The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello Loves!  I started 2024 with little book buying sprees here and there.  Little, reasonable hauls.  Here is part one of my book buying for this month.  New books and some things that were on my Wishlist for a little while.  A nice mix of books, some children's books and some literary fiction.  Let's just jump in... This sounds so cute. A little kid wants to enter a society's kolam competition but is turned away because he is technically not a part of the building.  Seems like something I'll love. Can't wait to read it.  Two Ruskin Bond Chapter books that sound delightful and I've already read Animals in the House and I loved it. Saving Mukesh Starts a Zoo for February, so my birthday month can include some Ruskin Bond.  I am always up for some Mahabharata re-telling. Always.  So I had to pick this one up, this will get read at some point soon-ish. This one was on my wishlist for a while and it finally went on a super duper disc...

Hello Loves!  :)  Time for a little book haul.  And by little I mean three books.  I have become sensible with my book buying y'all. Maybe this is what being a grown-up is all about.  The best part is I bought these books and read these books in the same month.  Yay for book buying and rapid book reading!    I can't tell you how glad I am to finally add these gorgeous books to my shelves. I have wanted them for ages but graphic novels are so expensive that I always think long and hard before buying them.  Around Independence Day, Amazon had some massive sales going on and I saw that the box-set of these books were available at an amazing deal. And I immediately got them.  I am so freaking happy.  The stories are ones that I love, i.e. mythology and history and chapters from the vedas. And the art is simply stunning.  I mean, just look at the art on the box-set.  I am so in love.  I loved both these books, but I may be...

 Hello February!  Hello Birthday Month! Hello Happiness!  I am so happy February is here.  While I am not particularly chuffed about my actual birthday..I do like to do something special every single day in February.  I am odd I know.  I like cooking yum things.  Watching my favourite kind of films.  Reading only my favourite authors and generally try to be as happy as I can.  Little Things & Little Joys.  I am determined to have a happy little month.  With that goal in mind, I started February with doing a deep clean of my room and my shelves and moved my books around and spilt them in read and unread piles.  I also pulled out some books I am hoping to read this month.  I also strung up fairy lights and put out some new artwork to my shelves.  :)  Little things that bring me so much joy.  Here's a little look at my day.  My current read.  Starting February with my favourite story of all time~ ...

  Book: Shyam- Our Little Krishna  Author: Devdutt Pattanaik  Publisher: Puffin  This is such a great little book for not only kids but also adults! It was beautiful little stories from Krishna's childhood. Plus, it has beautiful art and has the option to colour said art as well. A total win-win!  Look at some of the pages!  Yashoda Maa dressing up little Kanha in flowers. Love the note of gender positivity in this anecdote, where Yasodha Maa and Kanha didn't care about dressing Kanha in gender conforming styles!  Krishna's role in the Mahabharata is one of my personal favourite parts of the great epic! Stories about how Krishna divided his support between the Kauravas and Pandavas, his sage counsel to Arjun in the form of the Bhagavad Gita and many big and small miracles performed by him are some of the highlights of the Mahabharata.  The stories about Kanha's relationship with the Gopis are the stuff of legend and their friendship has been expla...

  Book: Vanara  Author: Anand Neelakantan  Publisher: Penguin India Pages:  320  How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days  Plot Summary:   Baali and Sugreeva of the Vana Nara tribe were orphan brothers who were born in abject poverty and grew up as slaves like most of their fellow tribesmen. They were often mocked as the vanaras, the monkey men. Sandwiched between the never-ending war between the Deva tribes in the north and the Asura tribes in the south, the Vana Naras seemed to have lost all hope. But Baali was determined not to die a slave. Aided by his beloved brother, Sugreeva, Baali built a country for his people. The capital city, Kishkindha, became a beacon of hope for emancipated slaves from across the world. It was a city of the people, by the people, for the people, where there was no discrimination based on caste, creed, language or the colour of skin. For a brief period in history, it seemed as if mankind had found its ideal hero in Baali. B...

  Book: Jungle Nama  Author: Amitav Ghosh  Illustrator: Salman Toor  Publisher: Harper Collins  Read On: Hardback Edition  How Long it Took Me To Read: 1 Day  Plot Summary:   Jungle Nama   is Amitav Ghosh's verse adaptation of an episode from the legend of Bon Bibi, a tale popular in the villages of the Sundarban, which also lies at the heart of the novel   The Hungry Tide . It is the story of the avaricious rich merchant Dhona, the poor lad Dukhey, and his mother; it is also the story of Dokkhin Rai, a mighty spirit who appears to humans as a tiger, of Bon Bibi, the benign goddess of the forest, and her warrior brother Shah Jongoli.   The original print version of this legend, dating back to the nineteenth century, is composed in a Bengali verse meter known as dwipodi poyar.  Jungle Nama  is a free adaptation of the legend, told entirely in a poyar-like meter of twenty-four syllable couplets that replicate the caden...

Book: The Daughter from the Wishing Tree Author: Sudha Murty Illustrator: Priyankar Gupta Publisher: Puffin India Pages: 180 How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days Plot Summary:  Did you know that the Trinity often turned to goddesses to defeat the asuras?   Did you know that the first clone in the world was created by a woman? The women in Indian mythology might be fewer in number, but their stories of strength and mystery in the pages of ancient texts and epics are many. They slayed demons and protected their devotees fiercely. From Parvati to Ashokasundari and from Bhamati to Mandodari, this collection features enchanting and fearless women who frequently led wars on behalf of the gods, were the backbone of their families and makers of their own destinies.  Things I Liked:  1. The writing as always was simple and straight forward and perfect for young readers to follow along and learn about Indian mythology. 2. I know a fair bit about Myth...

Book: The Forest of Enchantments Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (CBD) Pages: 372 Publisher: Harper Collins Read On: Hardback edition picture above How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days Plot Summary:   The Ramayana, one of the world's greatest epics, is also a tragic love story. In this brilliant retelling, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni places Sita at the centre of the novel: this is Sita's version. The Forest of Enchantments is also a very human story of some of the other women in the epic, often misunderstood and relegated to the margins: Kaikeyi, Surpanakha, Mandodari. A powerful comment on duty, betrayal, infidelity and honour, it is also about women's struggle to retain autonomy in a world that privileges men, as Chitra transforms an ancient story into a gripping, contemporary battle of wills. While the Ramayana resonates even today, she makes it more relevant than ever, in the underlying questions in the novel: How should women be treated by their lo...

Book: The Liberation of Sita Author: Volga Translator: T. Vijaykumar Pages: 132 (the stories are only 72 pages long) Publisher: Harper Collins India Read On: Paperback How Long it Took Me To Read: 1 day Plot Summary:   Valmiki's Ramayana is the story of Rama's exile and return to Ayodhya, a triumphant king who will always do right by his subjects.   In Volga s retelling, it is Sita who, after being abandoned by Purushottam Rama, embarks on an arduous journey to self-realization. Along the way, she meets extraordinary women who have broken free from all that held them back: husbands, sons, and their notions of desire, beauty and chastity. The minor women characters of the epic as we know it Surpanakha, Renuka, Urmila and Ahalya steer Sita towards an unexpected resolution. Meanwhile, Rama too must reconsider and weigh out his roles as the king of Ayodhya and as a man deeply in love with his wife.  A powerful subversion of India s most popular tal...

Powai Pujo. Love the colours of this Proteema.  Powai Pujo Pandal.  What My Sister Wore.. Kurta- Global Desi  Dupatta from Shantiniketan  Kolhapuris- Colaba Causeway  The Shivaji Park Pujo. This Pujo was on a such a smaller scale this year. The pandal was so much smaller as compared to the last few years.  The oldest Pujo in Bombay at Tejpal Hall.  A glimpse of what I wore.  Shahi Tukda at Bademiyan. It was so freaking delicious!  This was my Saptami in a nutshell. 3 Pandals. Long drives. Traffic. Prayers. Dinner at Bademiyan. (The food was very average though!)  And lots of people watching and quality time with my folks.  :)  A good way to kick off my festive season.