SOULspace

How exciting to read a book with the person who wrote it!! Obviously the passion and the nuances,  the thought and the idea behind a page or a word  is transmitted seamlessly. Arthi Anand Navaneeth shared her new book, released by Tulika publishers called "Have you Seen This" A curious yarn she has spun  Through questions that make us imagine When things may not be as they appear Then we ask ourselves,"Have you seen This"!!  Delighted to have her interact with kids at  thinkBox library,  last Saturday (Sept.22nd) Kids jumped into an imaginary questioning world with Arthi, as she also spoke about bonding through and with books to parents who had come along. What's best is that the book is bilingual and can be bought in 5 different languages along with English; Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarathi, Marathi and Kanada! Super! I was all curious to know which was her favorite book...and I was told 'The...

After a long time, I got the threesome to move out on a Sunday morning ....for a horse ride...but even I never expected the morning to turn out so visually amazing. We decided to stop by at Commercial street to have breakfast and behold our surprise....a riot of colours.. We were in time to see the Rangoli competition conducted by  Shri Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha, Basavanagudi. Steady hands, patterns flowing, colour schemes...children could not peel their eyes away, and neither could I! Some opted for shadow effects and shading...so well thought out... This lady was using a funnel to draw out the patterns, clean neat lines flowed threw her hands Amazingly fast this lady had finished well within the allotted time, you can imagine how clearly and meticulously she must have planned it...or she could be an old hand! Lovely colours...a peacock is the inspiration perhaps? Simple lines, yet a dramatic effect Ah, intric...

A hectic month and half for a person who likes loads of space...this was a good season of storytelling with children for me. Interestingly I have been reading a lot as well. My on and off relationship with books saw a marked changed when I finished 3 books thanks to a dear friend of mine. "Emperor of Maladies" was an eye opener, a fact-pack if I may coin such a word. All you need to know about Cancer and more. It leans heavily towards metaphorical storytelling, using feelings and emotions to paint a picture of this disease through the ages. (The other 2 books were totally different from this, "the Curious incident of the dog" and The Giraffes Tears"; I recommend both as subtle, honest and wonderful literature) Yet what I want to vent about today is based on none of these. Hmm...actually it is slightly relevant to the first book I mentioned....   Siddhartha Mukherjee paints a grim picture of Cancer, the phantasmagorical disease of the genes. He is qu...