Of work, books and Harry Potter

So what have I been upto?

My house-help was on leave for many days due to seasonal illnesses in her house- first her daughter, then herself. I have just this one lady who comes to clean- washing vessels, sweeping and mopping. I have never had a full-time maid or cook- I do all the rest myself as a matter of course. But it is a real drag when I have to do the washing vessels and sweeping-mopping. Not really complaining, as it is my house, but one wishes it didn't have to be for so many days at a stretch. I did all of that when we were out of the India, of course, but then there were things like dish-washers and vacuum cleaners that made life easier, leaving one with enough time to pursue one's interests, and of course one was younger and nimbler!

Anyway, as a consequence I wasn't really upto blogging by the time all the chores were done. Reading- yes, I've been reading, of course. It was my way of unwinding.

I have been reading 3 books in parallel. One is In Search of Sita - Revisiting Mythology, edited by Namita Gokhale and Malashri Lal. An anthology of essays on and discussions about Sita, that much misunderstood and iconic figure from our epics.

Another is Looking for Enid - The mysterious and inventive life of Enid Blyton, by Duncan Mclaren. Biographical, but not your everyday biography. More a discussion on the incidents and influences in her life that made Enid, Enid, and the association of what was going on in her life with what she wrote then. An interesting read, one that was a must-read for a Blyton fan like me.

And the third is When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, by Judith Kerr. Autobiographical fiction, based on the real-life incidents during the childhood of the author, when her family fled from pre-Hitler Germany.

I would like to review all three books at length, in later posts, if I may.

What has A been reading? On her own, three books lent to her by Choxbox's FB. (I must read them before we return them, they seem to be delicious!) And more.
1. Play Time by Julia Donaldson.
2. Return of the Hundred Mile An Hour Dog, by Jeremy Strong.  Which made her want to get the prequel, The Hundred Mile An Hour Dog, which we did, and she read- with lots of giggles.
3. The Perfect Hamburger, by Alexander McCall Smith.
4. St Clare's series by Enid Blyton. And identifying with a lot of it- the friendships, the fights, the bickering, the feeling left-out, the dynamics in class with the teachers- she's in middle grade now, so she can really get under the skin of the characters and is really enjoying it. Although I do try to bring to her notice some of the politically incorrect things Enid Blyton writes, and how they may be wrong if imbibed!

Reading together- of course Harry Potter. We finished Half-Blood Prince around the end of the holidays, and are on the verge of finishing the last book, Deathly Hallows, - nicely in time for the last movie, which she wants to watch on the big screen. She wants to watch it with her friend, Choxbox's FB. Let us see how that works out.

Which brings us to the movie itself. We are so looking forward to it. I don't know when we will get to watch it, as this weekend is booked for something else already, but maybe next weekend? With A, and hopefully with Choxbox and her FB. I probably will watch it one more time, as I can't just watch it once. The trailor promises a great experience. How different it will be from the book, has to be seen.

Other than all this, A has been back at school for about 6 weeks now, and we have settled down to our routine more-or-less. Remember the homework monster? Well, we have been trying out charting, a time-table, and it has been working- somewhat. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for the pointers, Starry!

A also had a music examination. She did OK according to her, and came out a bit bemused, as the examiner had been a little intimidating. She has been learning Hindustani Classical vocal music for a few years now. Much as I would like her to learn it purely for the love of music we all have, for the sake of the pleasure a knowledge of music can bring in her life, and the discipline such a training instills, her teacher would like to measure it by exams. So be it.

My househelp turned up for work since yesterday, and I immediately took the opportunity to make a visit to the ongoing Strand books sale at the Institute of Engineers on upto the 17th of July. It wasn't as great as it normally is. There was a lot of stuff for the preschool and early readers, plenty of Dr Seuss, Martin Waddell, Magic Tree House and such. Not much for A's age, not unless you count the Harry Potter books, Ruskin Bond, and Enid Blytons. We have a lot of those. There was also a whole load of Tulika books, but we have or have read most of that which were on display. So after spending some time in the children's section, I turned to the rest.

What did I pick up? These.

Books by the ton!

Literally! It was hard work lugging them back!

Wrote this on the 16th.

Went to the Bangalore Book Festival. I had not really planned to go, as Mondays are usually a bit busy after the weekends. But the sun was shining outside, and it seemed a fine day, just right to go book browsing and book-shopping, without the worry of getting drenched on the way back. So around 11am I decided that I should go, got ready and went. Considering the commute, I had all of an hour there, as I had to be back before daughter came back from school. Seemed like just a few minutes to me when I look back.

I did find quite a few gems, though. Found a couple of wonderful books by Shanta Rameshwar Rao at the Orient Blackswan stall. Also found at the same place a beautiful hardbound and illustrated copy of the Ramayana by Lakshmi Lal, which strongly reminded me of another book on the epics, the Mahabharatha by Samhita Arni. We met the lady once when she happened to be at Crossword for another book launch, and A went and got a copy signed from her. We knew that she was going to be there, so we had taken our copy with us. She was very gracious, and spoke to A about her book without talking down to her- something I've seen in truly great persons- they are humble and do not patronise you, as opposed to those who are not really talented, and have a grandiose idea of themselves!

Also picked up at the same stall a copy of Silappadikaram Manimekalai by Lakshmi Holstrom, beautifully illustrated. This has been a tale I have heard much about from a former Tamilian neighbour, but have never come across a copy in English.

At another stall, I came across some amazing deals. Picked up three books by Barefootbooks, and a copy of "Wombat Goes Walkabout" by Michael Morpurgo, all for throwaway prices, in near mint condition. This last one brought to my notice by Utbtkids in a comment on a post I had written for ST. Actually I have much to thank my association with Saffrontree in terms of all the wonderful books I have learnt about. I even picked up at another stall a biography of Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, thanks to the post "Wangaris trees of peace" by Sheela on ST.

Continued on the 19th.

Went again yesterday. Couldn't resist. How can you if you can get books at one-tenth of their original prices, if you really bargain? You do have to search a bit, but you are rewarded by gems.

And I had around two hours in which to do that. Planned my morning a bit better, so that I could start out earlier. The weather gods were good that morning too. Although it poured for some time that I was there, the skies had cleared a bit by the time I came out again to get home.

As expected, I met two Saffrontree contributors there. Almost all members of the local STers had made there way there. One of us made three trips, one on the last day, when she got books at throw-away prices.

What did I get at this trip? Beautifully illustrated, hard-bound copies of The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay, Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie,  History of Art: from the Gothic to the modern era-with full page reprints of the paintings. The last one was picked up more to educate myself first, as I know very little about classical art forms, just the basics, and am often at sea during discussions regarding these on Saffrontree. So I learn something new. There is also a boxed set of 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass' by Lewis Caroll, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, and one of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' in hardback in two volumes, illustrated edition.

And of course I picked up books from the NBT and Pratham stalls like they would disappear tomorrow. Imagine books @ Rs 8, Rs 15, etc.! At a 20% discount too!

On a tangent- I've been looking at picture books less at the sales now. Maybe A is slowly growing out of them. Or maybe I feel they should be read at the library as they give you less to bite upon considering the cost, in comparison to meatier books.

Also, I kept searching for books from CROCUS, but couldn't find any. :( Oh, well, there's always the library, good friends who lend you their books, or the next time!

Of rain and book-shine

It's been really cold weather for the past few days now, and seems as though winter has already begun. Having been born and brought up in Mumbai, it took me quite a while to get used to the cooler winters here. In fact, I am one of those who feel extra cold on any given day, and need at least a thin coverlet on warmer nights on which others cannot sleep without a fan.

The cold these few days is more as a result of the rains, thanks to Cyclone Jal, not true winter yet, methinks. Sweaters, jackets and quilts have nevertheless come out, and it is purely by sheer willpower, and the thought of having to get the child ready on time for the school bus, that I can get out of a warm bed before daybreak, shivering as I take a handful of really cold tap water to rinse my face so that I wake up completely.

Uncharacteristically for Bangalore, it has been raining at all odd times. It is not usual to have rain mid-morning. Unlike in Mumbai, where it keeps raining 24/7 for almost all days of the monsoon, July being the worst. What is interesting is that Mumbai keeps going inspite of it, and on days when the lifeline of the city, the local trains, stop in their tracks because of the water-logging, the die-hard Mumbaikars find alternative ways of going about their business. It isn't called maximum city for nothing.

Two incidents stand out in my memory.

One July day, many years ago, it rained so much in Mumbai that the local trains were not working. I had to submit my admission forms for my graduate course that day. On enquiring, I learnt that rain or no rain, it had to be done that day. So I took buses to the place, and had to walk the last half kilometer or so through thigh high water. Equiped with my certificates wrapped securely in plastic (Imagine the loss if they had got damaged by water? Try telling that to an 18-something person who has no concept of the apparent mission impossible!) and nothing more than an umbrella to protect myself from the incessant rain, I proceeded to do what I needed to do. Never mind that it took me the entire day to get there in the crazy water-logged traffic, finish with the formalities, and come back home.

Second was when a friend's parents had come to Mumbai from a town in interior Maharashtra for the first time since she had married and come to Mumbai. They had come just before the monsoon season had begun. When the rains started in earnest around the 2nd-3rd week of June, they were astonished that she had to go to work as usual, rain notwithstanding. That aunty later told me that she thought her daughter would have a holiday since it rained so much and so continuously that day. She soon realised, however, that the incessant rain was not just for a day or two like in her native town, but would continue unabated, increasing in ferocity over the next 2-3 months, and daily life had to go on!

When I came to Bangalore, it took me awhile to get used to its rains too, just like I had to get used to the cold. To my Mumbai-acclimatised mind, the rains here were erratic, comimg in summer as well as winter. Also, a sunny morning was no guarantee that it would not become overcast towards the afternoon, and rain in the evening. Initially, I hated the fact that I could not get out in the evenings. Also, I could not get my mind around the fact that people hardly ever carried umbrellas here-which you'll still find me carrying. (I always carry one in my purse. True Mumbaikar at heart. Ready even in case of unexpected rains.) And, I could not get any rainy footwear like in Mumbai- which I would get from there every year.

Now, after 15 years in Bangalore, I have partially switched loyalties, and find Mumbai too sultry sometimes. After all, this is air-conditioned city. I carry that umbrella, get my rainy footwear available at Bangalore shoe-shops since the past few years, and do all I have to do during the mornings. The cold- well, have made great additions to my wardrobe with some excellent jackets, pullovers and cardigans. And am fine with wearing warm-wear during the day, too if necessary.

On a different note- am looking forward to meeting the Tulika team tomorrow at Mother Earth, where they will be releasing their new set of books based on stories from the Panchatantra.. Although their programme is in the evening, which I will not be able to attend thanks to a function at the daughter's school, I shall try to attend a session that they have in the morning. The books, reviewed here at Saffrontree, look yummy!

And looking forward to drooling over the glut of books at the Bangalore Book Festival which starts today! Will try to go during the following week.

Also looking forward to meeting some old and new blogging friends next week.

Come rain or shine!

Edited to add on Nov 14th: Went to the release of the Tulika books yesterday. The team were very warm and welcoming, just as I had visualised them to be. Had a chance to attend an awesome performance by the inimitable Jeeva Raghunath as she told the story from one of the books which has been re-told by her.