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The idea of the Tribal

A Nomad Called Thief: Reflections on Adivasi Silence
G. N. Devy
Published by Orient Longman

The volume under review is a collection of short pieces previously published by the author in a number of dailies and periodicals—many of which have been revised and expanded for inclusion in the book. The main theme of these short and extremely perceptive narratives is the marginalization of adivasis in India, with a focus on various erroneous constructions of the idea of the tribal.

The book is a fascinating narrative of a surprisingly wide canvas of issues related to the adivasis. It does not aspire to serve a larger purpose except documenting the author’s concerns about a host of issues—from environment to livelihood, from development to cultural processes and from violence to knowledge systems. In the process, Devy successfully manages to provide a voice to some of these issues which the adivasis grapple with on a daily basis.

Amit Prakash
THE BOOK REVIEW, January 2008

Amazing grace

Peculiar People, Amazing Lives: Leprosy, Social Exclusion and Community Making in South India
James Staples
Published by Orient Longman

Peculiar People, Amazing Lives is a study of a community of leprosy sufferers in ‘colony’ in Andhra Pradesh. What unites them into a community is not just their disease, but also their social exclusion, they are outcastes from even the outcastes. But ironically as a Christian community, they exclude others too, non-Christian. The author carried out intensive field work not only in the ‘colony’ but also in Mumbai, where many of them earn their livelihood as beggars.

The book is rich in texture, a pleasure to read, with an impressive reading of the literature. It would be useful for students of anthropology in general and medical anthropology in particular.

Mohan Rao
THE BOOK REVIEW, January 2008

New Arrivals May 2008

Political Theologies — Public Religions in a Post-secular World: Hend de Vries, Lawrence E Sullivan — Editor; Social Science Press, 69 Jor Bagh, New Delhi and Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd., 1/24 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 795. Globalization and the Millennium Development Goals — Negotiating the Challenge: Manmohan Agarwal, Amit Shovon Roy; Social Science Press, 69 Jor Bagh, New Delhi-110003. Rs. 675. India’s New Capitalists — Caste, Business and Industry in a Modern Nation: Harish Damodaran; Permanent Black, Himalayana, Mall Road, Ranikhet Cantt, Ranikhet-263645.

Magical Stories, The Hindu, 22 April 2008

PAROMITA PAIN

Eight tales – some old, some new-but all fascinating.

Do you remember the story of the elves and the shoemaker? Haven’t you often wished some genie would spring up and do your homework and all you had to do was to set your books out neatly? Wishful thinking aside it is stories like these that make childhood magical. If you want your younger siblings to enjoy them and make the session a time where they can learn to read for themselves too then ask for the Storytellers set of books. The package has four books, each one a different story, retold by BookBox, with clever pictures and a VCD. The VCD has animations with subtitles that get highlighted with the words spoken on screen to help learn words faster.

And not just old fairy tales. Newer stories like “Tucket the Bucket” are welcome additions. Written by Kuzhali Manickavel, “Tucket the Bucket” is a delightful story of the saddest bucket in the world. Once a garden favourite a hole saw him lose his place of favour. Now how would you feel if you went from being the teacher’s pet to the class dunce? Well Tucket felt a bit like that and worse perhaps. Is Tucket doomed to rust in sorrow? Read on or listen to find out!

Have you ever said boo to a ghost before? Now you never will for after reading Manikavels “The Boo in the shoe” Puzzle the purple Boo and you will soon be friends.

Available in two sets with each one containing a set of five books and a VCD each, these are exciting books to add to your collection.

STORYTELLERS 1 AND 2, Orient Longman Publications, Rs 295

The Epicure Cookbook

“At a Moplah Food Festival in Bangalore recently, a regular user of my cookbook rang up the organisers on hearing that I was in town. She had bought my book Malabar Muslim Cookery a decade back and wanted it autographed. This is only an instance of the appreciation I have received to my recipe books that include The Epicure Cookbook.”

Storytellers: Six-pack wonder

Storytellers is the closest kids can get to a six pack. Each volume, in a colourful cardboard box, comes with five storybooks and a VCD.

Storytellers is a product of an association between local publishers Orient Longman and Bookbox, an American company which has sourced stories from around the world. This means the stories are not the hackneyed ones served out to children over the generations.

The read-along method helps a child relate phonetic sounds with visual subtitles, thereby accelerating the development of his reading skills.

The CD has other interactive parts, too – puzzles like Join The Dots and Sort The Jumbled Pieces, for instance. One can also take the printouts of outlined pictures for colouring.

Sudeshna Banerjee
The Telegraph, Kolkatta, 9 April 2008

The Malabar Muslim Cookery

Seventy-year-old Ummi Abdullah grew up in a large Moplah family where there was plenty of help to do the cooking. But Ummi had to learn the tricks of the trade when she married V. Abdulla.

The Malabar Muslim cookery expert from Calicut is here at the Moplah cuisine festival on till March 30 at Karavalli at the Taj Gateway, as part of an attempt to bring in renowned people from different coastal regions for its 15th year celebrations.