Holi Hai...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of the myriad colorful festivals that India celebrates – “Holi” is the one that personifies iridescence – literally.  It is characterized by the very popular play of colors

The festival gives people a chance to paint the town colourful and envelope it in good cheer. People take immense pleasure in daubing paint on each other’s faces to the extent that they become unrecognizable.

This ritual finds its root way back in the era of the Hindu God – Krishna. It is said that Lord Krishna often complained to his mother about the Radha’s fair complexion against His darker tone. To pacify the crying young Krishna, the doting mother asked him to go and colour Radha's face.In a mischievous mood, naughty Krishna smeared Radha's face with colour.

As this tradition is native to Mathura, (also the birthplace of Lord Krishna)it is the most happening place at this time of the year . Here the celebrations continue for over a week as each major Krishna temple celebrates Holi on a different day.

Of immense interest for the tourist is the celebrations which take place at the famous Bakai-Bihari Temple at Vrindavan. Drenched in the colours of Holi people can be found totally immersed in the spirit of devotion here.

Of course each state of India celebrates the festival with equal vigour & follows its respective traditions.

However, Being a Gujarati I’m biased to the HOLI celebration in Gujarat- where it assumes a higher degree of joy and celebration.

On the eve of Holi, a bonfire decorated with flowers and fruits is lit with a fire brought from the temple of Mata. People offer raw mangoes, coconut, toys made of sugar, khoya to the 'Holika' as referred t o in myhtology.

The next day, The state wakes up to the chants of 'Govinda ala re'. This day, called Dhuleti, is reserved for the play of colours.

In addition to this, the state is famous for the tradition of breaking earthen pot full of buttermilk and tied high on a rope. A human pyramid is formed in order to reach the pot.

During the whole of this day the famous holi drink –thandai or  “bhang” as it is called in Gujarat & “malpuas” – a traditional gujarati delicacy is supplied in copious amounts.

Holi in itself carries a very important social message - The color and water is symbolic of washing away all the man made distinctions based on caste, creed, and other differences created by the society. Holi in India is one of the most socially connecting and enjoyable festivals.

Here’s wishing all of you a brightly hued HOLI!!!! 

Happy Holi.

Rikta Doshi

A Librarywala fan.

 

The Adventures of reading a Book

        

Have you ever wondered what that paperback sitting idly on your book-shelf is capable of? How a copy of the “Othello”  can relocate you from India to Italy – more so from a modern setting to a medieval backdrop replete with animated characters.

Isn’t it just amazing how a naive looking “Anne Frank’s Diary”  can prove to be a time-travelling machine?

Have you observed such a reader who is captivated in a book and  taking this travel?? The way she feels each of the thumbed yellow pages – devours the unmistakable smell of an old book – the expression of contentment on entering a second hand book-store. It makes her feel at home in the company of other like minded people who allow themselves to be consumed by the text of Neruda, Patterson and numerous others....

The non-reader may find this behaviour eccentric but thats only till he takes a plunge into the world of books himself  the magic casts a spell on him too.

The world is filled with people who find a tremendous connect with books - there are scores of people who have spent their painful adolescence absorbed in a book- connected to a fictional character and called them brother or sister.

Its books that helped them drag through – that kept them going and helped their transition into wonderful adults.

There are numerous women who fantasize marrying Fitzwilliam Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and even more is the number   of kids who secretly believe that they possess magical powers and await a letter from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Reading the right kind of books at the right age helps a person develop at an appropriate pace in the correct direction.

They shape the reader’s personality to a great extent – and there are no two ways about it. If the concept is reasonable, the script is sound , the plot-gripping and language- coherent, there is nothing that can stop the book from creating a storm in the reader’s mind.

Ask an avid, habituated reader and you’ll know that reading a good book is nothing less than a refreshing escapade into the unexplored land of an age-old era.

So, the next time the adventure mood hits you and you want to try something less conventional – you know exactly what to lay your hands on :)


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Image source: www.spiritualriver.com

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Our 15 year-old fan and an avid reader shares her thoughts on “Little Women”

Genre: Drama

Our Say: - Wonderful read for early teenagers

My Favourite Book

Books are our companions. They are always with us. Whenever I am alone, frightened or sad I read a book and after finishing it I am happy again.  I have many books but ‘Little Women’ is my favourite book. The author is Louisa May Alcott.  In this book there are four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Their father is in the army and at the present is fighting in the Civil War. The family is not too well in financial matters. The story is about the four sisters who lead interesting lives despite of their problems. They and their friend Laurie who lives next door are the main characters. Their love, sadness, enjoyment and fear of their father, Mr. March is set so beautifully in the book that readers will find themselves feeling what the March girls feel.

The movie Little Women (1994) is based on  the book

This is my favourite book because this book helps me understand my duties to my siblings and parents. Mrs. March is a very kindly person who always takes the right decision. She not only gives her daughters but me too good advice.  There are many situations in the book which girls face. The book helps me be aware and tells me the decision I should take in such situations.

Archita Mitra

Why should you date a woman who reads?

Date a woman who reads. Date a woman who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a woman who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the woman reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most women who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a woman who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a woman who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because women who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Women who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a woman who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a woman who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a woman who reads.

Or better yet, date a woman who writes."

Author - Rosemarie Urquico
Check out her blog!

Women's Day Special- Enid Blyton

Today on Women’s day, Librarywala writes about a female writer  who is accredited for animating millions of childhoods with her skillfully spun stories. 

To the epitome of success in the land of books- Enid Blyton

The famous writer Enid Blyton a.k.a Mary Pollock.whose books many a million have spent their childhoods reading was born on 11th August 1897 to Thomas Carey Blyton and Theresa Mary Harrison Blyton

Blyton's books are completely works of her unbound imagination. Her series of books roof a variety of sorts.

What makes Blyton so successful is her imaginative, exciting and magical style. Her writing has sent countless young readers on thrilling adventures and generations will continue to enjoy her enchanting stories.

The Early Years:

From an early age, she liked making up stories better than anything else. As a child she would go to bed at night and stories would flood into her mind "all mixed-up, rather like dreams are, but yet each story had its own definite thread—its beginning and middle and ending."

The ENID BLYTON approach to writing:

Enid explains in “The Story of My Life” that she simply relied on her fertile imagination rather than on conscious invention. It was like viewing "a private cinema screen inside my head... and what I see, I write down." she adds: "But it's a 3-dimensional screen, complete with sound, smell and taste—and feeling!"

Enid Blyton's writing displays an appealing freshness and spontaneity. Enid has a knack of painting apt, imaginative word-pictures without resorting to lengthy descriptions or complicated phrasing.  If she sometimes fails to stretch her readers' vocabulary, she definitely does not fail in stretching their imaginations.

Inspirations:

She sought inspiration from her favourite books as a girl.  What appealed to her "wasn't so much the story as the strange 'feel' of the tale, the 'atmosphere' as we call it. It hung over me for a very long time, and gave me pleasant shivers."

Her senior school days inspires many anecdotes in her series of books St Clare’s and Malory Towers.

In her times, she was popular, full of fun and threw herself wholeheartedly into school life.

Other sources of inspiration for her books were her pets. She wrote letters for her Teacher's World column about family life as seen through the eyes of Bobs - her fox-terrier.

Her fascination with animals of different kinds is particularly evident in her various books – where fairy tales and fantasies have been spun around animals & creatures adapted from them.

The Ladder to Success

As a teen, Enid received countless rejection slips from publishers. However, that only made her more determined to persevere with her writing.

Enid Blyton took a great interest in children of all ages.  Therefore she wrote for a wide age-range.

Altogether, Enid Blyton is believed to have written around 700 books She earned a fortune from her writing and in 1950 she set up her own limited company, Darrell Waters Ltd., to manage the financial side of things.

Beyond the Writer:

Enid Blyton married Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters after the sad disintegration of her first marriage to Major Hugh Alexander Pollock. Blyton's second marriage was very happy. Both were immensely proud of one another's achievements and she moved smoothly into her role as a devoted doctor's wife, living with him and her two daughters at Green Hedges – dedicating her life to her family and writing.

Enid Blyton – The Legend:

Several decades after her death in 1968 , Enid Blyton is not forgotten. The best of her lives on in her books, many of which are still in print. Her storytelling is timeless and this result confirms that her books are still a firm favourite today.

In her words,

"Even if you have never met me, you know me very well because you have read so many books of mine... I am sure that you know exactly what I stand for, and the things I believe in, without any doubt at all.”

Librarywala

Celebrating Womanhood this Woman's Day (8th March)

Celebrating the existence of the Venusians –

Yes, the so much talked about, the so-much called for, the one’s that more-often-than-not leave your mouths open with the phenomenal change that they bring about, the only one’s that can work with astute shrewdness in the office but can play Juliet to their spouses back home, the gender that was once called weaker but is now audaciously rising to the peak of its strength………………yes, the women,…

The Women’s Day celebrates mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, grandmothers, all over the world……….

Here’s to the essentials of being a lady,

to our multitasking abilities

to our patient natures, to our mood swings

to our fear of cockroaches, to the thriving audacities

to the gossip, to the work meetings that we conduct

to the tomboyish natures, to the transformation to beautiful ladies,

to the stifled laughs, to the hysterical laughter,

to the wailing cry on breaking a nail, to bearing the pain of labour,

to the livid faces at the eve-teaser, to the miss-goody-two-shoes look

to the flea-market chappals, to the drunk dancing with 6-inch Jimmy Choos

to black nail paints, to the liberty to wear pink

to bad hair days, to the looks that kill

to challenging ourselves, to our love of being pampered

to the ability to stun-gun people with all the things we do……….

To all the female readers, writers, publishers, women celebrities who have been written about, including fictional protagonists…

Cheers to Womanhood! 

Happy Woman's Day :)

Rikta Doshi -
A Librarywala fan

World Book Night

An ardent book lover's idea to spread the joy of reading.......

"Just like all members of Librarywala, I too love books. There hasnʼt been a more hackneyed phrase in history, Iʼm sure, but sadly, such is the truth! So, I was delighted when I discovered World Book Night.

World Book Night is possibly the worldʼs largest book give-away drive. Conducted only in the UK and Ireland, this book give-away shortlists 25 titles for their drive each year. 

Forty thousand copies of these books are then given away to members of the general public – just like that, for free! Volunteers, known as ‘givers’ –  20,000 of them – select any book from the 25 titles, and give away 48 copies of their chosen book; the other copies are distributed on World Book Night itself (this year on March 5), in places that are difficult for volunteers to reach, such as prisons and hospitals. 

What a fantastic idea to spread the reading bug! Though India doesnʼt have similar programs running, perhaps pioneers such as Librarywala, armed with its huge member base, can start something like this. Any further ideas on how this can be done?"

blogpost by Shefali Sunderan Harsha - a Librarywala fan