Dan Brown to come out with debut picture book

(New Delhi, Feb 21, 2020) Bestselling author Dan Brown will make his picture book debut and talk about a big blue whale and speedy cheetahs, tiny beetles and graceful swans and their special secrets.

Releasing worldwide on September 1, Wild Symphony will have illustrations by Hungarian graphic designer Susan Batori.

The book, published by Penguin Random House, will take readers through the trees and across the seas with Maestro Mouse and his musical friends.

Dan Brown is fond of writing about puzzles and codes, and in this book too, Maestro Mouse leaves for the readers a hiding buzzy bee, jumbled letters that spell out clues, and even a coded message to solve.

The publishers called it a “mindful, humorous, musical, and uniquely entertaining” book.

“Children and adults can enjoy this timeless picture book as a traditional read-along, or can choose to listen to original musical compositions as they read – one for each animal – using a free interactive smartphone app which uses augmented reality to instantly play the appropriate song for each page when the camera of a mobile device is held over it,” a statement said.

Dan Brown is the author of numerous bestsellers, including The Da Vinci Code, Inferno, The Lost Symbol, Angels & Demons, Deception Point, Digital Fortress, and Origin.

Book traverses range, depth of India’s culture through flowers

(New Delhi, Feb 18, 2020) Did you know that Mughal emperor Babur brought the Chinar tree to India or Nur Jahan popularised Ittar?

Noted art critic Alka Pande’s new book “Flower Shower: The Culture of Flowers in India” has these and a myriad other interesting floral tidbits.

Published by Niyogi, the coffee table book in full colour has 323 photographs and is priced at Rs 1,995.

“Flower Shower” explores the integral role that flowers play in one’s world – as cultural signifiers; as motifs in Indian art, architecture, sculpture, literature and textiles; as culinary ingredients and as divine offerings.

It also discusses a range of topics from botany to aesthetics and history to poetry and takes the reader through a journey, laden with the beauty and perfumes of the exotic, nutritional and decorative role of flowers within Indian tradition and aesthetics.

The other interesting nuggets include: in Hindu mythology, the Parijat tree emerged from the ‘samudra manthan’ or churning of the ocean by the asuras and devas; and in Kashmiri Pandit weddings, the bride-to-be receives a gift of floral jewellery called ‘Phoolon ka Gehna’ from the groom’s family.

The book is replete with images of India’s astonishing heritage of floral imagery.

From flowers carved on the walls of Hindu and Jain temples, the Bodhi tree inscribed on Buddhist viharas, lotuses painted in murals in the Ajanta caves, to the beautiful inlay work in the Taj Mahal and other Mughal buildings, to adornments for the gods and goddesses in numerous Indian paintings ranging from Pahari miniatures to Rajasthani pahad paintings and tribal and folk art, the floral motif appears throughout various strands of Indian culture.

Flowers play a significant role in daily life too, from the kolam patterns drawn before south Indian households to Onam flower carpets in Kerala and rangolis for Diwali in northern India. From weddings to funerals, flowers have a place in the major landmarks in every Indian’s life.

The book depicts this in colourful detail, drawing on numerous historical and mythological references.

It also describes the role of flowers in aromatherapy and the culinary arts and includes some recipes. Detailed chapters on the lotus, rose, champa and genda also explore the symbolism of these flowers in different aspects of Indian culture ranging from the spiritual to the material.

The author further discusses flowers in Indian poetry, such as in the Ritikaleen School, in the works of Rabindranath Tagore and more modern poets, such as Tarannum Riyaz.

The chapter ‘Fabric of Flowers’ would be of particular interest to a textile lover as it depicts floral motifs in Indian textile varieties and techniques.

The range of images is vibrant. From the flower bedecked women in the resplendent paintings of Raja Ravi Varma to Krishna dallying with Radha in the Gita Govinda, from the Pandavas in exile in the forest in the Mahabharata to Sita in the Ashoka Vatika in the Ramayana, the integral part that flowers play in mythology is extensively detailed.

The intricate depiction of flowers on the borders of Mughal miniature paintings, on the carpets and robes depicted in the paintings, and the gardens created by the Mughal emperors is another dimension explored in the book.

Necessary for govt to hear voices of protest: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

(New Delhi, Feb 14, 2020) Former Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia says the government must hear voices of protest and bring a healing touch for creating an environment conducive to revival of investment, comments which come in the backdrop of anti-citizenship law demonstrations.

He says the Citizenship Amendment Act and possible creation of a National Register of Citizens have led to large-scale protests from students and the youth in many parts of the country.

“The voice of the youth is unlikely to be silenced easily. In any society, students and the youth are the ones most likely to speak truth to power if only because they have the least to lose and the most to gain,” he says.

Ahluwalia, who served as one of India’s senior economic policymakers for three decades, makes these observations in his latest book “Backstage: The Story behind India’s High Growth Years” which traverses the politics, personalities, events and crises in the country’s recent history.

He asserts that there is an urgent need to create an environment of social harmony.

“To create an environment conducive to the revival of investment it is necessary for the government to hear these voices and bring a healing touch. The need to create an environment of social harmony and peace is also vital for the survival of the idea of India,” he says.

According to Ahluwalia, authoritarian systems can afford to suppress dissent with little effect on investment because investors are interested primarily in social stability.

“In a democratic society, where dissent cannot be suppressed, it becomes necessary to listen to voices of protest and try to carry everyone along. India is much admired for its adherence to democratic norms and this reputation needs to be preserved,” he argues.

He says that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections gave the NDA government a massive mandate and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accumulated enormous political capital.

“He must use it to tackle the many serious economic challenges that are emerging, and not allow divisive issues to occupy centre-stage,” he says.

Ahluwalia, who played a key role in the transformation of India from a state-run to a market-based economy, presents the story behind the country’s economic growth in the first half of the UPA’s tenure as well as its achievements in poverty alleviation.

He also discusses the successes and failures of the UPA regime during which period he served as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, a Cabinet-level position. He mentions about the policy paralysis and allegations of corruption that came to mark the last few years of UPA 2.

He calls his book, published by Rupa, a travelogue of India’s journey of economic reforms “in which I had the privilege of being an insider for 30 long years”.

‘52 Red Pills’: A 52-week hyper-learning adventure

(New Delhi, Feb 18, 2020) In 2018, corporate couple Eika and Siddharth Banerjee embarked on an exciting and a unique hyper-learning adventure: meet experts and specialists from various fields over 52 weeks to explore topics that help one enrich lives from all perspectives.

The result is “52 Red Pills”, a book written as a practical guide that aims at helping people introspect and make them eager to know more about the different walks of life.

The primary motive of the exercise, the authors say, was “for us to learn and grow, and to use our learnings to become better versions of ourselves”.

Another objective was to “spend ‘blocked-off’ time as a couple on topics and conversations of mutual interest”.

The book, with a subtitle that says “A New-Age Playbook to become Healthy, Wealthy and Wise”, has interactive exercises and suggestions towards the end of every week that helps the readers write about their experiences and challenges.

The topics the authors chose were diverse as well as fascinating, covering a vast gamut of ideas and themes: from the art of making fine coffee to mind maps, from how billionaires think to how pro-marathoners train, from mindfulness to muay-thai, and from ancient medicine practices to cutting-edge haematology.

This accelerated self-learning was a three-step process. The Banerjees would speak to experts and hack into their life-journeys and learnings. They would then scan and absorb exciting literature on the subjects, thus building up an information database. Finally, the couple would debate and discuss these concepts in great details between themselves to understand them.

For 52 weeks of 2018, Eika and Siddharth explored and researched 52 topics that helped them enrich their lives from all perspectives, be it health, spiritual, professional or even leisure.

Their journey included topics of all kinds that are both intense and enjoyable. If one week, the authors learn about biohacking, the other they enjoy the different malts of whiskeys.

“Our journey was intense and hectic, covering a host of topics that would hopefully help us become ‘healthy, wealthy, and wise’, as we integrated learnings from ancient wisdom along with modern-day expertise,” the say in the book, published by Pan.

To give themselves a breather from some of the more intense themes, they incorporated some lighter weeks in between, where they concentrated on experimental topics like whiskey, coffee, etc.

Should I quit: Manmohan Singh asked me after Rahul Gandhi ordinance episode, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia

(New Delhi, Feb 16, 2020) After the Rahul Gandhi ordinance-trashing episode of 2013, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh asked Montek Singh Ahluwalia whether he thought he should resign, the former deputy chairman of the now-defunct Planning Commission says.

Ahluwalia says he told Singh, who was then on a visit to the US, that he did not think a resignation on this issue was appropriate.

In a major embarrassment to his own government, Rahul had denounced the controversial ordinance brought by the UPA dispensation to negate a Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers. He had termed it as “complete nonsense” that should be “torn up and thrown away”.

Singh, while returning home from the US, had ruled out his resignation though he appeared piqued over the entire episode.

“I was part of the PM’s delegation in New York and my brother Sanjeev, who had retired from the IAS, telephoned to say he had written a piece that was very critical of the PM. He had emailed it to me and said he hoped I didn’t find it embarrassing,” recalls Ahluwalia.

The article was widely reported in the media with reference to the author being Ahluwalia’s brother.

“The first thing I did was to take the text across to the PM’s suite because I wanted him to hear about it first from me. He read it in silence and, at first, made no comment. Then, he suddenly asked me whether I thought he should resign,” Ahluwalia writes in his new book “Backstage: The Story behind India’s High Growth Years”.

“I thought about it for a while and said I did not think a resignation on this issue was appropriate. I wondered then whether I was simply saying what I thought he would like to hear but on reflection I am convinced I gave him honest advice,” he reasons.

The incident was still a hot subject of discussion when Singh returned to New Delhi.

“Most of my friends agreed with Sanjeev. They felt the PM had for too long accepted the constraints under which he had to operate and this had tarnished his reputation. The rubbishing of the ordinance was seen as demeaning the office of the PM and justified resigning on principle. I did not agree,” Ahluwalia writes.

He argues that the incident highlighted an important fault line in the UPA.

“The Congress saw Rahul as the natural leader of the party and wanted him to take a larger role. In this situation, as soon as Rahul expressed his opposition to the ordinance, senior Congress politicians, who had earlier supported the proposed ordinance in the Cabinet and even defended it publicly, promptly changed their position,” he says.

Ahluwalia, who served as one of India’s senior economic policymakers for three decades, calls his book, published by Rupa, a travelogue of India’s journey of economic reforms “in which I had the privilege of being an insider for 30 long years”.

Ahluwalia, who played a key role in the transformation of India from a state-run to a market-based economy, presents the story behind the country’s economic growth in the first half of the UPA’s tenure as well as its achievements in poverty alleviation.

He also discusses the successes and failures of the UPA regime during which period he served as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, a Cabinet-level position. He mentions about the policy paralysis and allegations of corruption that came to mark the last few years of UPA 2.

Madrasa system of education caught in time wrap: Book

(New Delhi, Feb 15, 2020) The madrasa system of education is caught in a time wrap where the core syllabus has not been changed for hundreds of years but only artificial and lopsided additions of secular learning made, says a new book.

In “Madrasas in the Age of Islamophobia”, authors Ziya Us Salam and M Aslam Parvaiz narrate the decline of the madrasas from being centres of excellence to institutions of restricted learnings with dark clouds of stigma surrounding them.

They say that once a pivot of the Muslim world, madrasas today are marginalised within the Muslim community. “The well-off, the well-read, the well-placed Muslims do not send their children to madrasas anymore.”

The madrasas are also short of resources, rejected by the well-heeled, and condemned by politicians.

The book, published by SAGE Select, is an attempt to peek into the world of Indian madrasas and see how far the community has to travel to revive its days of glory.

It is an attempt to go back in time, from the earliest knowledge centres of West Asia to madrasas in medieval India, and finally to post-independence India, when to be an ‘aalim’ (one who perceives reality) of Islam from a local madrasa is often synonymous with being ignorant of the world.

The authors say the madrasas are going through rough and challenging times.

“The funds are low, almost entirely dependent on acts of charity of the believers, or what is euphemistically called community funding. Worse though is the inability of the madrasa management to move with the times,” they rue.

They say the Quran repeatedly asks believers to explore the world, introspect and ask questions; but madrasas, on the contrary, revel in their rote learning methods.

“The Quran is reduced to a book that is memorised by students in the initial years in a madrasa, kissed, touched with the forehead and put back in a velvet cover after every reading. Never is a student encouraged to ask questions about it, or seek answers through it,” the book says.

The authors also argue that due to a constant fascination for looking at the supposed past, the madrasas have neither changed their syllabus to meet emerging challenges, nor prepared their scholars to work in a multi-religious society or multi-sect Muslim world.

According to them, the madrasas in India are caught in a dystopia, religious institutions whose products once acted as civil servants of the society, are today merely imagined moral guardians.

“Far from providing lawyers and judges, doctors and engineers well versed with Islamic tenets, they provide only students who memorised the Quran, or who can, at best, argue on matters of ‘fiqh’ (jurisprudence), books that ceased to have direct relevance in the life of the faithful with the decline of the Mughals,” the book says.

Book compiles well-known aphorisms of Chanakya

(New Delhi, Feb 15, 2020) A new book takes a look at the Chanakya Niti corpus as a whole through some of well-known aphorisms attributed to the ancient master of statecraft Kautilya.

“Chanakya Niti: Verses on Life and Living” is translated from the original Sanskrit by long-time career diplomat A N D Haksar and published by Penguin Random House India.

Many of these verse sayings now have a long history of being remembered in verbal quotation or written reproduction. The language is straightforward, easy to follow, and mostly devoid of the ‘alamkara’ or embellishments found in traditional Sanskrit verse.

The stanzas also have a natural rhythm, easy to recite or hear. All are short and self-contained. Some may connect with the next on their subjects, but each stands on its own.

According to Haksar, who has translated several Sanskrit classics, these sayings are mainly about everyday life and living. Called Chanakya Niti as a whole, these epigrammatic verses of observation and advice have frequently been quoted in later Sanskrit works and anthologies and many are still remembered.

“They deal with family and social surroundings, friends and enemies, adequacy or absence of wealth, official and personal encounters, benefits of knowledge, and the inevitable end of everything. They also advise on the good and bad in life, proper and improper conduct, and how to manage many difficult situations,” he says.

Of particular interest for the modern reader may be their reflection of Indian social conditions at the time of their composition 2,000 years ago and the extent to which these still exist, he says.

“It was a patriarchal society that recognised caste but did not always link it to occupation. It respected women and also their traditional roles. It also took note of different kinds of people’s contacts with each other, their interactions with the government, whether helpful or troublesome, as well as the presence of foreigners,” Haksar says.

Overall, it is both their meaning and their style that made the Chanakya verses so memorable for so long, he says.

A representative selection drawn from the entire corpus has been translated in contemporary language for readers.

Of the translated verses, about half is drawn from the 17 chapters of Chanakya Niti Darpana or Vriddha Chanakya, the best known of all versions. The remaining verses are taken from the other five compilations.

PISA will benefit India: Oxford Education MD

(New Delhi, Feb 14, 2020) More focus on assessment and personalised learning besides participation in the global student programme PISA after a gap of over a decade will help India become an active player on the international education stage, says Oxford Education MD Fathima Dada.

“Because Oxford University Press (OUP) is charity and belongs to Oxford University, we tend to take long and medium term view and we are very excited about India,” South Africa-born Dada, who was in India recently, told PTI in an interview.

India, she says, has the right demography, the population is becoming ever more and more skilled and in the last 10-20 years, it has become a resource of technology, IT and engineering.

She says despite economic growth shrinking in India and also in China, both these countries are still sitting in the 5-7 range.

“So we see slight adjustment happening, which businesses are thinking of how to cope with. We think India is a market that we want to be in,” Dada, whose one grandmother is from Bengal and her grandfather from Gujarat, says.

According to her, there are exciting times in store for India because of its strong digital and technology industry.

“A curriculum change is in the offing. If there is a lot more focus on assessment, personalised learning and on the stem subjects – science, maths etc, then together with PISA, India can become quite an active role player on the global stage,” she says.

Dada is also impressed by the numbers. “Look at your numbers – the number of students you have as your maths, science standard is measured. I think it gives more energy into improving and making it even better.”

India has recently announced that it will participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted by the Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). After an abysmal performance in its only appearance in PISA in 2009, India stayed away from the test in 2012 and 2015.

Carried out every three years for OECD members and partner nations, PISA is meant to assess key knowledge and skills of students in the age group of 15 years in mathematics, science and reading.

According to OUP India MD Sivaramakrishnan Venkateswaran, recent explosion of availability of affordable data in India and mobile penetration really add to content.

OUP launched its education division last September and it is being officially formed on April 1. It covers almost the entire globe with the exception of a few South American countries.

“What’s interesting about it is that it provides good opportunities to collaborate and learn. For instance, the UK can learn about innovation from India. On the other hand, Australia has fantastic digital infrastructure and some of the world’s best learning content that’s data driven, analytics driven personalised learning. And countries like India and China and those in Africa can learn from Australia,” Dada says.

Also with big international tests like PISA, the world is becoming smaller and countries are beginning to compare their maths, science and reading performance against each other, she says.

“So we can learn the best practices. For example, people in India are really strong in early reading and in primary English and those in a place like Australia are not that strong. So Australia can learn what the best practice in India is.”

Dada is also of the view that India offers huge opportunity for OUP as far as taking education to remote areas is concerned.

“Some parts of the remote areas we can’t access because the state supports the schools with learning materials but certainly it is not for lack of trying.

“The way our infrastructure is arranged, the people that we have in India and all over, we are very committed to it. We measure it and spread across the country because we have to be where our customers, our students and teachers are,” she says.

Digitisation, she says, is central to OUP’s future strategy.

“In India, the education division has been at the forefront of one of our biggest strategies. We look at integrated learning programmes which bring a combination of print in your usual textbook, packaging to meet government requirements for low weight etc and also world class quality digital assets and digital learning tools which will help us measure not only student progress but also help teachers save time and bring digital into the classroom.”

For teacher professional development, she says OUP has some very exciting ideas about partnering with Oxford University to try and work more closely with teachers to upgrade some of their skills and India is at the forefront of that.

She also says that the Oxford Star programme has helped in developing a co-curriculum for the soft skills, 21st century skills and it brings side by side the hardest skills in literary and numeracy in science.

Sivaramakrishnan adds that all of OUP’s English course books have 3-4 key elements keeping in mind the weight of the school bag.

“There is a course book, there is a work book, there is a reader, there is a grammar component, all integrated into one. Five years ago, there were individual books. And an essential part of the pedagogy is spoken English,” he says.

New book explores social-business aspects of cancer care

(New Delhi, Feb 4, 2020) A new book by noted oncologist Dr B S Ajaikumar talks about cancer care, its social and business aspects and treatment in India and also narrates how he founded the HealthCare Global chain of care centres.

In “Excellence Has No Borders”, he also stresses that proper investment in improving the prosperity and education of underprivileged sections can bring about more focus on health, both at the individual and the society levels.

According to Ajaikumar, cancer is the same everywhere and everyone deserves the same kind of treatment, rich or poor, urban or rural.

He is of the opinion that when it comes to private healthcare, the role of the government is very important.

“I find their policies short-sighted and lacking in vision. Part of the reason for this is that government advisers are all government doctors or bureaucrats,” Ajaikumar argues.

“It is high time we looked at domain experts to handle issues. They should be part of expert committees and come up with recommendations and policies that can be executed by the bureaucrats,” he suggests.

As a fledgling doctor, what would you choose: practising medicine in rural India or going abroad in search of financial security? How would you face the people who depend on you if your wealth is wiped out in the stock market? How would you pursue a dream project, knowing the many challenges that lie ahead?

Ajaikumar seeks to answer these questions in an inspiring and fascinating narrative.

He details how he has made cancer treatment accessible to all and created the HCG chain of cancer hospitals across India.

In the book, published by Penguin Random House, he also tells about the challenges and successes on the path to becoming a doctorpreneur.

Ajaikumar says his journey has been an adventure in two worlds: India, where he was born, and the US, where he emigrated at the age of 22.

He was able to experience an advanced society in the US but his happiest moment, he says, has been returning to India for good and making a difference in healthcare by building the HCG chain of oncology care centres.

“As I reflect and look to the future, I am amazed at how much more one can do in a country like India – a country where 1 per cent of the population controls 85 per cent of the wealth. The political system is rife with populist ideas, where we seem to celebrate poverty rather than prosperity,” he writes.

He now wants to concentrate on education and economic well-being, along with healthcare.

“Today, India needs activism and accountability. We have a rich heritage and are capable of being an advanced country, if we hold governments accountable and become responsible citizens of society,” Ajaikumar argues.

Vinod Shukla bags first Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 2, 2020) Noted Hindi poet-novelist and Sahitya Akademi honouree Vinod Kumar Shukla has bagged the inaugural Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award for his translated book “Blue Is Like Blue”.

The stories in “Blue Is Like Blue”, translated into English by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai, deal with common people and their daily struggles.

The 83-year-old Shukla, who is regarded the finest living writer in Hindi, has been quietly forging his own idiosyncratic path away from the public gaze in Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

His book, published under HarperCollins India’s translations imprint Harper Perennial, beat “Ib’s Endless Search for Satisfaction” (Roshan Ali); “The City and the Sea” (Raj Kamal Jha); “A Secret History of Compassion” (Paul Zachariah); “The Far Field” (Madhuri Vijay); “The Scent of God” (Saikat Majumdar) and “There is Gunpowder in the Air” (Manoranjan Byapari).

The award, given to the best fictional work released in the previous year, carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a plaque designed by Riyas Komu and a certificate.

This year’s jury comprised Shashi Tharoor, Chandrashekhara Kambara and Sumana Roy.

The award was presented at the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters 2020 which concluded here on Sunday.

This is the second award for this book, the previous being the Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize 2019 for best fiction.

The characters in these stories live in rented accommodation, often in single rooms, where one electric bulb does for light. When the light dims because of low voltage, it is like air escaping from a punctured bicycle tube. There’s a nail to hang clothes from and a wall-to-wall string for the washing.

When the clothes are dry, the character places the carefully folded shirt under a pillow and lies down to sleep. Money is a concern, but the bazaar is the place to go and spend time in, especially if the character has nothing to buy.

The fear that you may be overcharged accompanies every transaction, but joy is not entirely absent.

“Blue Is Like Blue” also includes Shukla’s memoir “Old Veranda”, which sheds light on the childhood and influences of this famously reclusive writer and has this unforgettable scene – a bus bound for Rajnandgaon, the city of his birth, travelling ‘through the air at great speed’.

According to the translators, Shukla is a frugal storyteller; he can make, and make do, with very little.

“By being perhaps India’s most unglamorous writer, the writer in rubber chappals who makes his home in Raipur where a flock of ducks looks like a duck, Vinod Kumar Shukla is glamorous in a different way,” they say.

“He turns the world’s attention away from himself to his writing, which is as down to earth as it is magical and which has now, with the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award, been given national recognition,” they add.

Speaking on the success of the book, Udayan Mitra, Publisher (Literary) at HarperCollins India, said, ‘Vinod Kumar Shukla is one of the great writers of our time and I hope that this award will encourage many new readers to pick up a copy of ‘Blue Is Like Blue’, and discover the author’s unique world, and his inimitable way with words.”

Shukla’s first collection of poems, the 20-page “Lagbhag Jai Hind”, was published in 1971, followed by “Vah Aadmi Chala Gaya Naya Garam Coat Pehankar Vichar Ki Tarah” in 1981.

His first novel, “Naukar Ki Kameez”, was published in 1979 and made into a film by Mani Kaul. In 1999, Shukla received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel “Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rehti Thi”.