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Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
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Book Review : India A to Z, An Alphabetical Tour of Incredible India



A for Aadhar, B for Bazaar, C for Cricket, D for Dabbawala… and so on… goes this version of the alphabet – a very identifiably Indian version. India A to Z: An alphabetical tour of Incredible India, compiled by Veena Sheshadri and Vidya Mani, for Puffin Books, with illustrations by Sony Bhaskaran and cartoons by Greystroke manages to put forth a huge amount of information, combining it with a good dose of humour and titbits of fun facts.


It is impossible to compress India into 160 pages and 26 alphabets. But the team has done a wonderful job in putting it together. All the usual, popular, typically Indian things are there, but so are bits and pieces of the less known ones.

B, for example, covers not just Beaches, Bazaars, and Bollywood, but also the Bhopal Gas Tragedy; M, among Monuments and Monsoon, also lists the Metros and Mythical Monsters; R talks of Religion and Railways, but also the Rupee and the Rajasaurus; and my favourite is X which tells us of the X Avatars of Vishnu and Xuanzang.

The information is short, with multiple illustrations or cartoons on every page. The writing is wonderful, and the editing excellent, because it comes through, not as terse and educational, but concise, informative and engaging.


The target audience is obviously children, and here, they have tapped a booming market. Among the masses of huge encyclopaedias which aim to cover just about anything and everything, the size of the book itself is inviting. The only negative of the size is that there are so many things which are not included, but then, I don’t think it is possible to squeeze India into a book at all! The idea is to engage with young and emerging readers, and encourage them to explore more of India by themselves. This is a cause I heartily concur with, and feel that the book is well placed to do just that!

This book was sent to me for review by Penguin India. The views expressed are my own.





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