Sita: Book 2 of the Ram Chandra Series Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana Amish Devdutt Pattanaik 2017 2013 pp. 361 pp. 316 Westland Penguin Reading two different versions of Sita’s story in quick succession was a deliberate attempt. We have heard and read Ramayana from a male perspective often. I have read…
Chatterji, B (2015). On Education. Economic and Political Weekly, L(34): 39-43.Chaterji presents his perspective on education in India, referring to it as one of the greatest challenges of contemporary times. He begins the paper by highlighting the significant role of Universities across the world in the process of development, particularly in their role as the breeding grounds…
Why Should I Love You…?Kamal Paneru2017pp. 150 Half Baked BeansThe debutant work by Paneru is in the young adult romance genre oft explored by contemporary Indian writers. The setting is an engineering college, and themes of romance, studies, the futility of studies, placements and life in the semi metropoliton cities have been well explored. All…
The Time Machine H G Wells 1895 (Kindle edition) The famous time travel book by Wells is an interesting on life on this planet. Reflection on the theme of time travel by an inventor/scientist, Wells has attempted to also reflect on life as it unfolds on this planet, across centuries. Reflection on what life may be…
The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonF. Scott Fitzgerald1922 (original)pp. 49BN PublishingFitzgerald’s work is a brief description of the life of a man who is reverse aging. Born as a seventy year old, he lives his life in reverse. The struggles with family, education, and society at large have been presented. A full novel would have…
Venkatesh, K. 2017. Negotiating the ‘Social’ in Elementary School Social Sciences. Economic and Political Weekly, LII (24): 169-172. The paper begins by raising the fundamental question of what constitutes Social Science at the school level. The argument of Mills (1959) is used to resolve the debate of including the older discipline of History into the…
Youth Isaac Asimov1952Space Science(read e version)Youth is a science fiction novella, written in the fifties. The narrative describes the visit of aliens to a planet and being found by two young boys- Red and Slim. The boys capture them in the hope of taking them as show animals in a circus, where they hope to be…
Mumma ki DiaryAnu Singh Choudhary2015Hindyugmpp. 159Mumma ki Diary is exactly what it claims to be. A non-fictional account of the life experiences of a young mother. Written in everyday Hindi, the book presents an episodic account of a young journalist, the author, from the time of her decision to have a child to her present…
The New Indian Middle ClassPavan K Varma2014Harper Collinspp. 101This non fiction book is a prelude to the now history 2014 elections. Varma analyses the collective conscience of the ever growing middle class and the active role it has chosen to play in Indian politics. At times silent, at times violently vocal, at times clueless, yet…
No AngelHelen Keeble2013New YorkHarper Collins (HarperTeen)The book is about the experiences of a teenage boy, Raffael Angelos, ending up studying in an all girls’ residential school. His experiences go beyond his expectations as he realises that he is an angel, or half angel or half demon. Call it what you might! Well, there are others…
