Sections

<strong>Ten Books </strong><i>and a Journey </i>
Chiaroscuro, Issue 6 – July 2018

Ten Books and a Journey

Bookshelves are windows into family histories – which books find a home on the shelves, how the stacks are organised, which books are well-worn, and unopened, the ideas contained in the inscriptions. Family bonds form in different ways and for book-lovers, the web of stories that spreads out across their bookshelves is one way. In my bookshelves, there are many webs and one is a messy web that started to take shape as I began my role in child-rearing, a role that comes to a sort of end this year. I will always be a parent but Imran, my son, is no longer a child. At 16, he is about to embark on one of his first completely independent journeys - finishing high school far away from home, weaving webs that will grow on his independent book-shelves. There is a line that Marquez wrote in one of...
<strong>Bookish</strong><i> Love? </i><strong>Bah!</strong>
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

Bookish Love? Bah!

Love Books! Books are Lovely! We Must Love Books! And now… Bookish love! Where is this stream of ideas about love and books being birthed? And how do these ideas flow into dominant talk? Who dare says, “Bookish love - huh?! Humbug!” And who is brave enough to cast this stone as naysayers? What has bookish love done for humanity and what has bookish love or love for books or any combination of the words ‘love and books’ done for those who do not read and declare that they do not like the act of reading? Where is the space for those of us who struggle with the written word in languages we barely understand?  For those of us who have never seen anyone with their heads buried in a book, unless within the classroom and closely watched? Can any of us raise our heads and hands and say, 'we con...
<strong>किताबों </strong><i>से प्यार</i>
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

किताबों से प्यार

जब मैं अपनी पिछली जिन्दगी में झाँकता हुँ (वैसे अभी ज्यादा गुजरी नही हैं) तो मुझे लगता हैं कि मैरे अकेलेपन के दिनों में कोई मेरा सच्चा साथी रहा हैं तो वो हैं किताबें। शुरू से ही किताबें खरीदने और पढ़ने का शौक काफी रहा। किताबें और खुद के बनाए हुए नोट्स संभालकर रखने की लगन इतनी प्रगाढ थी कि परिक्षा समाप्त होने के बाद जब हिसाब लगाते थे तो पता चलता था कि एक बोरा भरकर किताबें और रजिस्टर जमा हो गए हैं। कच्चा घर होने के कारण ज्यादा किताबें तो संभालकर नही रख पाया परन्तु फिर भी लगभग काफी किताबें सुरक्षित मिल जायेगी। सरकारी विद्यालय में पढ़ने के कारण हमें किताबें निःषुल्क मिल जाया करती थी या घर वाले किसी रिष्तेदार भाई-बहिन (जो मुझसे एक कक्षा आगे जा चुके थे) की दिलवा देते थे। मुझे पहली किताब कक्षा छः के दौरान खरीदने का मौका मिला, वो भी घर वालो से काफी जिद करके तथा पाँचवी में अच्छे प्रतिषत अंक प्राप्त ह...
<i>My </i><strong>Bookish </strong><i>Desires</i>
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

My Bookish Desires

Two books roused desire in me while I was in school, an adolescent. These books were Jean Webster’s novel, ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’, and Danielle Steel’s novel, ‘Wings’. Desire, while in school, was a mushy thing that seemed to melt inside my being or break out of a fist-sized, fist-shaped cage and flow out freely, leaving an elation in its wake. I was in school in the 1990s. Years later, in mid-2000s, when I saw on TV the advertisement of the chocolate lava cake of Domino’s Pizza – thick, lava-like, deep brown chocolate flowing out of a crusty, baked object – I felt that that desire that I felt in school was the same like this viscous, lava-like chocolate. With each book, with each kind of desire I felt, each layer of that cake crumbled. Both the books I mentioned are different from one another...
<strong>A line from a poem </strong>-<i> A poetry podcast</i>
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

A line from a poem - A poetry podcast

A line from a poem A line From a poem Came to me in dream In two versions: Almost like a legal document I did not know if It was a verb Or a mood I had to change Or perhaps, A whole person Broken up, fragmented In need of flight and Root, At the same time. A branch breaking off in perfect Calm To travel a safe distance Before disappearing From the bound of memory Forever.   A philosopher meets his match I never asked For the moon But she Arrived at my door One stolen evening Just like a summer storm Drenched and asking To be in Carrying the past as if It was only yesterday A baby in her arms Hers. My door is always open, I say, Come in. The past is a forgotten - extinct - species. At that time, I was wrapped in...
<strong>The  Bookshop </strong><i>Band</i>
Issue 5 – April 2018, Spotlight

The Bookshop Band

Stories sometimes seem like living creatures. The strong ones evolve, flit from one form to another and back again. They pass through languages, forms, format, are not tied to any one medium. There are stories that transcend boundaries and forge connections, sometimes because of the story’s power, sometimes because of the underlying structures that give them power. Take Lewis Caroll's instant classic, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. Steeped in symbolism, riddles, nonsense songs and dream logic, the book has haunted and delighted readers since 1865. But- this is the important part- even if you haven't read the book but are reading this, its surreal quality, vivid colours and young protagonist possibly inhabit some part of your consciousness. Translations, adaptations, abridged versions...
Fitting In: <i>Technology and Children’s Library Practice</i>
Axis, Issue 4 – January 2018

Fitting In: Technology and Children’s Library Practice

A reflective essay Photo: Nijugrapher Libraries used to be the record keepers of the past. They were expected to be slightly antiquated because they were meant to enable us to retreat, to discover something recorded and make sense of it in the present. The atmosphere was a collusion of many lives and millions of ideas living in a confined space. There was the air of expectancy but also of the need to linger, to seek at length and to dwell on what was discovered.   Today there is a subtle pressure on libraries to be spaces of the future.  Open, bright, airy. Chrome and glass are considered fitting materials and an absence of clutter is modernist. Time is critical and the faster you find something the seemingly more efficient the library system appears to be.   S...
Podcast: <i>How the Visually Impaired Read in India</i>
Issue 4 – January 2018, Spotlight

Podcast: How the Visually Impaired Read in India

I never imagined that blind persons could be voracious readers till I met a visually impaired person who introduced me to DAISY. Now before you conjure up visions liked I did of DAISY being a beautiful young woman with a heart of gold, let me clarify that DAISY is not a human being. But wait, we are jumping the gun. My name is Krishna Warrier and I am chatting today with Ketan Kothari. Ketan is a first-class post graduate from Mumbai University who works for an organisation called Sightsavers, he is an avid reader, and happens to be blind.  Krishna: Ketan, what exactly is DAISY? Ketan: DAISY is a digital system which is accessible to print disabled people so the acronym DAISY stands for Digitally Accessible System—rather, Digitally Accessible Information System and it enables us ...
Memoir of a <i>librarian</i>
Alt Shift, Issue 4 – January 2018

Memoir of a librarian

I love libraries. So it was no wonder that I graduated in Library Science. The time was the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the new millennium. Information Technology slowly entered into the field of library and crawled into the domain of librarianship. My interest in the subject drove me to take up "short term industry oriented technology courses" from a CSIR institute ­– CDS / ISIS; a course on freely distributed software package by UNESCO, suited for Bibliographical applications and used as catalogues in libraries, and a similar course on "Information Technology for libraries." As a result of that, I joined a very prestigious institute in Bangalore as a Library Trainee without any difficulty. The institute used to take six candidates every year, exposing them during trai...
<i>Libraries</i>
Issue 4 – January 2018, Spotlight

Libraries

When I was eleven years old, one of my favourite places was the Nielson Hays Library in Bangkok, Thailand. It was a huge building, with tall ceilings and white-washed walls. On days when my Mother needed the car, the driver would collect me from school and leave me at the Library to spend an hour or two on my own. Nielson Hays Library, Bangkok (Photo: neilsonhayslibrary.com) That library had a special room just for children's books. It was a tiny building with wooden walls, tiled roof and polished-wood floor, surrounded by water, like a moat. You had to step across a little bridge to get inside. It was like being inside a castle made for books. I planned to read every book in there, in alphabetical order! But of course, I soon decided against that because I preferred some kinds of bo...
Where Tech Meets <i>Storytelling</i>
Alt Shift, Issue 4 – January 2018

Where Tech Meets Storytelling

Ramu and his friends sit huddled together around a computer screen, playing a game called “Rory’s Story Cubes.” Shaili hits the spacebar key and the 9 virtual dices roll. When it stops, the dice fall next to each other in this order: “I’ll go first,” says Ramu. His narration begins: “An arrow hits a boy playing on the streets.” Shyam looks at the second image of a footprint, pauses for a minute to think and adds, “The boy wonders what just hit him and sees footprints of an animal near him.” It’s Shaili’s turn next: “The boy called Ali follows the footsteps across the bridge.” Ramu excitedly cuts in: “Ali soon comes to a tree where the prints have mysteriously disappeared.” “He searches for the prints in all directions,” continues Shyam. “Ali hears a voice from below t...
Can You <strong>Snuggle </strong>up with <i>Your Kindle?</i>
Alt Shift, Issue 4 – January 2018

Can You Snuggle up with Your Kindle?

Young readers talk about Lane Smith's It's a Book.   It is a commonplace on the part of Generation Y to lament that kids just don’t read these days. Most of the blame coalesce into one giant finger that points accusingly at the internet and the many, many gadgets that enable young kids to gambol freely among digital terrains. It’s a troubling thought indeed that right now, there is a whole wave of children who are more at home with Twitter and Snapchat than Tinkle and Superman. It is precisely these concerns that Lane Smith’s excellent It’s a Book speaks to. A simple (and hugely fun!) back-and-forth between a curious jackass and a reader monkey forms the content of Smith’s book. Without giving away the ending, we’d just like to say that the conclusion of this brief story will warm al...
Has Internet Done to <i>Poetry </i>What Spring Does to the Cherry Tree?
Alt Shift, Issue 4 – January 2018

Has Internet Done to Poetry What Spring Does to the Cherry Tree?

Exploring poetry’s roller coaster journey into the digital world From rare yellowing anthologies waiting to be discovered in the last aisle of the library to backlit daily Instagram feed, poetry has travelled a long way. Unlike some successful Tumblr and Insta poets, the most celebrated poets of our world cannot claim to have gone “viral”. It fascinates me how the digital world has almost entirely altered how poetry is produced, shared and consumed. While each one of us millennials has strong opinions on how the internet has ruined/revolutionised parts of our life, we have yielded to its power and played along. Poetry readers are no different. There is a lot to celebrate about poetry on the internet along with legitimate concerns raised by the alert witnesses of this overhaul. Before...
On The Same <i>Page</i>
Alt Shift, Issue 4 – January 2018

On The Same Page

Being able to criss-cross the globe on the strength of the Internet has made it possible to engage with creative ideas, conversations, and experiences which otherwise would be beyond our reach—and at times, even beyond our imagination.  On The Same Page will bring to the reader of Torchlight, a combination of textual-audio-visual curated content, about and around libraries and bookish love. Picturing the journey: Print to digital Long before research was undertaken to establish the significant role pictorial representations play in developing literacy, language, and a host of cognitive skills in young children, picture books occupied a distinct place in the world of children’s publishing.   So much so that since 1937 picture books became award-worthy starting with the Cald...
Book Feels For Broke Bibliophiles: Exploring <i>Bookishness </i>in <strong>New Media</strong>
Alt Shift, Issue 4 – January 2018

Book Feels For Broke Bibliophiles: Exploring Bookishness in New Media

On the social media behemoth Facebook exists a group known as 'Book Deals for Broke Bibliophiles' — a vibrant online community of self-identified book-lovers who spend as much time on this forum discussing and discovering new books, favorite authors, short stories, book-photography and other bookish things as they do reading, presumably. As per the description given — and as indicated by the name —"This Group is intended to suggest curated online book deals in India. The objective is to make you spend bare minimum to buy your favourite books." It was started in December 2014 by a person who prefers to keep their identity anonymous, originally going by the name "Broke Bibliophile." A fascinating figure, this person is charismatic, polite, responsive to other members and always, alway...
कहानी और <i>“और एक कहानी”</i>
Alt Shift, Issue 4 – January 2018

कहानी और “और एक कहानी”

सिरोही जिले के आबू रोड ब्लॉक में अर्ली लिटरेसी प्रोजेक्ट के तहत 10 राजकीय विद्यालयों की प्राथमिक कक्षाओं में बच्चों के साथ लाइब्रेरी कार्य करने के दौरान टैबलेट आधारित ई-पुस्तकों के संकलन (ई-रीडर) का अनुप्रयोग हुआ l इस प्रोजेक्ट, जिसको “और एक कहानी” नाम दिया गया, के साथ काम करने के दौरान बच्चों ने जो प्रतिक्रियाएं दी, उससे कई सवाल मेरे मन में घर कर गए l टैबलेट जैसे उपकरण पर बच्चों ने पहली बार जब अपनी नन्ही उंगलिंयां फिराते हुए अपनी दुनिया के बारे में खोजना शुरू किया तो उनके चेहरे पर उत्सुकता एवं आनंद के भाव बिखरे देख बहुत अच्छा लगा l बोलती किताबों और पात्रो की गतिशील रंगीनीयत ने बच्चों को अपनी ओर तुरंत व सहज ही आकर्षित कर लिया और सबसे पहला सवाल मन में खड़ा हुआ - क्या किताबें पहली बार में ऐसा कर पाती ? टैबलेट पर कुछ महीने अंगुलियां फिराते-फिराते बच्चों ने कहानियों की ई-किताबों से दोस्त...
A Virtual Quest: <i>Rare books and a Recreation of Childhood</i>
Axis, Issue 4 – January 2018

A Virtual Quest: Rare books and a Recreation of Childhood

I come from a place and a time where the experience of seeking books was a mixed one. On the one hand, I met the last representatives of a generation for whom the public library was of tremendous significance. Some of these people had even collaborated to set up the first public libraries in my part of the world. On the other, I grew up at a time when reading had been compartmentalized into syllabi and mandated material, and books (read: textbooks) were keys to employment. Within my own generation, public libraries withered away. My school encouraged borrowing from the library, and in my neighbourhood was the biggest library in the Northeast, so these were valuable resources for me. We also had, in our city, a rare bird — the only library meant exclusively for children. It had children’...
In My Father’s <i>Library</i>
Axis, Issue 4 – January 2018

In My Father’s Library

In the age of the digital when most reading is done off the screen, the sensory appeal of paper as the reading material has its own charm. A room full of books plays on our senses in so many ways. The smell, texture and rustle of paper draws any ardent reader into an immersion that is not worthy of any comparison with reading off a screen. Ask any voracious reader and she will say that we all prefer paper. Possessing books is as valuable for readers as collecting jewelry is for many. My father Ziaul Haq is one such person. He has a vast personal collection of books that he has slowly nurtured and built over a period of seventy years. At 97 years of age, he sits proudly amongst the books he loves so much. Allahabad, the city where he resides had the reputation of being a hub of the li...
<i>Preface </i>to Issue 4
Axis, Issue 4 – January 2018

Preface to Issue 4

Dear Torchlighters, Technology is everywhere. Inventions that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago are essential components of everyday life now. Libraries and readers too have been swept up in its all-encompassing embrace; Kindle screens wink at us from bedside tables, archives become digitally available, and writers tweet out stories in real time to a breathless audience of millions. As with all other change, this too has its share of nay-sayers. Some worries and complaints – about elitism and privilege, shortened attention spans and lost nuances, digital isolation – are entirely legitimate and, to varying degrees, already apparent. The need of the hour seems to be platforms where a multiplicity of voices from all walks of life can think through, at some leisure, the ramif...