Puff, the magic dragon
In this lively, well researched, humorous and occasionally trippy account of ganja, Karan Madhok look at every aspect of the cannabis plant: botanical, spiritual, medical and recreational. Madhok hits the road in search of cannabis strands around the country including a visit to the Himalayan hamlet that is home to the world renowned Malana Cream (which has inspired various counter culture movements), looks for the mythical Idukki Gold in Kerala, steeks the Sheelavathi variety in the Andhra/Orissa region, portrays the travail of addicts, and details the shadowy world of gangsters and suppliers, hangs out with devotees who openly consume bhang and other derivatives of ganja and visits hospitals and clinics which use the drug for a wide range of therapeutics.
Ananda, the first major study of cannabis in India is entertaining and enlightening – it is the perfect introduction to an integral aspect of the country that has often got a bad rap and is imperfectly understood.*
Of Hindi magazines and paperbacks
During the two difficult decades immediately following independence, a new, commercially successful print culture emerged that articulated alternatives to dominant national narratives. Through what Aakriti Mandhwani defines as middlebrow magazines — like Delhi Press’s Sarita — and the first paperbacks in Hindi — Hind Pocket Books — North Indian middle classes cultivated new reading practices that allowed them to reimagine what it meant to be a citizen. Rather than focusing on individual sacrifices and contributions to national growth, this new print culture promoted personal pleasure and other narratives that enabled readers to carve roles outside of official prescriptions of nationalism, austerity, and religion.
But the story is as much about the publishers as the readerships, Sarita’s challenge to institutional Hindi could not have happened without the multilingual editor publisher Vishwa Nath of the Delhi Press, ‘a veritable magazine activist’, as the author puts it. The paperback revolution of Hind Pocket Books, with its unprecedented print runs, is a legacy of Dina Nath Malhotra, and the phenomenal reach of Dharmyug, leading even that of celebrated English language publications of The Times Group, owed much to writer Dharmvir Bharti’s move from Allahabad to Bombay.
Utilizing a wealth of previously unexamined publications, Everyday Reading pays carful attention not only to key aspects of production in commercial Hindi publishing but ordinary reading practices as well – particularly those of women. Insightful and entertaining, it is a significant addition to scholarship on print culture in independent India. *
Hymns of praise and devotion
From the team behind the award-winning My first Hanuman Chalisa, this six-book set features Sanskrit shlokas on six Hindu gods and goddesses including Lakshmi, Shiva, Durga, Vishnu, Saraswati and Ganesha.
Each book includes the original shloka in Sanskrit, an English transliteration and a kid-friendly translation by Chitwan Mittal and Sarita Saraf. Vibrant, modern art by Bhargavi Rudraraju captures the essence of the words, with each page containing word meanings to promote bilingual language skills. The set is accompanied by a free audiobook in both languages that is accessible via a QR code. *
*All copy from book flap.
