is in an solving the ‘who dunnit’ mystery. Instead, idyllic relationship it is a sensitive exploration of the inner with her husband, recesses of the human mind. It brings out is falling apart, unthe intrinsic contradictions in the human able to cope, at least psyche. The interest is in the evolution on the surface, with of the characters and in the unfolding of the trauma of the loss of a child. The procomplex relationships. The thin line becess by which a person, who is apparently tween passionate love and the dark evil sane, can be sinking into a state of psyof hatred and revenge that lurks in the chotic phobia is chillingly portrayed by human core is starkly but delicately exthe author. The once united couple react plored. It is skillfully subtle and nuanced to each other as strangers. They face a in its portrayal. sorrow that affects them both but are unable to respond in unison. Each one stumbles along in their own There is an unnatural death savage, solitary path. Relationships are constantly and a body at the centre of the challenged and one of the main drama. There is however no characters, a middle-aged docclassical Poirot like charactor, warns the young Radhika, that passing a judgment on ter piecing the jigsaw puzzle... conjugal relationships is totally it is a sensitive exploration of unwarranted. He points out the inner recesses of the huthat while marriage is a public institution, it is at the same man mind. time ‘a closed room’, into which no outsider is allowed. At another level it is a romantic tale Radhika’s sister Tara, is found dead well told. A young girl, Radhika, goes under unnatural circumstances. The husthrough a process of self-discovery. She band is naturally a suspect, who is porstarts her life by believing that the simple trayed as having strayed into the arms of answer to her dilemma of not knowing a colleague at work, equally desperate for what to do with her life can be solved by someone to care for. So did he or did he marrying someone chosen for her by her not kill his wife? While it is an important guardians, whom she trusts to come out question and the life of the man depends with a ‘proper’ solution. To her great dison the answer, it is hard to be absolutely
Ships That Pass By Shashi Deshpande
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sure. The young sister and the doctor of the family have their own reasons for acting the way they did. The living man and his young son have to be protected. It is this nuanced ending of the novel that makes it unusual, though it is quite obvious where the author’s sympathy lies. The narrative opens dramatically with the husband Shaan in prison wanting his friend, the doctor, to look after his young son. So we know who the suspect is and there is only one suspect. His wife, Tara is portrayed in moments of extreme lucidity alternating with states of being in shattering pain of the mind and body. Is she a cold-blooded plotter, seeking revenge for a crime she believes her husband committed... is it just the death of the child or is there more to her madness? The story ends with a postscript, which leaves the reader feeling optimistic. While relationships can go bizarrely astray, there are still people who can find solace and joy in mutual respect and love. There is a certain Cinderella-like quality in the end with the young protagonist, Radhika, finding her true love in the expansive nature of her doctor friend, and living happily ever after. It is, as I said, at this level, a romantic tale well told.
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March-April 2013 An engrossing read
The Marble Labyrinths The Taj Conspiracy By Manreet Sodhi Someshwar Westland Reshmi Chakraborty
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onspiracy theories almost always work well for a thriller, Da Vinci Code being the biggest and most obvious example. I mention that name as it comes to mind when you read the opening chapters of The Taj Conspiracy, especially about the murder of Taj supervisor Arun Toor and the discovery of his body. However, this is no Indian version of the Dan Brown bestseller and Manreet Sodhi Someshwar manages to weave a fairly interesting whodunit that’s an original. Though her writing and plot construction may not be as nuanced or tight as Dan Brown’s, this is a thriller that’s purely
Someshwar is a competent writer but some of her plot devices seem unnecessary. Indian in its roots. Sodhi Someshwar is meticulous in her research and manages to blend it seamlessly into the narrative most of the time, without sounding like she is giving us a detailed lecture on the Taj Mahal. So as she describes the vast labyrinth of rooms beneath the marble corridors of the Taj Mahal and the two cenotaphs surrounded by filigree work, you can almost visualize the scene with her. It also helps that the Taj Mahal has always been surrounded by conspiracy theories. As the author herself mentions in the acknowledgement, her descriptions of the art, architecture, documents and urban legends about the Taj are accurate, with one exception of a secret trapdoor that a thriller writer could always take the liberty of. As for controversies, the Taj has had her fair share of them, including one by writer PN Oak who claimed that it was a Hindu temple that had been taken over
by Shah Jahan! There is a lot going on in this book and without giving the plot away here’s the basic outline of the story. Mehrunissa Khosa discovers her murdered friend in the marble floor beside Mumtaz Mahal‘s tomb. There are clues on the body and an alteration in the Quranic calligraphy of the tomb to suggest a conspiracy of some sorts. As Mehrunissa tries to unravel the mystery with a foreboding sense that someone is trying to desecrate India’s most famous monument, she’s helped by maverick cop RP Singh and SSP Raghav. Not too many people believe her theory, including the ASI director general Raj Bhushan, a friend of her ailing historian godfather Professor Kaul. Along the way, the author throws in possibilities of every kind to keep the reader guessing — From a right wing Hindu political party that plans to do carbon dating of the Taj Mahal to prove its supposed Hindu origins to an Islamic terror group that is planning an attack. The book has enough to keep the reader engrossed and is populated by many characters and strange situations. Some of the characters have been detailed well while some like the professor’s niece Pamposh could have done with a little more character development. The book also has its fair share of revolting scenes like a python swallowing a corpse and a rather morbid mother fixation but they work well to give you the appropriateness of the situation. Like every murder mystery worth its thrill, The Taj Conspiracy has got an attractive protagonist chasing down the bad guys. With an Indian-Persian heritage, Mehrunissa is exotic enough to remain somewhat enigmatic herself and given her mixed breed, with her fair
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share of complications. Someshwar is a competent writer but some of her plot devices seem unnecessary such as the inclusion of the Islamist terror angle. Without giving away any surprises let me just say that this angle comes to a rather abrupt end, making you wonder about its inclusion and subsequent development in the first place. The research comes across in other aspects as well. For instance, in Professor Kaul’s mythological clues with which he tries to come out of the foggy haze that his illness has reduced him to. It’s thanks to his narration of a story about ‘switched heads’ that Mehrunissa gets one of the most vital clues to the puzzle. Someshwar’s choice of location is also a very interesting one. With its intrigues and controversies, the Taj makes for a perfect thriller backdrop and it’s quite a surprise that no Indian writer has ever attempted something similar along these lines. Overall, The Taj Conspiracy is an enjoyable, quick read. The author does attempt at crowding the book with too much of everything but thanks to an unusual setting, an unconventional protagonist and fast paced events, the story doesn’t get lost in the crowd.
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March-April 2013
Pico Iyer
Dipti Nair
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t seems a life of travel was preordained for Pico Iyer. He was born into an Indian family settled in England. His parents moved to California when Iyer was eight, while he continued his education in a boarding school in England. Being the only child of parents who were academics and philosophers, Iyer had an illustrious academic career himself. Not only was he awarded scholarships to Eton, Oxford and Harvard, he graduated with a congratulatory double first from Oxford. Later, he taught Writing and Literature at Harvard. But the tryst with travel and writing had begun as soon as Iyer finished high school. He saved money by working in a Mexican restaurant in Southern California and spent three months travelling. He embarked on a similar but a more arduous adventure during his vacations when he was in graduate school, signing up for the Let’s Go series of guidebooks covering 80 towns in 90 days. With the meagre allowance he got, all he could afford was “gutters” to sleep in and a hot dog once a week. The entire experience according to Iyer was the very opposite of a vacation, but something that proved to be an ideal apprenticeship for travel writing. After his teaching stint at Harvard, Iyer started working for the Time Magazine.
He made three trips to Asia in the very first year of his employment. He has confessed in an interview, “Travel taught me that everything else paled by comparison.” Iyer always manages to bring to his writing his own unique perspective of the places he visits. He believes that if you are visiting a place for two weeks, then you should try not to write about all the places you visit as a tourist, as you will never be able to do justice to your subject. Instead, focus on one aspect of life in the strange country and try and create a flavour of the place through that intense experience. He follows his own advice in his writing. For instance, while writing about Japan, he took baseball as a theme, as he knew enough about the game to write about it, although the country itself was new to him. His tip to travel writers is that they should embark on a path similar to his only if they are passionate about travel and writing, as there is hardly any money in it.
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hat distinguishes Iyer’s writing from others in the genre is that instead of trying to blend into places he visits, he thrives on the sense of alienation these places fill him with. He is the eternal outsider, never overcome with the emotion of wanting to fit in. His wife with whom he currently lives in her country is Japanese. He is happy that he will always be a stranger in a land that many western writers have tried to decode and deconstruct, but failed. While Iyer’s travel books like Video Night in Kathmandu and Global Soul have found acclaim and readership across the world, his two novels Cuba and the Night and Abandon have not achieved the same degree of acceptance. The first is about a widely travelled news photographer who goes to
Havana and gets into what he imagines to be an expense account romance with a local woman. Initially, he is not serious about her. However, he later discovers that his feelings are stronger than he suspected them to be, and is drawn back to Cuba again and again. Eventually, he conspires to get his lover out of the country. Abandon is about a young academic from England who is researching on the Sufi poet Rumi in the United States. Juxtaposed against this are his inner struggles with his relationships with the women in his life. Interestingly, the theme running through Iyer’s two works of fiction is also a search for a sense of belongingness. Iyer’s latest book is on Graham Greene, an author he idolises but never met. Iyer has written to his literary parent twice, one of the letters was a frenzied confessional, and the other a request for an interview that Greene politely declined. Despite this, Iyer has gone ahead and written a book about his idol — The Man within my Head — proving that the travel writer has been haunted by Greene for most of his life and has mirrored his sensibilities without Greene being physically present in his life. It is interesting that Iyer mentions in his book that in almost all of Greene’s stories, there is a strong presence of the father – like a lingering shadow. The Man within my Head is therefore a fitting tribute to Greene.
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March-April 2013 Tracing history
Sita’s Daughters in Hindi Cinema Mother Maiden Mistress: Women in Hindi Cinema, 1950-2010 By Bhawana Somaaya, Jigna Kothari, Supriya Madangarli HarperCollins India Geetanjali Singh Chanda
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ocumenting women in Hindi cinema over six decades, Mother Maiden Mistress: Women in Hindi Cinema, 1950-2010 is as informative as it is entertaining and views all aspects of a film from a woman-centred perspective. This encompasses a wide arc – women’s roles, women directors, changes in themes, dress, and audiences and the concept of construction of Indianness and nationhood through cinema. The changing Indian social context had a huge impact on cinema and vice versa, and the book elegantly ties together the interconnectedness of various elements in each decade and provides a holistic and
complex picture of the phenomenon that is Bollywood. Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian film, came out a hundred years ago. A silent movie in which men played women’s roles, narrated the story of the legendary king from the epics, known for his truthfulness, based on a legend in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The moral landscape of the epics, gender roles and the issue of language that were embryonic in the 1913 production have come to maturity in Indian cinema today. The authors of Mother Maiden Mistress, while delineating this view, believe that Hindi cinema became truly pan Indian in the 1950s, and overcame the linguistic flexibility of the silent cinema, which was replete with cue cards in the required languages, and dominated regional language cinemas, such as Tamil and Bangla. Evidently, Bollywood managed to achieve what Nehru’s language policy of transitioning to Hindi as the national language had not. The new language of Bollywood now, though is Hinglish. More importantly however, Hindi film as a genre created a moral landscape of its own, largely based on the epics, which shaped the nation’s idea of itself. Bombay (now Mumbai) determined what was “authentically” Indian and, therefore, good and valuable, versus what it projected as the “other” – western, and therefore, automatically corrupt and tainted. Women have been the main signifiers and the embodiment of this very specific idea of Indianness, which has drawn inspiration from mythology and folklore. Sita was the role model for Indian womanhood.
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ritten against this context, Mother Maiden Mistress traces the evolution of “Sita’s daughters” in Hindi films. Mehboob’s Mother India is an important case in point. The film’s female protagonist became the icon of ideal Indian womanhood: “Ever ready to sacrifice her identity and self for the family, but standing firm on principles and morality,” say the authors. In stark contrast, we are presented with
the westernised Indian woman, whose behaviour, attitudes and clothes signal her un-Indianness. The book draws attention to the fact that in many films, from Purab aur Paschim (1970) to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), we see the transformation of a westernised tomboy into “wife-material” flagged by the change from jeans to heavy silk saris. This visual shorthand predisposes viewers to make the connection between virtue, Indian womanhood and the sari versus immodesty, Western juvenility and jeans. The advent of colour, together with the changing ethos of the ‘80s era led to a blurring of boundaries between the sensuous and the sacred. It introduced a more westernised aesthetic and greater commercialisation. This in turn triggered a “full-scale merchandising of heroineinspired costumes”. In early cinema, the sari was not only a sign of modesty, but it encompassed the “archetypical ‘Bharatiya nari’ with its associated Sati-Savitri ideologies”, the book highlights. But in contemporary cinema, it’s all about visual appeal, and in fact, “saris emphasise the figure and the sensuality of the heroine.” The authors stress that despite a hundred years of women in Indian cinema, Hindi films continue to be largely maledriven, in terms of plot, box-office appeal and money commanded by male stars. Women were imprisoned in narrow roles as “romance” heroines, and even in the 1970s, when women’s movements were dynamically raising social issues in urban areas and there were many women activists at the grassroots level, the woman’s perspective was absent in popular cinema, the authors astutely point out. The increase in women directors in the millennium era and issue-based films like Peepli Live (2010), Dhobi Ghat (2010) and No One Killed Jessica (2011), probably played a significant role in the recasting of heroines as ordinary women who took charge of their lives in the public and private spheres. However, the authors conclude, invoking The Dirty Picture, that, “Women characters in Hindi cinema are still regarded as ‘entertainment’.” Overall, this is an extremely readable and well-structured book. It could be an invaluable primer for anyone interested in popular Hindi cinema, as it outlines social and cinematic changes. A wonderful extra is the in-depth interview with iconic heroines of each decade.
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March-April 2013
Reader’s Contribution
How many choices J are too many choices Paradox of Choice - Why More is Less By Barry Schwartz Harper Perennial
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Amit Chakravarty
lbert Camus, novelist and existential philosopher, posed the question: “Should I kill myself or have a cup of coffee?” His point was everything in life is a choice. We are choosing every second of the day among numerous alternative courses of action. However, today we face a “Tyranny of Choice” and “Choice Overload”, How is that possible? Isn’t choice supposed to be liberating? The more choices we
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have the more control we have over our lives and destinies. That’s the message of mass media. As Schwartz puts it: “Our culture sanctifies freedom of choice so profoundly that the benefits of infinite options seem self-evident.” However, in this lucid and illuminating book Schwartz argues that though some choice is good does not necessarily mean that more choice is better. More and more choice can in fact lead to anxiety,
stress, dissatisfaction – even to clinical depression. Americans spend more time shopping than members of any other society. However, what is puzzling is that people are shopping more but enjoying it less. One possible explanation, which is borne out by a series of studies, is that more options require more effort into making a decision; and the effort put into decision making detracts from the enjoyment derived. The research quoted in the book will force us to re-examine our basic assumption: the more choices we have in a particular situation the more control we will have over a particular situation and its converse: the less choice we have the more helpless we are. Studies quoted in the book show that there are as many happy people in Poland as in Japan though the average Japanese is ten times more richer than the average Pole. In the US since 1960 the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide rate has tripled, the recorded violent crime rate has quadrupled, the prison population has quintupled. The rate of serious clinical depression has more than tripled over the last two generations. Every choice involves making trade-offs. Part of the downside of abundant choice is that each new choice adds to the list of trade-offs and making trade-offs affects the level of satisfaction we experience from the decisions we ultimately make. Thus people are driven to seek novelty, new commodities and experiences whose novelty has not been dissipated by repeated exposure. Though the book is specific to the US, we in India are also hurtling down the same path. This book may help us pause and reflect what kind of society we want to create. This well-researched and brilliantly written book is a must-read.
Amit Chakravarty is a member of JustBooks Gachibowli, Hyderabad.
Reader’s Voice
ustBooks is exactly what it’s name suggests: Just books! I’m in high school and I’ve always had a rather insatiable thirst for books. I joined JustBooks nearly a year ago, and I’ve loved every single book I’ve ever borrowed. The staff have been very co-operative. The events organised by JustBooks are fun and informative. I won the lucky draw in the Percy Jackson event, hosted to celebrate the release of a new book in the series Heroes of Olympus. I really enjoyed the photography workshop, in which JustBooks had invited a high school photography prodigy to show us the finer workings of a camera and to show his breath-taking photos. JustBooks lifted me out of the confines of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys and introduced me to some really wonderful authors, Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Eoin Colfer, Rick Riordan, Anthony Horowitz, and P. B. Kerr. J. K. Rowling once said that if you’re not an avid reader, then you just haven’t picked up the right book yet… I hope every reluctant reader out there makes an effort to visit JustBooks, and I’m sure they’ll find their right books. Sachika Anjana Kalidasa Road, Mysore
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March-April 2013 Reader’s Contribution
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E=mc Made Simple Kiran A Bacche
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alking is a great exercise to begin the day with. After a long walk, what one needs is an energy drink — Bournvita. “Wow” you might exclaim “Is the reaction E=mc2 happening here?” Is every drop of Bournvita getting converted to energy through the famous equation? Is E=mc2 such a simple concept? If so, why did it take mankind so long to discover it only during the twentieth century? And a genius like Einstein had to research for years to bring to light this concept? Well, the questions themselves have the answer. E=mc2 is not such a simple thing. However, at the same time it isn’t too complex either. Ever since the equation was brought into life by Einstein, generations have grown up only knowing that this equation has changed the future, but without really understanding what it really meant. So let me try to explain this concept in a most simplistic way. E=mc2 has three parameters — E, m and c. “E” stands for Energy, “m” for mass and “c” for speed of light. For the time being, let us ignore “c”. So we have “E” and “m” on different sides of the “=” sign. What this means is that “Energy” and “Mass” are interchangeable. This is the first important thing the equation tells us. Believe it or not, before Einstein drew up this, people considered Mass and Energy as two independent entities. Faraday’s experiment with magnetism had led to the famous Law of Conservation of Energy which states that the total
energy is always a constant and that it can neither be created nor destroyed, but can only be converted from one form to another. Lavoisier’s experiments in Chemistry, similarly had led to the famous Law of Conservation of Mass which states that the total mass is always a constant and that it can neither be created nor destroyed, but can only be converted from one form to another. Einstein’s equation linked mass and energy and showed that these two are related, and not independent of each other. Mass can be converted into energy and vice versa. So the famous Law of Conservation of Mass and the Law of Conservation of Energy were broken by Einstein’s equation. So far so good. Now let us get “c” into the picture. What made Einstein relate E and m with the speed of light? Before I reach that point, what would help is to go over 3 simple equations that we had learnt in our school days. (a) v = u + at [Laws of Motion: Final velocity = Initial velocity + acceleration * time] (b) F = m * a [Newton’s 2nd Law: Force = mass *acceleration] (c) E = F * d [Work/Energy = Force * distance] Now consider a person trying to push a heavy cot from one end of a long room to the other end. Substitute (b) in (c), and we get E = m*a*d. Now for any person trying to push the cot, “m” and “d” remains the same. (“m” is the mass of the cot, and “d” is the length of the room). So if the person has more energy, the cot would be moved with a greater acceleration (i.e., lesser time), and if the person has less energy, the cot would be moved at a slower pace (i.e., more time). This is a simple phenomenon. Since cot is initially at rest, u=0. So the equation (a) becomes v=at. Substitute this in E = m*a*d. We get E = m*(v/t)*d = m*v*(d/t). Now d/t is nothing but v. [Velocity = distance over time] Substitute this, and we get: E=m*v*v = E=mv2 We are almost there. Doesn’t the above equation look very similar to the famous Einstein’s equation? Now to the final part of the big puzzle. Though the phenomenon of a person pushing a cot is governed by the equation
E=mv2, there is still no real conversion happening between mass and energy. Now think of a sumo wrestler trying to push the cot. Definitely the cot will move to the final position quite fast, i.e., “v” would be more, but still far less than “c”. Let us get a super hero like Superman. Now the cot would be moved in no time. Let us assume that with one such super hero, “v” becomes “c”, the speed of light. What would happen if we get around a thousand of such super heroes? Would the velocity of cot exceed the speed of light? The answer is NO. The velocity of the cot would never exceed beyond “c”. So what would happen to the energy exerted by the additional 999 super heroes? The additional energy would get converted to mass! When the velocity of cot is “c”, our equation translates from E=mv2 to E=mc2. And after that point any additional energy put forth would be converted to mass governed by Einstein’s equation. So once “v” becomes “c”, every additional energy gets converted to mass and the cot starts becoming heavier. Let’s talk about the reverse conversion — mass getting converted into energy. When you eat or drink a mass of food, the energy you get is from the chemical energy stored in the food. There is no E=mc2 happening there. It is just a conversion of energy. Only under very specific environmental conditions, would mass get converted into energy. (like fusion of H2 in the sun, Uranium decay). Knowing that c2 is a huge value, just imagine the kind of energy 1gm of mass can produce. This is what is exploited in the man-made nuclear reactors in many parts of the world. I haven’t covered lots of other fascinating details like how this is related with relativity theory, how the work of other scientists paved the way for Einstein, etc. If you’re curious, I highly recommend E=mc2 book by David Bodanis for Grade 8th students and above. This is a biography of the world’s most famous equation, written in the form of a story with great clarity, wit and enthusiasm.
Kiran A Bacche is a member of JustBooks Koramangala. A Technical Leader at Cisco Systems, he enjoys sports, reading, mathematics, music (guitar, keyboard) and nature.
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March-April 2013 c. Star Dust 3. Name the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. a. Maus by Art Spiegelman b. The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller c. Blankets by Craig Thompson
1. This is often called the Lord of the Rings of comics: a. Watchmen by Alan Moore b. Laika by Nick Abadzis c. Bone by Jeff Smith 2. Which comic of Neil Gaiman won the Newbery award? a. Coraline b. The Graveyard Book
4. Navayana Publishing’s graphic book on BR Ambedkar is called: a. A Gardener in the Wasteland b. Bhimayana c. The Vanished Path 5. Indian artist George Mathen aka Appupen penned this novel: a. Hush b. Persepolis c. Moonward
Answers: Bone, The Graveyard Book, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Bhimayana, Moonward
JustBooks Top 5 New Arrivals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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The Forgotten by David Baldacci Return Of A King by William Dalrymple Sidetracked by Henning Mankell Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography by Naman Ramachandran A History Of the World by Andrew Marr
Recommended 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
The Best Man To Die by Ruth Rendell The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark Six Meters Of Pavement by Farzana Doctor Days Of Gold and Sepia by Yasmeen Premji A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking
Rentals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Tinkle Single Digest Tinkle Double Digest Diary Of A Wimpy Kid:The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney Diary Of A Wimpy Kid:Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney Archies Double Digest
A Novel Naval Venture by JustBooks Kochi
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he Naval Officers’ Institute (NOI) is a Service Club situated in a picturesque location along the back waters of Wellingdon Island, Katari Bagh, Naval Base, Kochi. The Institute was set up with the aim to provide sports and recreational facilities mainly for the officers of the Navy (including officers of the Army and the Air Force) on active service and those placed on the retired list in and around Kochi Area. For the benefit of children and book lovers, the Institute provides an air-conditioned library at the Institute’s main building. Our Kochi franchise, Granthapura, has bagged the prestigious contract to manage the library facility. The tie up has come about on account of the personal interest taken by Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Naval Command, based on inputs from JustBooks Kochi library. The new library at Naval Officers Institute was formally inaugurated on February 8th. Visitors to the library were impressed by the display and the services being offered.
From the JustBooks blog: blog.justbooksclc.com
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March-April 2013
Just Kids
Lucid, powerful language The Graveyard Book By Neil Gaiman HarperCollins Anindita Sengupta
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he very unusual hero of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is a boy named Nobody Owens, or Bod for short. After his family is killed by a mysterious killer, “the man Jack”, an infant Bod wanders out of his house and finds his way to a nearby cemetery. He is adopted and raised by its occupants who, naturally, are no longer alive. They are dead people of all shapes, hues and occupations with distinct personalities, full-flavoured as nutmegs. As Bod grows up into a curious, funny and tender young boy, we follow his pangs of quest and realization, his struggles with who he is, and his final encounter with those who seek to destroy him. Gaiman’s first full-length children’s
novel since the much acclaimed Coraline, The Graveyard Book has won a slew of awards including the 2009 Hugo and Newbery Awards, and a Locus Award for best young adult novel. And one can see why. The Graveyard Book manages to be dark and mysterious, intriguing and funny all at the same time. Bod has got to be one of the most unusual heroes in any fiction—young or old—with his strange ghost parents, his propensity for exploration and trouble, and his host of enemies and protectors, including the silent and secretive Silas. His world is populated by ghosts, of course, but also witches and ghouls, even humans occasionally. The fact that it is set in a graveyard, a site that has fascinated and terrified human beings since ancient times, helps. The clever subversion Gaiman pulls off here is that the graveyard actually starts seeming peaceful. Because it represents the one place where Bod is safe from his enigmatic and menacing nemesis, it starts looking like a haven. In one fraught episode when Bod manages to get captured by an evil pawn shop owner who plans to deliver him into the hands of “the man Jack”, you’ll hold your breath until he gets back into the graveyard—and to safety. That’s when you realize how cleverly Gaiman has upturned one of our deepest notions about fear and dark places. He does this through the book in other ways too: Silas is a creature most would otherwise loathe, Liza Hempstock is more pixie than witch, and ghosts are protectors rather than persecutors. The really scary beings are human. Though the book deals with dark subjects, it is never overdone. This is not a horror novel. It is a story about strange and magical things, a world of enchantment, and there is a sense of surprise and wonder through most of it. As a result, when Gaiman does hike up the horror stakes, the sense
Though the book deals with dark subjects, it is never overdone. This is not a horror novel. It is a story about strange and magical things... of fear is more solid. In one section when Bod is captured by the ghouls, Gaiman’s vivid descriptions of their city and their flight with Bod evokes a sense of dread that transcends the shrieking variety of cheap thrills. There is no gore, no blood, no violence. Only, a taut and matter-offact explanation of what fate awaits Bod (he is to be made into a ghoul) and this is more frightening somehow. For what can be scarier than torture? The prospect of being immortally frozen as someone you don’t want to be. There is a possibility of release from the first but not from the second. Gaiman is in his element here with lucid but powerful language and restrained style. As in his comics, he reveals enough to intrigue and clarify without drumming points of horror or interest in too hard. He assumes a certain intelligence of his readers that they will understand. The clues are all there and he lets you figure it out from them, which makes it so much more fun. The book is structured in eight chapters, each dealing with separate phases in Bod’s life. They are interspersed with Dave McKean’s illustrations, which add to the text rather than detracting from imagination. Gaiman is skilled at building character with a few quick and sharp pen strokes (the written equivalent of a sketch) and he does this here too—Silas, Miss Lupescu who replaces Silas for a while when he needs to travel, Liza Hempstock who is the ghost of a witch— they are all etched with loving (but not excessive) detail. There is enough to make each one interesting, memorable. The Graveyard Book is a satisfying read for a person of any age but children will especially enjoy it. Its delicate merging of relaxed wandering into magical worlds and more frenetic running from the big, bad things will appeal to anyone who wants to settle by the window on a rainy day, and be transported.
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March-April 2013
Just Kids
How I’m Learning to Write Better Stories
I
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’ve always loved reading, and I still do. Some of my favorite authors are J.K Rowling, James Dashner, Mary Pope Osborne, Lemony Snicket, and Jenny Nimo. One day I would like to write like them. When I was eight years old, I picked up a pen and a piece of paper and tried to write. Soon, it became a nightmare! I sat there for more than 20 minutes, but I still hadn’t the slightest idea of how I was to start my ‘wannabe bestseller book’. Coming up with a story idea is challenging and making an interesting full-length story out of it is even more challenging! Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to participate in Mr. George Smith’s writing workshop. Mr. Smith has published several children’s books and conducts workshops for students in New Jersey. He has developed four important ways to take a story idea and develop it into a full length story. When he originally started teaching me, the techniques seemed quite obvious, but when it came to applying the techniques, it was not very easy! He read my short stories and provided a number of pointers and carefully edited them. The edited stories were lot more fun to read. We realized that my problems in writing a story or an essay were widespread among other students of my age group. So, we decided to share the cure for young author’s writing syndrome through a book and a collaborative website! Mr. Smith, a team from Lumos Learning and I worked together to publish a book called Write Better Stories and Essays:
A Toolkit for Middle School Writers. Mr. Smith included some of the stories that I wrote during my workshop in the book. I was ecstatic when I saw my name on the printed book! I was like a two-year-old who just got his first tricycle. The book is now available on leading book retailer sites such as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. I worked with the Lumos team to develop a multi user blogging website! I had no clue how to develop a website let alone a site that would allow others to blog. But working with a group of professional website developers I learned a lot! It was an eye opening experience and now when I see a great website I can truly appreciate the technology, creativity and hard work that goes into building it. After several months of coding and content work, “Quillpad.org” came into existence. This website allows students to learn key concepts discussed in Mr. Smith’s workshop. More importantly, it is a platform for them to easily publish the stories that they write. You can get feedback from other site visitors that include students, teachers and authors. My future plans are to borrow more books from JustBooks, enjoy them and write reviews when time permits. I’ll continue to write my own stories and improve on my writing and creative skills. I was recently invited by a school in Bangalore to conduct the “Write Better Stories” workshop for elementary school children. I look forward to your feedback on this project. Please feel free to contact us through helpdesk@quillpad.org.
Vivek Krishnaswamy 9th Standard Kumarans, Bangalore Vivek, a member of JustBooks Kanakapura is a budding writer and founder of quillpad.org.
JustBooks’ Picks for Young Readers Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson
Song Of The Bookworm by Anushka Ravishankar
Ash And Tara And the Emerald Dagger by Jeanne Perrett
How Do Dinosaurs Count To Ten by Jane Yolen
Mayil Will Not Be Quiet by Niveditha Subramanian And Sowmya Rajendran
Twist In The Tale by Aditi De
Henry And the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary
You’re A Bad Man by Andy Stanton
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
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March-April 2013
Just Kids
Heal the World Stunned and shocked, is how we now feel As ripples of silent mourning spreads, For a “girl”: The daughter of Eve, was dealt with utmost, criminal minds of men. She was trapped within the corners of a vehicle, All alone, separated from the world around By nothing, but six sadistic creatures, Who gave no heed to her desperate cries. For she was made to do something against her will; Tortured, brutalised - What not must she have felt? Pain oozing through every one of her cells, until they were all satisfied, and away they went. They say - “No more can she live as a normal person” Yet, she is a fighter, battling for life Through the worst she’s been put through, she still stays strong, To prove that womankind, in this world we belong. We have every right to be who we are, To be treated equally, with respect by all, For EVERY woman is as divine and pure as she can be, An incarnation of the Goddesses, this we must feel. So, lets all promise, To respect women, Heal the world, And make it a better place to live in.
Pavithra R. 11th Standard GD Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore Pavithra, a member of JustBooks Coimbatore is passionate about things ranging from Jeffrey Archer books, to window shopping. Her hobbies range from singing, to practicing “Kalari”, a martial art form, to sketching and writing little poems every now and then.
My secret place
My secret place Is my beautiful garden. I go there at midnight So it’s quite a fright. The ground feels like a tree’s bark And I can’t see because it’s dark The garden looks like a forest So I’m scared to rest. The cat looks like a tiger And is always lapping up water When I see caterpillars crawling I’m not sure if they’ll be falling. I love the ants But I have to wear full pants Because they may bite And also fight! Raghav M. 3rd Standard National Academy For Learning, Bangalore Raghav, an 8-year-old member of JustBooks Rajajinagar, is an incurable bookworm, a budding poet and short story writer.
A New Year’s Come 2013, our New Year will ring Let’s clap our hands and joyfully sing! Another year have I passed Soon I am going to a new class. The cycle of seasons begin once more Summer delights are in store. The cold Winter begins to go And happy Spring will soon follow. I welcome each day- a chance to explore I ask, I find, I know more and more. New Year’s tidings for everyone I wish you lots of friends and fun! Rikshubhra Bhattacharjya 3rd Standard La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata Rikshubhra is a member of JustBooks, Salt Lake, Kolkata. He loves to play imaginary games, write stories and sing songs.
Young Readers can send their contribution to editor@justbooksclc.com
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March-April 2013
Interview
There will always be a passion called reading D Ravi Kumar
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fter visiting 3 JustBooks libraries for reading from her first book Humeirah, Sabah Carrim, the author, took time out to talk to us about herself, her book and her take on publishing.
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How “autobiographical” is the book in context? I think every maiden novel is somewhat, if not wholly, autobiographical. I would say that Humeirah—to a significant extent—is autobiographical. But I must also add that it is quite obvious to those who are close to me that many characters are purely imaginary.
Tell us more about yourself. My mother is from BangaNow that you have visited lore and she left India when 3 JustBooks libraries and she married my father who seen our offering, could was based in Mauritius. I was Sabah Carrim reading from her book Humeriah you tell us your thoughts therefore born in Mauritius on books, reading and the future of both? and I left the place ten years ago and began living in Malaysia. I was impressed by the range of books available in JustBooks At a very early stage, when I completed my studies in law, I was and I am really happy to have been given the opportunity to have at a crossroad because I had to choose whether I would join lethree book presentations on the premises. The idea behind the gal practice or become a lecturer. I chose the latter because I setting up of this system of renting-reading-returning books is believed that it would give me more time to do research and be remarkable. The concept motivates outlets to be updated with more involved in what I liked doing best: writing. their collection of books and at the same time, through the policy that readers can go to any outlet in the country, request a book What was the motivation behind your first book? How and have it delivered to them promptly, encourages the reader long did it take you to write it? Any sequel? and reading. The principal motivation was to communicate those thoughts For me, reading has been very beneficial and has aided me imwhich I had when I was younger and which nobody was then mensely in deepening my relationship with life and living. Howopen to paying any attention to. I was constantly questioning ever, I don’t think that this activity must be imposed on anyone. the values and norms set in my environment and most thought Parents and educators should just look for the right means that that such questioning was unnecessary. Although I read widely, suits the child’s learning method the most and helps the child I didn’t come across any specific book that I could relate to from develop these techniques further. start to finish that gave me the reassurance that it was alright to As to the future of books and reading, although we keep combe this way. What I wanted was a book to push my thinking to plaining that long ago people would read more than they do a different level. It was only in my early twenties that I discovnow, I am inclined to believe that this is merely an exaggeration. ered the world of philosophy and began finding a few answers There will always be a hobby and passion called reading and it to my many questions. This made me want to write a novel that will always draw those who are cut out for it.
Sabah Carrim at a JustBooks’ library was simple enough to be placed in those bookstores and libraries that didn’t care about the section of philosophy. My desire ultimately, is to reach out to the Humeirahs of the world. I started writing this book when I was 16 and at that time Humeirah was a simple story about a woman seeking liberation from a male-dominated chauvinistic society. I started rewriting the story about three years ago. There won’t be a sequel to Humeirah. It is a complete work.
What are your views on self-publishing considering you have published Humeirah yourself? I want to single out two obstacles that self-published authors often face: Self-publishing has a bad name simply because anyone can publish anything—this comprises work that is replete with inept vocabulary, unedited typos, and even material that has not been properly referenced; secondly, self-publishing is not recommended because it is quite onerous for the author to ensure that his/her book has a wide reach considering the limited means of marketing at his/her disposal. The question that follows this is simple: How to circumvent these problems? First of all, I would advise the selfpublished author to make sure that he/she uses the services of a competent creative editor as well as a proof reader. Secondly, I would urge him/her to use social media in order to ensure a wider circulation of the book. If the author thinks that he/she is ready to face the challenges of self-publishing—and note that the two aforementioned problems are not the only ones he/she will have to face—then I would say that self-publishing could be a viable option.
March-April 2013
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Events
Community Program for Republic Day Celebration
J
ustBooks Mysore identified a home for children whose parents are serving terms in prisons. All the kids here go to school and it’s their home now. Young members from JustBooks Mysore along with the staff members Bhanu, Sujan, Deepthi, Sarali and branch manager Poornima Kumar visited the home. The children did veda recital and sang songs. Poornima spoke about reading and how it can change lives. It was followed by donation of story books, dictionaries, stationeries, chocolates and then cake cutting!
Tamashah
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n event called Tamashah with Kiran Shah was organised at JustBooks Adyar, Chennai recently. It was attended by kids and their parents. This event was an initiative of Tulika Publishers where all the JustBooks’ kids had a great time.
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March-April 2013
Photography Workshop
photography workshop was conducted by JustBooks, Kalidasa Road, Mysore. Vittal, a young member of the library and a photography whiz of sorts interacted with the audience on various aspects of photography and motivated participants to take up photography as a hobby. The photos taken by him have been published in Mysore’s newspaper, The Star of Mysore. The participants enjoyed the activity-based interactive workshop, while grasping every aspect of the field visit and photo-shoots. RapidFire – the quizzing part of the workshop – ensured a joyous and active participation from all. By the end of the workshop, it was acknowledged by all that Vittal has a glorious future ahead of him in photography.
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Mangalore Bejai: 08242214040 Mumbai Kandivali: 9769556165
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