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  Learning to live again    Not every teenager has fond, rainbow tinted growing up experiences. They have been ignored deliberately, their peers unwilling to come to their aid, or speak up for them.   These teens for various reasons – their physical attributes, medical condition, economic background or gender identity – become ‘the other’. Simply because the larger, ‘normal’ society doesn’t know how to deal with them. Paro Anand’s short story collection, The Other, nudges us to not to sweep away the unpalatable truths under the carpet. But to take note and bridge the divide. The nine stories delves into the not so happy emotions and feelings that the teenagers confront with and at the end offers a workable solution. Sanjana picking the boy with the pee-bag as her first choice to act in a fairy tale does wonders for his confidence; parents suggesting their daughter to call a helpline number in case of violence against females is a corrective action. And what...

  In a world that loves labelling and slotting people into categories, the freedom to choose and to speak our minds is not easy. In the graphic novel, ZardoZi- Stitched with Love, 10- year-old Zi thinks he has lost his voice and his parents and friends will never be able to hear his truth. But someone recognises Zi’s innate talent and patience to learn and practise the art of embroidery. It’s Zi’s grandmother -- Rani the Naani – who is unlike the other elders in Zi’s family. Rani the Naani believes in living in the moment and knows that ‘nothing is too girlish or boyish’. Arts is for everyone! She hands over her book of embroidery designs to Zi and the boy feels encouraged to present a zari-work for his school’s annual day. He begins with liquid zari work and boy! He transform a sober black coat into something stunning! In this gently embroidered tale of Zi coming into his own, the author and illustrator Debasmita Dasgupta, addresses the oft quoted, but poorly understood, t...

One Lives on Hope... History is omnipresent, even if we make it a habit of  "moving on with life." It seems easier to keep your head low, buried in sand, and avoid acknowledging conflicts and crisis situations. But history, the socio-political times that we live in, shape us knowingly or unknowingly. It has ways of creeping in, tip-toeing in the form of biases, prejudices that positions us in the social hierarchy and pushes us to take a stand. How many of us are able to stand up for others, how many of us can change the course of river to what it rightfully was and how many of us can come to the aid of those who meant us no harm, and yet ended up paying a heavy price? Is it easier to rise above trauma and heal? It is; if we have empathy. Sucharita Dutta-Asane's collection of short stories, These Tongues that Grow Roots, turns around the subjects of bleak headlines -- of war, naxalism, pandemic, lonely senior citizens, dying lakes, eve-teasing and feeling of being hunted -...

Fighting Fear Upamanyu Bhattacharyya Andaleeb Wajid The pitter patter of the rain spells 'a mug of steaming coffee in one hand and a book in the other' kind-of-weather. The rain, the hills covered in mist, have typically served as a setting for horror stories. But what if you are in your city, signing up for a scare walk that seems fun? What if the scares are not designed but real? Fear is never a solitary emotion. It multiplies with uneasiness, distrust exposing us to our dark side. Ask Veera, Angelina, Ishaan and Dhruv. The four teenagers want to chill a bit before their dreaded board exams begin. A visit to a bungalow on the outskirts of Bangalore for an advertised scare walk seems like a fun idea. And, why not? It means Ishaan can spend some more time with Angie and Veera could hold hands with Dhruv...with some scares thrown in for laughs! But what awaits the teenagers is something sinister and ugly. Picture huge waves, a shape shifting dog and treacherous mountain cl...

  Remembering the Revolutionaries The Indian freedom struggle against the British empire, underlined the rights of its people to speak up, to protest and to be heard. This was achieved in multiple ways -- by participating in legislative policies, taking out non-violent movements and launching armed resistance.  Sanjeev Sanyal in his book,  Revolutionaries -- Fight for Freedom --  highlights the armed resistance undertaken by young men and women. Back when there was no social media to create a buzz about political or social cause, the revolutionaries met in akhadas, formed secret groups, went abroad under the guise of studying -- to acquire arms, learn technique of making bombs and spreading awareness about why India needs to be freed by writing books and in newspapers.  Sanyal, in this abridged version for young readers, argues that events like Alipore bombing, Kakori conspiracy, Chittagong conspiracy, were not isolated acts of heroism, but were all  ...

  Lured by stories   What if you come upon a world of stories, hundreds and thousands of them? Some of them have endured for millennia and some are almost forgotten; the characters who inhabit this world are rare and special. It’s a world that’s unknown yet exciting. But is it welcoming? Definitely not. Iora, Owlus and Chinar find this out the hard way. In the Book 2 of Iora adventures, the three friends are now boarders at a Gurukul in rainforest. Soon enough, the trio learn of strange going-ons in their Gurkul, a prophesy that might come to the aid of dark forces. The three dive straight into the adventure – Iora and the Realm of Legends -- without really being prepared. They hitch on to The Laughing Boy Who Never Dies, a visitor to their world. The Laughing Boy, a character from one of the stories, rather reluctantly takes along the trio, all the while telling them they are on their own, once he reaches his story. But the fun of any story lies in the twist that no...