English August - a mini review

A worn out book only indicates its popularity. Feeling proud that I read a book from my long-pending to-read list and the book has not disappointed me.

When I was reading this novel, I too was changing jobs so I could relate to the absurdity that the protagonist felt in his first job. His restlessness about the absurdity beautifully expressed in some of the lines like this one:
“Movement without purpose, an endless ebb and flow, from one world to another, journeys and passages, undertaken by cocoons not for rest or solace, but for ephemerals”.

Much of the narration is as graceful though a tad bit slow. It was amazing to read about the India of late 80s and to realise that not much has changed since except for the technological invasions. The exchange of letters feels nostalgic. An itsy bitsy complaint about not mentioning the Hindi songs in Hindi but as translations. Makes one think that the book was intended for the English (Anglo) readers, what with one of the quotes in the book asserting the Bengalis’ fascination for English!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading English August. Ending with another lovely paragraph end from the book:
“At night he would lie awake and hear the clack of his uncle’s typewriter and watch the dark shape of the bougainvillaea outside the window, and see in its twists and turns a million things, but never his future”.

Lepakshi - a photo blog

Built about five centuries ago, the temple and shrines in Lepakshi, a town in Andhra Pradesh, not very far from Bengaluru, are known for several architectural aspects. Presenting a few of them in pictures.

 

 

The ceilings of the interiors of the temple, the mukha mantapa and the arda mantapa, are adorned by several frescoes. The one in the antechamber is Asia's largest, measuring 23 by 13 feet. Photographed the frescoes in the outer hall.

Ubiquitously present are the carved stone pillars to satiate one's appetite for visual art.

The temple complex is vast, as can be gauged from the above pictures. There is a lot of open space too.

Outside the complex 200m away guards the monolith of Nandi, said to be Asia's largest.

Finally, a few more random pictures of stone carvings. I'm not including the picture of the hanging pillar (you read it right) here as a photo may not be able to do justice to its architectural aspect.

on a pillar

on the ceiling

on the steps

large meal-plate carved on the floor

Introduction to the world of Katha publishing - how stories improve lives

StoryPedagogy, the concept of teaching through stories, was introduced by Geeta Dharmarajan, founder-director of Katha, an NGO that also publishes children's literature. The concept works through these two books that we bought and read recently. Presenting the mini-reviews:

Run Ranga Run: A story of a female rhinoceros growing from a baby who needs to be nudged to stand on her feet to a confident young adult who stands for her mother in danger, is delivered gracefully. The succinct first person narration and the soothing colours used for illustration makes for an endearing bed-time story. My almost-6yr old learnt figurative phrases like “a river full of stars”.                         

                                 

At the end, after reading about some facts about rhinos, we added Khaziranga to our must-visit places. He had a ripple of laughter when I read out, “We talk a lot! We also use our poop to talk with other rhinos!” Later, when he remembered this sentence with a sense of intrigue, I had a tough time making him understand the possible situations in which rhinos used poop to talk and why humans couldn’t or shouldn’t. Though the target age group is not clear, I believe this book could serve as a read-alone to a more mature group.

Hic!copotamus: This one’s a fun read, about a hippo landing from Africa to India after a heavy hiccup! Apart from learning surprising facts about Hippopotamuses like their ability to remain under water for really long, we also learn how team work can solve problems in an absolutely entertaining way, presented with a host of characters and multitude of eye-catching pictures. This is a recommended read for pre-schoolers.

                                     

This is the first time I have learnt about the publishers. I noticed the Indian name in the book sale that takes place during my kid’s PTM at his school. From its conceptualisation of making “reading for fun”, to “reading for meaning”, Katha has done a wonderful job at improving lives of slum dwellers, who learn by way of stories at the Katha schools. This is a story about helping the underpriviledged. A story of mighty dreams and achievements. An inspirational one.