Dear Mrs. Naidu has been on my list of books to read for a long time now. I finally read it today, and it came at the perfect time.Sure, the book is important. It is an eye-opener. But to talk about just those things to the exclusion of all else is to take away the charm of the voice of the lead character Sarojini. She is one of my favourite characters in literature. I love how she writes!Twelve-year-old Sarojini goes to a government school in Bangalore. When a new teacher, Annie Miss, joins the school, Sarojini is puzzled by Annie Miss's strange ideas of a 'just-and-beautiful-world'. But Annie Miss's ideas lead her to a club on child rights, which in turn makes her learn that she has a right to education. Annie Miss says that writing letters can help her brain and heart grow, and honestly, Sarojini is more concerned about the brain bit because that is what will get her a job, … [Read more...]
The Elephant Thief
The Elephant Thief was one of those books that I would have loved to read as a child, and thoroughly enjoyed as an adult. At the back of the book, there are three words that describe it - animal, adventure and thrilling. I think the first two sum up the book perfectly. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was thrilling, but it certainly was exciting.The twists and turns in the plot were sometimes surprising and sometimes predictable. As always, more than twisting plots, characters drew me in. The special relationship in this book is the one that blossoms between the street-urchin-turned-prince Danny and the elephant Maharajah. I am not at all a fan of elephants being domesticated - elephants belong in the wild. But then, this is historical fiction, loosely based on fact, so I couldn't really complain. I enjoyed the book!Additionally, The Elephant Thief was a quick read … [Read more...]
Just Henry
Have you read Goodnight Mister Tom? If you haven't, you must. I can't quite believe that I never wrote about the book. It's a classic, one that touched something deep inside me, the way only classics can.I remember the first time I read the book - I borrowed it from the library, and read and read and read and read ... And the last page was missing. I don't need to write about how frustrating that was.Then I read it for the second time and sobbed over it all over again, but finished it. Ah. It's one of those books. I see it on the shelf and it fills me up just thinking about it.So, of course, when I saw another book by Michelle Magorian at the library, I had to borrow it. I was a little daunted by how thick it was - I haven't read a 700-page book since Harry Potter. But I borrowed it and started reading it.And just like Goodnight Mister Tom, I read and read … [Read more...]
Meet the Monsters!
The huge, purple monster is on the loose! It has 12 arms, 12 legs, one eye, one horn, two mouths and 43 teeth, and it's going to take over the town. It eats 12 people every day: it ate my neighbour and my children; it even destroyed a nearby building! It stinks to high heavens, and people are trying to kill it with fire. So far, they have been unsuccessful because after all, what can kill a monster who is so enormous that even an elephant is like a rat to it?Meet the Crushing Monster - this one can be destroyed by just one person in the world, a young boy named Krishant.Meet the Destroying Monster. Vikas and his younger brother Vishnu are going to kill this one!Meet Mono. Vishnu and his friends will triumph over this one.And finally, meet Tide. We don't know yet whether this monster can be destroyed at all!What fun the workshop at BookMark Coimbatore … [Read more...]
How Not to Disappear
Wow. What a wonderful book. It kept me reading and reading and reading. I had to wipe away tears more than once, and I kept shaking my head at the power the story had over me.For me, How Not to Disappear is not a Young Adult book, and I cannot understand how it is classified as one. If I had read it as a young adult, I would have been traumatised. There's violence, abuse, isolation, drunkenness ...Hattie, who thinks she is in love with Reuben, needs to make an important decision. The one thing she takes a while to realise is that it is a decision. She must make a conscious choice, and it is not wise to base her decision on Reuben's reaction.The most important bit of advice she receives is from an old lady called Gloria, who has the beginnings of dementia. Do not be afraid of regret.Gloria and Hattie, two isolated and vulnerable individuals, embark on a journey together. … [Read more...]
The Lie Tree
The Lie Tree looked fascinating, but I wondered if it was my kind of book. Everyone who was quoted on the cover said it was 'dark' and compelling, and I cannot say that I am a fan of dark literature. I get scared too easily, and I don't enjoy getting scared.I decided to borrow it anyway and it was only when I got it home that I noticed that it was by Frances Hardinge.I've read two books by her - A Face like Glass, which was gripping, and Fly by Night, which is famous, but not one that I enjoyed as much. If I'd read Fly by Night first, I may not have picked p anything else by Hardinge. But A Face like Glass was impressive, so The Lie Tree could go either way.It went the right way.For one, I found the protagonist superb. I can't say I loved her because that really isn't what the book wants. Faith Sunderly is too complex for that. She is a rebel who does not appear to be … [Read more...]
And then, there was Goa
I have never been a huge fan of Goa, especially as I'm not particularly fond of beaches. In addition, we went on a banana boat ride at Baga once, and I was disgusted by the amount of dirty seawater I ended up swallowing. Plus, New Year's eve at Calangute eight years ago was a nightmare.So, when a workshop in Goa came up, I was happy, but not overly excited.But this time for me, everything was different. Panaji is so beautifully green! I love the wide pavements and the relaxed lifestyle that seems to permeates into your skin as you walk the streets of Goa. It belongs to a slower world, a world where you can take time out to look around and breathe.For dinner, we went to a charming place called Villa Panjim and feasted on Goan rice and curry while listening to Konkani music.Our stomachs full, we walked back to our hotel slowly, looking at old pink and purple buildings, … [Read more...]
Au revoir, Bali!
There's so much I could write about Bali, but pictures would work better to convey much of what we saw. Statues towered over junctions, gateways reached up to the sky. Art hid in little corners surrounded by every shade of green. We had only two proper days to explore Bali, so there was so much we did not visit, including its magnificent temples.And because there's so much to say that is random and unrelated, I'll end my travelogue with a little bit about the quirkiness of Bali. Shop signs always make me smile, everywhere in the world. I wrote earlier about signs carved in stone. Here's another. Isn't it wonderfully anachronistic? How did the carver feel making this?At a toilet, we saw this deliberately funny sign.There was one notice that we didn't photograph, unfortunately. It was on a blackboard outside a restaurant in Ubud. It said: 'We serve food for vegetarians, … [Read more...]
A Balinese Home
It was only after the visit to the coffee plantation that our cycling tour actually began. There was supposed to be a quick stop at Kintamani to see the volcano, but our guide Nyoman learned that there was too much traffic en route, so we skipped that and went straight to the place where we were to start cycling.Nyoman, by the way, is a traditional name for the third child in the family. The first child is called Wayan, the second child is called Made (Maa-day), the third is called Nyoman and the fourth is called Ketut. This name is independent of the gender of the child. If it is a boy, the name is preceded by 'I'. If it is a girl, the name becomes 'Ni Wayan', 'Ni Made', etc.When you don't know the naming system, it's quite amusing to see the name of, for instance, the taxi driver who is coming to pick you up. It says 'I Made <name>', and when you read that in English … [Read more...]
Indonesian Coffee Plantation
Have you heard of Luwak coffee? I had heard of it before visiting Bali, but hadn't yet made the connection between two.Luwak coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world and is euphemistically described as 'part-digested'. Honey is pre-digested too, isn't it, so why should coffee be so different? I won't get into the details here, but you can read about it on Wikipedia, if you're curious. Let's just say that the process of making it, plus how much it cost, prevented me from tasting it. Additionally, with such a huge variety of coffees to taste, I honestly did not want to try yet another!Visiting a coffee plantation is lovely because they allow you a free taste of an array of coffees - mangosteen, turmeric, lemongrass ... The coffee you have to pay for, though, is Luwak. The coffee was yummy, but of course, stories always excite me more. It was at the … [Read more...]