The milky way

Posted on by bijalv

Author Neil Gaiman talks to Time Out about his latest book.

Where there’s cereal, there must be milk. And that sets off the story ofFortunately, the Milk, the latest children’s book to come from author Neil Gaiman’s stellar pen. Two siblings, a boy and a girl, are waiting for their father, who has popped out to buy milk for breakfast and is inordinately late. Turns out the father, who looks suspiciously like Gaiman, got waylaid because he was abducted by gloppy-looking aliens, walked the plank for a swaggering crew of pirates and was whisked away by a Floaty-Ball-Person Carrier. And to add to the dizzying lactic (and galactic) adventure, there is a bowlful of piranhas with sharp teeth, pretty little ponies and a clever dinosaur who has an aunt called Button.

Alaugh-out-loud book, Fortunately, the Milk comes with Gaiman’s trademark whimsy. Gaiman’s written the much darker Coraline and The Graveyard Book for young readers, but this one takes a sharp detour from those stories. The book is an imaginative romp that’s deliriously funny and downright silly. It’s fantasy and sci-fi rolled into one narrative – think Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Gaiman’s own Doctor Who. It’s a lovely father and child story – we can just imagine fathers regaling their kids with such a tale when having to make up an excuse for missing a cricket session or a school play.

What really makes the book a complete adventure, though, is Chris Riddell’s black and white illustrations. Riddell brings to life the objects of Gaiman’s imagination with his detailed and quirky drawings of the characters and the setting – whether it’s a bereft-looking breakfast table, a disquieting castle or a carton of milk. The artist, young readers will be delighted to learn in the book, when asked “how he imagines the peculiar things that Mr Gaiman asks him to draw, [replied that] he had no imagination whatsoever, but that he was fortunate in having excellent models, and in drawing all his characters from life”. Real or unreal? Present or future or past? These are all questions that pop up in the book. But then fortunately, the answers are all there as well. Time Out got some more answers from Gaiman about his latest children’s book, films and Doctor Who.

Fortunately, the Milk is your latest kids’ book – what’s it about?
It’s the silliest, strangest, most ridiculous book I’ve ever written. It’s the story of a father who goes out to buy milk for his children and – at least according to him is kidnapped by aliens, kidnapped again by pirates and rescued by a stegosaurus in a hot-air balloon. There are ponies, vampires and dinosaur police.

Sounds like a particularly weird episode of Doctor Who. You’ve written two episodes of that series – how did that come about?
Early in the process of Stephen Moffat taking over as executive producer, I had dinner with him and told him that I’d love to write for Doctor Who. Actually, I wasn’t meant to know that he was taking over, so we were having this weird hypothetical conversation about it, and half way through the meal, he said: “Oh, fuck this! You know I’m taking over, I know that you know. Do you want to write an episode?”’

Hollywood seems to love you; do you love it?
I love the fact that millions of people have read Stardust because they liked the film. And Coraline was a lovely film – the director Henry Sellick did an astonishing job. There’s going to be a Graveyard Book movie – Ron Howard is meant to be shooting it next year, which is kind of wonderful. AndAtonement director Joe Wright is going to be filming The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

You’ve perhaps reached modern day immortality with a guest spot on The Simpsons. Was it fun?
That was awesome! I’d run into Matt Groening over the years and he’d always say: “You’ve got to come on The Simpsons.” One day a script arrives and I sit down to read it, looking for my one-line cameo – and I’m in the whole thing! I love the idea that some yellow, threefingered version of me is heisting his way to the top. And that I’m the evil bad guy.

Fortunately, the Milk, Bloomsbury, R250.

Interview by Adam Lee Davis, review by Bijal Vachharajani

http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/books/featuresfeatures/interview-neil-gaiman

Bear necessities

Posted on by bijalv

http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/mumbai-local/features/bear-necessities

As a former employee of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) India, I have done some bizarre things in the line of duty. I have walked with a giant chicken mascot on crutches on the roads of Bengaluru, wriggled my way out of awkward situations such as explaining to suspicious customs officials at the Delhi airport what I was doing with a bulbous cow head (protesting against animal abuse in the leather industry outside Connaught Place), and chased snake charmers across Mumbai.

In 2003, my former colleague Dilpreet Beasley and I found ourselves dashing across Bandra to find six performing sloth bears. We were acting on a tip that the bears were last spotted moving towards Carter Road. Performing bears used to be a common sight in India – cubs are nabbed from forests and through a method of punishment and pain made to learn silly acts such as dancing on two legs, saluting onlookers and smoking a cigarette. This is a far cry from the way these bears live in the jungle – where they can climb even 35-ft tall trees with their long hook-like claws to raid honeycombs, close their nostrils at will to protect their sensitive muzzles while feeding on termites and as cubs, suck their front paws while sleeping, much like human babies.

Luckily, bears are not a common sight in Bandra, and most fruit and vegetable sellers were happy to point us in the right direction. Dilpreet and I reached Carter Road and proceeded to bundle the kalandars and bears into a truck and hauled them to the police station. The six bears were taken to a temporary rescue space at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. As we made our way back, two of the kalandars blocked our path. In a scene straight out of a B-grade Bollywood film, we were warned, “It’s not a good idea for girls to do such dangerous work and it could lead to trouble.” Worst, they decided to make good the threat. The madaris traced down Peta’s Juhu office and camped outside it every morning. Dilpreet and I felt very James Bond-esque as we disguised ourselves with scarves and huge shades and ducked inside an autorickshaw to sneak past them. Happily, the story did have the quintessential fairy-tale ending: the six bears now live at Wildlife SOS’s bear sanctuary in Agra, where they have plenty of space to roam about in, forage for food and swing on hanging tyres. The kalandars have found alternative vocations with the help of the NGO.

Animal rescues are not simple affairs, especially as they raise questions of sustenance versus exploitation. When it comes to animal rights welfare, there aren’t easy answers, but some are simpler than the others. For instance, the successful stray dog sterilisation and vaccination programmes by organisations such as the Welfare of Stray Dogs, Plants and Animal Welfare Society, Ahimsa and In Defense of Animals has made a substantial difference to the way stray animals are viewed in the city.

Then there are ongoing campaigns, such as the one at the 150-year-old Rani Bagh zoo, or technically the Veermata Jijabai Bhonsle Udyan. The 53-acre garden is a vital green open space for Mumbai. But controversy often yaps at its heels, like the death of a large number of blackbucks in 2006 and the single status of Shiva the rhino for 35 years. According to the Central Zoo Authority Recognition of Zoo (Amendment), Rules, 2004, “No animal shall be kept without a mate for a period exceeding one year unless there is a valid reason for doing so or the animal has already passed its prime and is of no use for breeding purposes”. Then there was the grand master plan proposed by HK Consultants – picture a R400-crore plus makeover that would have impacted the fragile biodiversity of the green open space adversely. Several groups have intervened – in 2004, Peta filed a public interest litigation against the zoo, the Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Action Committee mobilised civic support for sustainable redevelopment and college volunteers patrolled the zoo to keep visitors from harassing the animals. Peta worked with experts and volunteers to environmentally enrich enclosures by replicating the animals’ natural surroundings – branches and rocks for the snake enclosure, resting logs for the leopards and a network of ropes and hammocks for the monkeys.

Over the years, the city’s activists have got a ban on animal joy rides on beaches, broached public-state partnerships for programmes such as sterilisation of stray dogs, and continue to work tirelessly to rescue animals and spearhead adoption campaigns. But then that’s what makes Mumbai special – an active civil society that rallies for animals.

By Bijal Vachharajani 

Inked heart

Posted on by bijalv

http://www.timeoutbengaluru.net/books/featuresfeatures/inked-heart

A sneak-peek into Penguin’s new imprint Inked

The behemoth publishing house, Penguin, has expanded its footprint in India with a new subdivision, Inked, which is meant for young adults. This one is separate from Puffin, the group’s children’s imprint. Their debut offering comprises a mix of books by Indian and international authors, including Cracked by Eliza Crowe, a story about a half-demon girl;Seventeen and Done: You Bet! by Vibha Batra; a teen romance and Karmaby Cathy Ostlere, written in verse. Batra’s book is a breezy read and reminiscent of high school books such as the Sweet Valley High series, and Crowe’s book follows the Twilight vampire books phenomena. Ostelere’s book is a riveting read, but feels a bit archaic. In the future, Inked plans to release books by blogger and writer Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, author Ranjit Lal, Shiv Ramdas, who has worked in radio previously, and Unmukt Chand, the captain of India’s under-19 cricket team. In an email interview with Time Out, Ameya Nagarajan, the assistant commissioning editor of Penguin Books India and the editor of Inked, shared their plans for the near future.

Why do you think the Young Adult (YA) category is now seeing a spurt of growth in India?
I wouldn’t say that the category is seeing a spurt now—it’s being going strong for a while. Just look at the popularity of Rick Riordan, Stephenie Meyer, Jeff Kinney and so on. It is true that publishing houses here are making a concerted effort at the moment, but I can’t speak for anyone else. At Penguin, Inked has been on the cards for a while, and we are launching now that our plan is in place.

What made Penguin decide to launch a separate YA category?
No one can deny that children today are growing up very fast. There’s a whole new stage of emotional growth that’s popped up, and teenagers want and enjoy far more autonomy than they ever have before. They demand and get the freedom to access information, to express themselves and to make choices for themselves. This means that the traditional division of children’s writing vs adult writing just doesn’t work anymore. Children’s writing, especially in India, tends to be nostalgic and occasionally didactic, and seems to come from an external voice that is directed at the children. Your modern teenager wants none of that! Internationally the YA space has taken off in the past few years, with Harry Potter and Twilight becoming overall sensations, which led us to believe it was time we started to explore this space in India.

What are the different genres we can expect to see from Inked?
Well, my whole philosophy with Inked is very simple — if it’s a good book, well plotted and well written, and it speaks to the audience, let’s do it. I will say though that there is a tendency in YA to gravitate towards fantasy, especially paranormal, and romance, and I find this a bit problematic, because the interests of such a large demographic cannot be so limited! We definitely want to publish across all genres, so later this year you will be seeing science fiction, non-fiction and a coming-of-age novel. I’m hoping to publish more genres next year, more non-fiction for sure, maybe some horror and humour. Both fantasy and chick lit will continue to feature in our list.
What is the kind of readership that Inked is looking at?
Anyone who likes our books! Technically our readership is about 13-19 years, but the beauty of YA is that, because the themes transcend generations and age, they can be read by anyone!

Inked books are available on flipkart.com

By Bijal Vachharajani

Purr desi

Posted on by bijalv

Hand-drawn beasts are the star of a new book series about life in India, finds Bijal Vachharajani.

When cartoonist Ananth Shankar looks at people, he sees them not as bipeds; but as animals. When I met him (and co-author Nidhi Jaipuria) to talk about their latest book, The CrazyDesi Book!, he pronounced that I looked like a Sarus Crane to him and proceeded to describe the characteristics I shared with the bird. Then he asked me to draw a squiggle on a blank page, and the S-shaped line was turned into an elephant, sloth bear, owl and tiger, in just a few minutes. Shankar is nothing if not prolific. And this is evident in the book, a series of animal cartoons that are focused on the theme of travel.

Planned as a series, the first volume is rendered in black-andwhite by Shankar and written by Jaipuria. “Each CrazyDesi Book! is a take on a typical Indian slice of life looked at by the most unique animal characters that come alive as ‘Man’imals!” A range of characters – ‘Cow’alli, ‘Cat’reena, Yo!bra, Ratappa, ‘Woof’adar Bhai, Durga Murga, Goa‘tee’, KA Raddy and ‘Ullu’da – navigate the perilous Indian roads to narrate stereotypical travel anecdotes. The cartoon book is presented in an alphabetic manner, with each letter attributed to a word. For instance, N stands for “Naturalist”, and it talks about how “the naturalists [are] ‘pee’s-fully working at keeping our highways green!” And this is accompanied by an image of a car parked on the highway and four “naturalists” peeing on the green patches.

Each page presents questions such as environment degradation and social conduct and takes a gentle dig at some of the typical behaviour of Indian tourists. “It’s a velvet glove within an iron fist,” said Jaipuria, who has been an English teacher with Mallya Aditi International School in Bangalore for a decade, and now conducts a range of workshops for children. “The series uses an unusual style of cartoons and wit to present India back to Indians.”In many ways the book manages to do that, but we could do without the many quotation marks that are used to emphasise the obvious puns in the text, which only serves to distract from the narrative.

Shankar and Jaipuria said that the book grew out of their daily banter, which usually revolves around puns. In the book, Shankar dubs himself as Draw Dog, Jaipuria is Word Bird and the book designer Vivek Krishnappa is called Tool Toad. Travel is the first in a series for The CrazyDesi Book! Next, the authors are working on the theme of shopping.

The CrazyDesi Book, WagsintheBags, Rs1,000 for a limited-edition Collector’s Pack (set of four). Rs300 for each book. Visit wagsinthebags.comfor details.

 http://www.timeoutbengaluru.net/books/features/purr-desi

Urban aria

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Urban aria

Lavanya Sankaran’s new book examines the complexities inherent in a postindustrialised metropolis, says Time Out

The Bangalore that’s presented in the pages of The Hope Factory, a book by Lavanya Sankaran, is a familiar city, constrained by bureaucracy, corruption and of course, the limitation of class. The author describes the flesh and bones of this metropolis by way of two parallel stories: that of Anand, an upper middle class entrepreneur whose dream is to expand his factory by buying new land in the city, and Kamala, who works as a maid in Anand’s bungalow, and purposes her life around that of her son, Narayan.

“It’s a personal exploration using whatever talent sets I have, and what I am capable of,” said Sankaran, who worked on the novel for the last six years. “When you’re writing literary fiction, you are not just being a sociologist, you’re being a political analyst, an economic analyst; it’s more multi-layered.”

Sankaran examines the impact of industrialisation and the resultant urbanisation. “We are seeing this huge urban boom – the expansion of cities in what were earlier fields, slums,” said Sankaran, referring to Anand’s plan to buy up for farm land for his factory and Kamala’s home being swallowed up by the city gradually “It’s happening, not just from one generation to the other. It’s happening every five to ten years now.” Through her two protagonists, Sankaran explores the country’s many contradictions – the haves and the havenots, the middle class and the poor, the individual and the family – while steering clear of stereotypes that are often a mainstay in Indian literary fiction. For instance, while Anand is busy negotiating with the Japanese for a new automobile contract, his staff insists on following auspicious temple rituals for the deal to go smoothly.

To colour the character of a young entrepreneur, Sankaran shadowed people who worked in industries to figure out how Anand’s daily life would play out. “If you’re writing about something, you have to do it with an understanding of all the issues involved,” she explained. “But to construct characters that are complete in themselves, that is the crux – one of the reasons why it took six years. I didn’t want to handle anyone with the stamp of a stereotype.” This is Sankaran’s second book – her first, The Red Carpet, is an anthology of short stories about Bangalore. This time around, the city she visits could be any metropolis in the country. “You can think of something complex, and India will out-bizarre it,” laughed Sankaran. “I wanted very everyday characters, driven by very everyday concerns. They are not victims. They are reaching for opportunities. They have to manoeuvre the obstacle race of life.” Sankaran deftly evokes empathy for her characters. In fact, Kamala, who is a single mother and has migrated to the city, turns out to be a strong feminist voice who defies the usual fatalist behaviour expected of her.

What makes Sankaran’s book a refreshing read is that it’s not melancholic. Her characters brave the odds of migration, single parenthood, scheming relatives and keep moving forward. “This is a country that doesn’t give up,” she said. “There is poverty, poor infrastructure and incredibly bad governance, to corruption on an epic scale. Yet we deal with it, we wake up and continue. That’s one of the reasons why I like the title… because India is the hope factory. But, hope is a doubleedged sword, there is epic failure on the other, you can’t look at one without the other.”

Lavanya Sankaran Hachette India, R550

By Bijal Vachharajani

Wall books

Posted on by bijalv

http://www.timeoutdelhi.net/kids/features/wall-books

The Enduring Ark, Joydeb Chitrakar and Gita Wolf, Tara Books, R800.Ages 7+

Wall Book: From the Big Bang to the Present Day, Christopher Lloyd and Andy Forshaw, Pratham Books, R125. Ages 3+

Richly illustrated  books that  fold open to  become wall  posters have  recently lined  the shelves of  bookstores  across the city. The Enduring Arkby Tara Books is  one such work and is illustrated  in the Bengal patua style of scroll  painting. Written by Gita Wolf and  illustrated by Joydeb Chitrakar, the book is an Indian version of  the Biblical tale of the great  flood. Looking at it, you will be  hard-pressed to imagine that this  is not an Indian story. The patuastyle  animals such as the tiger  and cows, the beautifully rendered  ark and the landscapes  make the story come alive. We  can’t wait to put this book up on  our office wall.

Another release, The What on  Earth? Wall Book: From the Big  Bang to the Present Day, is also a  fold out children’s read. This  one’s a great accessory for the  kiddy room. Published by  Pratham Books, this is an Indian  edition of the international title  by the same name. Written by  Christopher Lloyd and illustrated  by Andy Forshaw, the book’s a  short history of the planet and its  people. It’s a mini-encyclopaediaat-  a-glance and kids will love trivia  such as “Young Ichthyostegas  try out life on land”, “Archaeopteryx,  the first bird, is an offshoot  of the theropod dinosaurs”  and “Rosa Parks sparks US civil  rights movement”.

By Bijal Vachharajani 

Snack charmers

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My family was most excited to hear that Baroda-based farsan establishments now deliver in India and globally.
http://t.co/Yip3QPWjnE

Time Out checks out a new online store that specialises in packaged nibbles from Gujarat

 

There’s something about the word farsan (snacks) that can send a Gujarati’s pulse racing and get his or her taste buds to go into overdrive. After all, our day is punctuated with these oily goodies, starting with deepfried ghatiyas made out of gram flour that are eaten with sliced onions, a raw papaya salsa and fried green chillies for breakfast. This is followed by snacks such as kachoris that are eaten with the main meals of the day.

Then as the day unfolds, there are other delights to choose from. Papad pava, for instance, is a mix of crushed papads tossed together with flattened rice flakes to make a crunchy tea-time snack. Then there’s khakhra, wholewheat chapattis roasted on a tawa to form a thin cracker-like farsan, which combines well with chutneys and dips. And no meal really ends without mukhwas, mouth fresheners that range from simple fennel seeds to more exotic dry paan mixtures and jeera (cumin) golis. Now Gujaratis and other farsan fans have reason to cheer as they can indulge their cravings by visiting farsankart.com for all their snack needs.

The e-store brings together snacks from seven prominent stores that operate out of Vadodara in Gujarat –Jagdish, Payal and Sukhadia, three farsan marts that are known for their snacks such as chivdas, khakhras and crisp puris; Ujjam Masala, which blends spices that locals swear by; Vanshidhar, which is known for its packaged instant mixes to make dishes such as handvo (a Gujarati spiced lentil cake) and theplas; Mr Puff for khari biscuits, and JK Mukhwas, which sells mouth fresheners. We recommend you try their fulwadi, fried gram flour spicy croquettes; lilo chevdo, a savoury mix of potato chips and gram dal; and of course the papad pava. The products are reasonably priced and available in different quantities.

When we tried to order from the website, our office server blocked the transaction. But the team that runs the website called us immediately and helped place our order through a quick bank transfer and dispatched our goodies right away. While the Vadodara-based service delivers free of cost anywhere in India, its main clientele is clearly non-resident Indians. Its global operations reach farsan goodies to Australia, Canada, the UAE, the UK and the USA. Visit farsankart.com.

By Bijal Vachharajani 

Status: Spooked out

Posted on by bijalv

Really enjoyed an email interview with Suzanne Sangi, the author of Facebook Phantom, who’s debut novel has a gay protagonist.

http://t.co/SpvK6jJu3H

It’s only supernatural, Suzanne Sangi, the teenage writer of paranormal fiction, tells Time Out

At first glance, Suzanne Sangi’s book Facebook Phantom is easy to dismiss as one of the countless young adult books that deal with the paranormal. After the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, the market has been flooded with vampire clone literature. But a closer read reveals some solid and plucky writing by this 17-yearold debutant writer. Bangalorebased Sangi writes about the fascination that social media holds for teenagers through the story of three friends – Sonali, Neel and Joanne. “Facebook Phantom is a paranormal romance,” Sangi wrote, in an email interview with Time Out. “It is more or less a psychological thriller which takes you into the world of the supernatural right at the heart of technology.

In the book, Sonali, better known as Li, starts chatting with a mysterious stranger called Omi Daan on Facebook. Daan is “melancholic and extremely good looking”, with a penchant for putting up beautiful cover photos on Facebook. The harmless flirting soon reveals a stalker side to Daan, plunging Li into a dark world full of dangers. “As Li and her friends try to free themselves from the hold of this Omi Daan, they realise that it is not easy to escape such darkness once you’ve been drawn in, and discover the depth of their friendship,” said Sangi, a student of Mount Carmel College. “Facebook Phantom was inspired by this world’s general obsession with the fascinating social networking site – Facebook – and also my personal taste for all things paranormal.”

For a debut book, Sangi’s writing is assured. Further, she takes on the topic of social media, a theme that most young adults can easily relate to. “As a teenager, I very much know what it is to be obsessed about something and I’ve tried my best to bring this to light in the book,” said Sangi. “Whether it is chatting with a crush or gossiping with friends or reaping crops on Farmville, Facebook is a whole new level of obsession. I am in absolute awe of the addictive  nature of this site, and since we’re all only human, we tend to overdo things a bit sometimes. But whatever the matter, long live the Facebook Era!”

Sangi is an avid reader and it’s evident in her book – Li loves reading as well but all that takes a back seat when she starts chatting to Daan. While some of the twists in the plot seem forced and slightly contrived, Sangi’s characters are very real.

Interestingly, she introduces the dapper Neel as a gay teenager, most probably a first for an Indian young adult fiction book. “Neel Sarathy is my favourite character in the book,” said Sangi. “He is insanely hot, with an impeccable fashion sense, free, humorous and kind. His relationship with Li has been so exciting to write, and I have to admit, I’ve always had a soft side for gay people and find them to be the most frank and humorous friends you could ever have – they always seem to cut through all the crap in life and look straight into the heart of a person. And I absolutely admire their immaculate fashion sense!”

As an extension to exploring her fascination with alternate sexuality, (spoiler alert) Neel later finds himself attracted to his best friend, Li. “There is an interesting story to Neel turning straight,” Sangi revealed. “When I was in high school, I had a surprisingly strong crush on a girl and this boggled my mind since I am/was absolutely sure that I am straight; she just made me so happy and it was nothing sexual. I did get over her in a month or so and it never happened again. When I was writing about Neel, I imagined the same thing happening the other way round – where a usually gay person suddenly falls for the opposite sex – and it made sense to me.”

Facebook Phantom, apart from being a paranormal romance, is also a Bangalore book, where the characters vend their way through the city. “[I am] a Bangalorean in heart and soul, I have written the entire book based on Bangalore and its cool people,’ explained Sangi. “This familiarity is something I cherish about the book.”

Facebook Phantom, Duckbill. R199.

Ask a silly question

 Who would you rather befriend on Facebook – a ghost or a vampire? A vampire. Hee hee. The aftermath of Twilight still hasn’t left me, and I would rather date/ befriend a vampire any day.

What do you think a ghost’s Facebook wall would look like?Frequent status updates of how hell sucks, dangerous trips back to earth and cool sneak peeks of heaven. A profile picture which keeps flickering and changing every two seconds – that would be killer!

Stephenie Meyer or JK Rowling or…? JK Rowling forever. Nothing beats the brilliance of the Harry Potter series. Oh! And Rick Riordan can make me laugh!

 

Suzzane Sanghi Duckbill, R199

By Bijal Vachharajani

 

 

Food for Tots

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Cover with sub
Enid Blyton’s characters went out for lazy picnics by the moors where they ate thick slices of homemade bread, warm scones and hardboiled eggs; Roald Dahl wrote a book that had revolting recipes such as Boggi’s chicken and Wonka’s Whipplescrumptious; and closer home, the Taranauts series by Roopa Pai is full of quirky foods such as puffboos and goluchkas. Judging by the legions of fans amassed by Blyton, Dahl and Pai, it’s quite evident that kids like to read about kids who like (among other things) to eat. It’s a pity then, that the tykes don’t display nearly the same allconsuming hunger when it comes to their everyday meals.

Which brings us to this fortnight’s cover story: now that summer’s upon us, and the kids have been unyoked from exam schedules, experts such as Rushina Munshaw-Ghidiyal and Jamie Oliver among others think it is a good idea to introduce them to the fact that healthy food can also be fun and yummy. This holiday, they can discover simple joys like gardening or the diversions offered by food-themed games. You’ll find all this and more to munch on, including everything from assembling healthy lunch boxes to reading a label and shopping like a smart cookie.

Read the complete cover story here:

http://www.timeoutbengaluru.net/kids/features/food-tots

Myths world

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http://www.timeoutbengaluru.net/books/features/myths-world
Halahala has fallen silent. Bijal Vachharajani tells you why that isn’t a bad thing

Legends of Halahala

Many aspects of Gestalt psychology become apparent while reading Legends of Halahala, Appupen’s silent (without any text) graphic novel. Starting from the first chapter “Stupid’s Arrow”, there’re so many hidden details in every nook and cranny of the book that it’s like playing Where’s Waldo. There are clever references to the current socio-political scenario, subtle digs (and not-so-subtle ones as well) at consumerism and poignant reflections on social trends and ideologies. That, according to George Mathen, who goes by the pen name Appupen, was what he intended his second graphic novel to be.

“Each story deserves its own world,” said Appupen, who is in thrall of the works of JR Tolkien as well as Indian epics such as Mahabharata and Ramayana; they’ve each informed his work. “By creating another world there are so many possibilities that are not constrained by the realities for our stories.” Appupen’s clear that he doesn’t plan to retell mythologies. Instead he wanted to create his own mythology, which he did by fashioning Halahala, a mythical world that exists in a parallel dimension in Moonward, Appupen’s debut novel which was published by Blaft in 2009. Halahala, named after the poison that was churned from the ocean when the gods and demons in Hindu mythology fought each other, is a grey, dystopian world with dark characters.

Legends of Halahala isn’t strictly a sequel to Moonward, instead it is a set of five stories that are set in Appupen’s new world that has undercurrents of different kinds of love – vengeful, tragic, obsessive and quirky. In “Stupid’s Arrow”, two warring sides come head to head when a love missive goes to the wrong recipient. “The Saga of Ghostgirl Part 2: Legacy” is a black-and-white story that takes a strange turn after a superhero rescues a boy. “Oberian Dysphoria” takes place at the beginning of the world, where two creatures; they look like the pygmy puffs from the Harry Potter series, fall in love and are then tragically separated.

Before launching into the world of graphics as Appupen, Mathen was a drummer with Lounge Piranha, a post-rock band; he also dabbled in advertising. His experience working in the advertising industry forced him to question the term, creativity. “In advertising, a selling exercise is taken as being creative,” he said. “But they haven’t done anything besides selling a product.” And these thoughts are reflected in the last two stories. The most compelling is “16917P’s Masterpiece”, where 16917P slithers out of a domed city into a toxic wasteland. He can’t free himself from the shackles of materialism yet there’s a creative tussle that finally reaches a fatal end. The story is grim, as is its rendering. The last story, “The Accordion Manoeuvre”, is comic and filmy, but again resonates with sarcasm and holds up a mirror to society’s obsession with looks and consumerism. Appupen adds that his book is sponsored by Supa Kola, a cola that he introduced in his first book.

Also while Moonward had minimal text, Legends is a “silent classic”. And the lack of text doesn’t take away from the story, instead it highlights the graphics, engaging readers to look at details and make their own interpretation to the multifarious stories. “After Moonward, a lot of people told me to forget about writing,” said Appupen. “I was writing to convey certain things. In my first book I wanted to tell so many things. Now I can put aside that baggage.” By drifting into the silent zone, a first such novel for Indian readers, Appupen is hoping to make his stories more accessible. “Hopefully, the art will invite you to look at it again,” he said.

Legends of Halahala, HarperCollins. R499.

By Bijal Vachharajani on March 29 2013 11.50am