Finally we have added tamil books to our library. As we were uploading the books and doing the blurbs, we got a preview of some of the books and childhood memories came rushing in. Appusamiyum africa azhagiyum was one of the books. When I was young, I used to live in a little town in Kerala and the popular tamil weekly ananda vikatan used to come 3 days after they were distributed all over tamil nadu. We used to wait for the weekly and make our grand mother read it out to us. Funny episodes in the life of appusamy and his wife parvathi patti with some moral values and ethics were always incorporated . It was all purely fun and we kids enjoyed them thoroughly.
Washintonil Thirumanam was another book. In the early 60's how the Tamil Brahmins settled in US conducted the weddings of their children. There was no compromise on anything. Betel leaves, coconuts, small plaintains and banana leaves to serve food were flown into the US to the shock of the Americans. When this book was published, it generated a lot of curiosity about the life and customs our people followed in US.
Friday, April 30, 2010
real books vs kindle/IPad
Internet is slowly replacing so many things in our real life. Reading seems to be one of them. Last month, I was in the US and while talking to people about our online lending library, they looked very surprised and said you guys still go to a library to get books? (I think it was mostly from the less exposed ones to India). A lot of them read newspapers to paper backs to self help online. If that doesnt work, then they get to the Kindle. This year apparently it is the most popular mother's day gift being sold. Of course I Pad was launched on the first of this month......... a glorified laptop with less functions.
I am not being a retrograde here, all I am saying is reading online or on kindle or I Pad does not come anywhere near the same feel and enjoyment as reading a real book. The pleasure one derives while holding a brand new crisp book,the smell of the paper, a hot cuppa and a comfortable sofa is something I love.
I am not being a retrograde here, all I am saying is reading online or on kindle or I Pad does not come anywhere near the same feel and enjoyment as reading a real book. The pleasure one derives while holding a brand new crisp book,the smell of the paper, a hot cuppa and a comfortable sofa is something I love.
Vacation musings
The summer vacation is here . The present bustle of activity is summer camps engaging children in various tasks like swimming, karate, dance, theater, computer,football, athletics, cricket, tennis and educational camps like math classes, abacus etc..
The children of today are involved either in such activities organised by their parents or they keep themselves busy watching television, playing video games and the more sophisticated amuse themselves with Wii and X Box.
Reminiscence of yester year games makes me feel that today's children have missed out something of value and joy that we cherished in our childhood. Vacation meant playing games like gilli,goli (marbles),kathadi(kites), bambaram (tops),hide and seek, robber and police,hopscotch, cycling and swimming. Our rural cousins played in addition to this, pallankuzhi and kuzhangkal etc..These games would seem alien to the children of today. Many of us spent the evenings listening to Radio Ceylon as there was no TV. We read comics such as Phantom, Mandrake, and Chandamama. Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Five findouters and the Dog, Secret Seven were read by the young ones while the older kids stealthily read James Handley Chase and some even had a sneak preview of Harold Robbins. Libraries were very few and we used to cajole and beg our parents to take us to the library.
The children of today are involved either in such activities organised by their parents or they keep themselves busy watching television, playing video games and the more sophisticated amuse themselves with Wii and X Box.
Reminiscence of yester year games makes me feel that today's children have missed out something of value and joy that we cherished in our childhood. Vacation meant playing games like gilli,goli (marbles),kathadi(kites), bambaram (tops),hide and seek, robber and police,hopscotch, cycling and swimming. Our rural cousins played in addition to this, pallankuzhi and kuzhangkal etc..These games would seem alien to the children of today. Many of us spent the evenings listening to Radio Ceylon as there was no TV. We read comics such as Phantom, Mandrake, and Chandamama. Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Five findouters and the Dog, Secret Seven were read by the young ones while the older kids stealthily read James Handley Chase and some even had a sneak preview of Harold Robbins. Libraries were very few and we used to cajole and beg our parents to take us to the library.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I have been away for the past two months. Missed my dear friends cum partners and my library very much. I was in a town called Stamford, Connecticut. The weather was more or less oppressive,most of the time, cold, windy and at times very warm sunny days. On a good warm and sunny day, my favourite outing used to be a long walk down Atlantic street and into the Stamford Mall, where there is a huge Barnes and Noble book store.
As you enter the store the first thing that hits you is a calm , serene feeling. I dont know whether any of you feel this, but I do, everytime I walk into Landmark I get a bit overwhelmed. I feel little oppressed. Much as I love books and I love to browse and look at all the books and magazines around me, I am happier when I walk out. At Landmark,there is some sort of a restricted space around you. In B&N you can breathe in and out and never get the claustrophobic feeling.
After I walk in and browse around a bit, usually I choose one of the books on the shelf where they have the top ten from the NY Times best seller list. Everytime I do that I am delighted to note that most of the books there are already in our library bookandborrow.com. The girl with the dragon tattoo and The girl who played with fire by Steig Larrson were sitting snugly in the front book shelf. More later..........
As you enter the store the first thing that hits you is a calm , serene feeling. I dont know whether any of you feel this, but I do, everytime I walk into Landmark I get a bit overwhelmed. I feel little oppressed. Much as I love books and I love to browse and look at all the books and magazines around me, I am happier when I walk out. At Landmark,there is some sort of a restricted space around you. In B&N you can breathe in and out and never get the claustrophobic feeling.
After I walk in and browse around a bit, usually I choose one of the books on the shelf where they have the top ten from the NY Times best seller list. Everytime I do that I am delighted to note that most of the books there are already in our library bookandborrow.com. The girl with the dragon tattoo and The girl who played with fire by Steig Larrson were sitting snugly in the front book shelf. More later..........
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