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Business Standard
a day ago
- Business
- Business Standard
OTP Please: Vandana Vasudevan exposes hard truths of the ecommerce economy
From online marketplaces using data to harm local businesses to the suffering that lies behind the glossy growth story that startups tell, Vandana Vasudevan exposes the hard truth of platform economy Chintan Girish Modi Mumbai Listen to This Article OTP Please! Online Buyers, Sellers and Gig Workers in South Asia Published by Penguin Random House India 384 pages ₹499 It has been almost a year since Piyush Goyal, Union minister of commerce and industry, expressed his concerns about how the ecommerce boom might impact 100 million small retailers across India. While launching a report titled 'Assessing the Net Impact of E-Commerce on Employment and Consumer Welfare in India' — published by the Pahle India Foundation —i n August 2024, Mr Goyal said that ecommerce is here to stay 'but we have to think very carefully and cautiously about its
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Motherhood, minus the filter: 4 candid books by Bollywood moms
(Written by Kaashvi Khubyani) In a world where motherhood is idealised, Bollywood moms are turning the pages. These celebrity authors have exchanged the red carpets with real talk, narrating their parenting journeys with honesty, wit and wisdom. From pregnancy cravings to postpartum transitions, their books offer a refreshing take on what it means to raise a child in the limelight while keeping it deeply personal. Here are some must-read books by Bollywood moms that go beyond the glamour and bring you closer to the emotional, physical, and mental rollercoaster of motherhood. By Kareena Kapoor Khan with Aditi Shah Bhimjyani Publication: Juggernaut Publication Available in: Paperback (392 pages)- Rs. 699 Kareena Kapoor's book is a trimester-by-trimester pregnancy guide co-authored with doctors and experts. From swollen feet to cravings and body image struggles, she keeps it real. With chapters on fitness, mental health, self-care, and mom guilt, Kareena makes space for both vulnerability and strength. In her work she discusses postpartum struggles- body changes, lack of sleep and breastfeeding. Backed by nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar, she shared easy-to-follow diet tips emphasizing the importance of home cooked food. She also offered maternity style tips for moms-to-be while giving her own insights on how she styled her bump and stayed confident. With all the warmth and wit, this book encourages women to own their pregnancy their way. By Soha Ali Khan Publication: Penguin India (Penguin Random House India) Available in: Paperback (256 pages)- Rs. 299 Soha's essays offer glimpses into her life as a mother to daughter Inaaya Naumi Kemmu. Her reflections on balancing Nawabi legacy with modern-day parenting are subtle yet sharp. Her writing style is part sarcastic and part soulful which makes you laugh even as she gives gentle insights about motherhood. She touches on navigating 'new mom' insecurities- what to feed the baby, when to travel, what products to use- acknowledging how confusing motherhood can be. In her work, she appreciates how her husband Kunal Kemmu has been a hands- on father and highlights the importance of shared parenting responsibilities. The tone of the chapters is light-hearted yet insightful, filled with relatable anecdotes. By Tahira Kashyap Khurrana Publication: Juggernaut Publication Available in: Paperback (168 pages)- Rs. 299 Tahira, writer-filmmaker and wife of Ayushmann Khurrana, serves up a hilarious ride through the chaotic mess that is motherhood. Her book busts the myth of the 'perfect mom.' It's filled with deeply personal anecdotes that normalize mommy meltdowns, making you feel seen and safe. The book unpacks seven deadly sins- guilt, anger, envy, lust, pride, gluttony, sloth as candid chapters. She highlights the importance of self-love and individuality due to postpartum societal obsession like the pressure to shed baby weight. Sharing anecdotes, Tahira embraces her flaws with humor and warmth making the chapters feel relatable. With all the sarcasm and sass in her work, she provides a handbook for real motherhood. By Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Luke Coutinho Publication: Ebury Press Available in: Paperback (288 pages)- Rs. 350 Though not strictly a parenting book, Shilpa's co-authored work speaks to moms trying to maintain balance- for themselves and their children. With tips on Indian superfoods and natural eating, this book is about maintaining well-being. It also reflects how motherhood reshaped her own approach to diet, fitness and family health. Her book points at inculcating healthy food choices at a young age in so as they can stay for a lifetime. She advocates eating unprocessed foods- brown rice instead of white, homemade ghee and fresh juices. Shilpa's voice sound as relatable and grounded as she shares what she cooks at home, what her son eats and how food is an emotion in Indian households.
The Hindu
14-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
How the Great Trigonometric Survey led to the mapping of India
Chennai, then Madras, 1819. Syed Mir Mohsin Husain, a jeweller from Arcot, was working in the store of his employer, George Gordon, when some British military officials stopped by with a strange instrument, asking if Mohsin could fix it. Though he had never seen such an instrument before, he managed to repair it, a skill noted by one of these officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Valentine Blacker, 'who was thoroughly impressed with Mohsin's 'uncommon intelligence and acuteness'', states a new book titled India in Triangles: The incredible story of how India was mapped and the Himalayasmeasured by Shruthi Rao and Meera Iyer, published by Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House India. From then on, Blacker often turned to Mohsin for help, even appointing him as an instrument maker at the Surveyor General's office when he (Blacker) became the Surveyor-General of India in 1823. Meera loves the story of Mohsin, this small-town jeweller, who went on to become an instrument maker and played a crucial role in the Great Trigonometric Survey (GTS), 'the most advanced survey of its kind in the Indian subcontinent at the time-and the largest in the world,' as India in Triangles puts it. 'I wish more people knew about Mohsin,' says the Bengaluru-based writer and researcher, the convenor of the Bengaluru Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). There are other, equally compelling personalities in the book, which tells the story of how the Indian subcontinent was mapped. These include William Lambton, who kick-started the ambitious project; his successors, George Everest, Andrew Scott Waugh and James Walker; scores of mostly unnamed Indian flagmen or khalasis; and Radhanath Sikdar, the Indian mathematician and social reformer who would go on to calculate the height of Mount Everest in 1852. However, India in Triangles is also about mathematical principles, instruments, and the methodology used to survey this vast land with its complex topography. Additionally, it discusses its major outcomes — including improved maps, a deeper understanding of the Earth's curvature, and confirmation that Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain — and is packed with engaging exercises, trivia, anecdotes, and facts. Shruthi reveals one of them: 'There is no evidence that Everest ever saw the mountain named after him,' she says, pointing out that it was actually named by Waugh in honour of his superior. While Everest, unlike his more easy-going predecessor Lambton, appears to have been a bit of a curmudgeon, he was also a 'pretty impressive guy. He brought in multiple innovations and made the survey faster,' says the California-based children's writer and editor. The start of a survey The pilot for this great survey was conducted in Banaswadi, Bengaluru, in 1800, merely a year after the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Lambton, who was part of the British regiment that fought this war, had proposed this survey for two broad reasons, explains Meera. The first was that the East India Company, which was rapidly acquiring new territories, needed maps. 'Yes, they had maps already, but these were not very accurate,' she says. Additionally, the geographer in Lambton sought to measure the Earth's true shape, fulfilling his long-held desire to contribute to the field of geodesy. 'In the 1780s, they had started trigonometrical surveys in England, and Lambton was following it very closely,' says Meera. Once Tipu Sultan was defeated, they had access to the entire territory of Mysore as well, which meant that 'practically all of South India is no longer enemy territory for the British so they could go almost anywhere they wanted,' she adds. 'This idea, Lambton had of drawing a line across the land, could be done. So that is how everything came together.' The GTS was based on the principle of triangulation, a process that divides a shape or surface into multiple triangles. 'In trigonometry, when you know the measurement of one side and two angles, you can calculate the lengths of the other two sides,' says Shruthi. Using this basic idea, 'they were able to draw imaginary triangles across the land.' According to her, only the first line of the triangle —the baseline —was physically drawn and measured on the ground. 'Then, from each end point of that line, they were able to sight the third point of the triangle, measure the angles and find the length of the other two sides of the triangle,' she explains, elaborating that one of these would then become the next baseline, which in turn would be used to map another triangle, and so on. 'It became a network of triangles across India, and using these triangles and paper and pencil, they were able to map the entire country.' A lasting legacy The actual process was arduous, involving the physical labour of lugging heavy equipment through harsh, often hostile terrain, while constantly battling the elements. 'They expected it to take around five years,' says Meera, with a laugh. In reality, however, it took nearly a hundred years, with the Great Trigonometric Survey officially kickstarting in April 1802 in Madras two years after the pilot in Bangalore. 'He chose the Madras Racecourse to set up the baseline… because it was close to St Thomas Mount, which sat on the 13th parallel, the same latitude as Bangalore,' states the book. 'Lambton was already familiar with the Bangalore region, which would be useful when he extended his triangulation from coast to coast, going from Madras to Bangalore and onwards to Mangalore along this latitude.' There was no looking back from there. The surveyors would spend the next few decades establishing baselines and drawing triangles all across the country, even as the leadership baton was passed on from Lambton to Everest, Waugh and finally to Walker. 'We know when it started, but not when it ended,' says Meera. 'Very often, it is said that it lasted 70 years, because on-ground operations were going on for that long, but you still see reports written after 70 years. Even in the early 1900s, reports were coming out about the GTS because they were still doing calculations, still correcting things.' What is clear, however, is the impressive legacy that the GTS has left behind, still lingering two centuries later. For instance, all Government-made maps of India, since the 1830s, have been based on one of the outcomes of this survey, the Everest Spheroid, which 'best represents what the surface of the Earth is actually like in the Indian subcontinent,' according to the book. It is also useful for people trying to understand the Earth's tectonic shifts. 'Because the GTS benchmarks and baselines were made and measured with such accuracy, they provide useful points to geologists who study earthquakes and plate tectonics,' it further states. Writing a book about the GTS When Shruthi went on a holiday to Mussoorie in 2014, she visited George Everest's house, located in Hathipaon. 'I did some research and heard about the Great Trigonometric Survey for the first time,' she says. She found herself wanting to write about this house, which was 'at that time, completely dilapidated', and went on to publish an article about it in a national media outlet. As part of her research, she read The Great Arc by the British historian and journalist John Keay, a book about the survey, and found herself becoming increasingly fascinated by the GTS. 'It has been running in my head since that time, and I wanted to write it for children,' she says. When she started researching for the book online, she discovered that Meera's byline recurred in many of the articles about the same survey, she says. 'First, I thought I would ask her for help with research; then, I ended up asking her to co-author the book with me, and she agreed,' explains Shruthi. Meera, who was directly involved in restoring an observatory located at the end of a baseline in Kannur, off the Hennur-Bagalur Road in Bengaluru, a structure that had been used to map the landscape, says that she first laid her eyes on 'this really strange building' back in 2010. She began reading about the GTS 'to figure out what this structure was,' she says, adding that INTACH started working on restoring it in 2018 or 2019. And while, unfortunately, the structure was later demolished in June 2024, 'that was when my interest really took off,' says Meera, who spent a lot of time in various archives researching the survey. Since the book is aimed at younger readers, the authors made sure that it was as conversational and simple as possible, says Shruthi. 'I give a lot of context, see that it relates to real-life situations and make sure that we not only describe trigonometry and the mathematical part of it, but also offer a bird's eye view,' she says. 'We also put in activities for children to help them get a feel of things.' And it isn't just children who are buying the book; adults seem to be enjoying it too. 'I think, compared to my other books for children, we are getting a lot of adult interest because very few people know about this,' says Shruthi. 'But, they're fascinated by the topic.' India in Triangles is available online and at all major bookstores
Scroll.in
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
‘Myth is a carrier of history, trauma, resistance': Subi Taba on writing about Arunachal Pradesh
Tales from the Dawn-lit Mountains is a debut collection of short stories by Subi Taba, who gracefully divides her time between writing and being an Agriculture Development Officer. The hills of Arunachal and their varied rhythms come alive in Taba's storytelling. Taba won the New Asian Writing Short Story Prize in 2020, and was shortlisted for the Twist and Twain Short Story Prize in 2021. She is also a South Asia Speaks fellow of the 2021 cohort, and the winner of the inaugural 'The Perfect Pitch' contest organised by Penguin Random House India. I caught up with the writer over text messages and asked her about her writing life. Excerpts from the conversation. What was your intention behind writing these stories? How did these stories come about? My intention and vision with Tales from the Dawn-lit Mountains was to create stories from diverse communities of Arunachal Pradesh. I wanted to write a book that entertains people while educating and informing them about the landscapes, culture, myths, and quiet philosophies embedded in the lives of the people from Arunachal Pradesh. These stories emerged from a place of memory and longing – for the landscape, the voices of elders, and the sacred silences of the mountains. Some stories came from anecdotes I heard in the villages about a man turning into a tiger, a village disappearing after disturbing a certain serpent, a family having unnatural deaths and sickness after being cursed by a priest for thievery. Such speculative stories are a part of small villages, and as a child, I used to revel in the excitement of hearing these stories. Most of the stories in this collection are set in rural villages, and the reason for setting them in rural landscapes is that they constitute some of the purest remnants of a tribe's pulse and identity. So, my aim was to present a slice of Arunachal Pradesh through its villages. Each story has an incisive element of poetry. Does it come naturally to you? How do you think poetically? I started my literary journey as a poet first, perhaps, due to that, my first instinct as a writer is shaped by poetry. Perhaps it comes naturally to me because I like to think about my story scenes in images, in sounds, and in sensory rhythms. I enjoy the art of fashioning words in different forms and styles. I think being a sensitive and emotional person helps me think poetically. I like to associate the emotions of the characters of my stories to a certain musicality. And I believe the landscapes I write about – lush, haunting, untamed – demand a poetic response. The stories are rooted in the socio-cultural and geo-political ethos of Arunachali society. One often finds that the characters move within the constraints defined by external forces beyond their existence. Tell me about the process of writing about people whose fates are often pre-determined, provided you are writing in a time when individualism rules supreme. That tension between destiny and agency fascinated me. Many of the characters I write about exist within tightly woven webs – of tradition, community, ancestry, and political imposition. Yet within those constraints, they find small but powerful moments of resistance, introspection, and even transformation. Writing these characters involved a kind of listening – not just to what they say, but to what their silences mean. In a time of radical individualism, these collective, inherited struggles remind us that identity is often a negotiation, not a declaration. Your stories blend myth and folklore (fantasy) with realism. How difficult is it to make such stories believable? The key lies in treating the fantastical with the same emotional seriousness as the real. In many Indigenous worldviews, the mythic is not a separate realm – it coexists with the tangible. For me, believability comes when the story honours the logic of its own world. I never try to explain the supernatural – I allow it to be, as it is for many in Arunachali communities, part of everyday life. If I believe it as a writer, the reader can too. AN: The stories in the collection have political undertones. I wonder how you decided on the insertion of politics – both current and historical, in the narrative? How extensive and frequent was your research? Politics is never absent in a place like Arunachal Pradesh – it's written into the land, the rivers, even the silence. The insertion wasn't deliberate in a didactic sense; it was organic. These stories grew from questions I carried – about displacement, loss of religion, and ecological degradation. I did a fair amount of observation and listening to the other person's points of view for my research, but I also relied on lived experience. For every story, I studied articles related to the story, read thesis books in the libraries for some stories and referred to historical accounts, photographs and online sources. I visited some of the villages to study the landscape, the shape of the clouds and the hills, and the vegetation. The research acted more like a compass than a map. Do you believe in the paranormal world? How far is your writing influenced by your own beliefs? I don't believe in ghosts as such but I do believe in energies – whether it's spirits, ancestral voices, or the sentience of a forest. My writing is certainly influenced by the possibility of this openness. It allows me to write about the supernatural not as an 'other' world, but as an extension of this one. For a writer starting out to write about myths and realism, what would you suggest would be some prerequisites? Begin by listening – to stories, to landscapes, to silences. Immerse yourself in the source material – oral histories, folktales, rituals, language. But also ask: Why am I telling this story now? Your writing should not only honour the past but also speak to the present. And above all, write with humility. You are not inventing the myth – you are entering into a conversation with it. It is often seen that the Northeast is known mostly for its folklore and myths as against, say, the more 'serious' forms of writing from the subcontinent. The political nuances are often layered with mysticism rather than straightforward realism. Do you think such a discourse is true? Are writers from the region more focused on storytelling based on myth and folktales? What can be done to make literature more subversive in the sense that literature from the region is seen as 'serious' as the rest of it? There is some truth to that discourse, though I believe it comes more from how literature from the Northeast is perceived than how it is actually written. Folklore is often seen as decorative or exotic, rather than politically potent. But for us, myth is a carrier of history, trauma, resistance. Writers from the region are reclaiming these stories and using them as subversive tools. What's needed is not a shift in content, but a shift in critical lenses – we must expand our definitions of 'serious' literature to include indigenous epistemologies and narrative forms. AN: You also work full-time as a government official. How do you juggle between your duties and writing? With great difficulty. My writing for this book happened mostly in my early mornings and the researching part, which I actually enjoyed, happened at all the in-between times of my busy life. My job actually helped in the creation and inspiration for some stories in the book like 'Spirit of the Forest', 'Love and Longing in Seijosa' and 'The Lost Village', all set in a district Pakke Kessang, where I was posted for my duties. The influence of the landscape and the people I met in these small towns reflects in these stories. So, in a way, my job also helped me feed on unlikely circumstances and situations that birthed some stories that might not have happened inside my four walled room. What are you writing next? I'm thinking of creating a novel that continues to explore the intersection of folklore, shamanism, and oral traditions – but on a much larger canvas. I wish to include more cultural and historical elements from lesser known tribes and regions of the state.
The Hindu
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Stars on the bookshelf: when celebrities write for children
On a chilly Sunday evening in January, I drove to Crossword at Mumbai's Kemp's Corner with my children to meet David Walliams. The celebrated British children's author and comedian was visiting as a part of his multi-city India book tour, and the bookstore had announced a meet-and-greet. I expected the whole affair to be a quick one — after all, how many people would want to meet Walliams in India? I could not have been more wrong. The large bookstore was filled with hundreds of children and parents buying books to sign, and queuing up to meet Walliams. He greeted them, signed books, posed for photographs, and encouraged them to continue reading. After all, the reason he writes books, he says, is to raise readers — a line that clearly resonated with parents eager to support anything that gets their child reading. The response Walliams got made me wonder — is this what a celebrity can do for the world of children's literature? Does fame guarantee sales? Celebrities-turned-authors are an all-too-familiar phenomenon in the U.K. and the U.S. From Meghan Markle to Jennifer Aniston, Natalie Portman to Jamie Oliver — celebrities have made it to bestseller lists with their children's books. These books are conveniently available as both hardcovers and ebooks. The topics they write about are as varied as their backgrounds. Actress and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon wrote the Busy Betty series in 2022, modelling the heroine on a childhood version of herself. Tennis superstar and philanthropist Serena Williams' The Adventures of Qai Qai, in which a little girl learns to believe in herself with the help of a doll, is inspired by her experiences with her daughter. Actress Gabrielle Union wrote Welcome to the Party to celebrate babies becoming a part of families through surrogacy and adoption. She also collaborated with her husband, basketball star Dwayne Wade, on Shady Baby — a book about standing up to bullies — inspired by their daughter Kaavia. Friends star Aniston recently released a picture book, Clydeo Takes a Bite Out of Life, about self-discovery and self-confidence, inspired by her pet dog Clyde. Books by celebrities garner attention, but do they guarantee sales? Sohini Mitra, who heads Penguin Random House India's Children and Young Adult division, says, 'Celebrity books don't guarantee high sales, as success still depends on the quality of the content and audience engagement. However, a celebrity author can boost the book's visibility, help it reach a broader audience, create buzz, and generate media attention.' Celebrity-authored books aren't always a success. In 2021, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, released The Bench, a love poem for new fathers, which was slammed by critics and parents alike. The New Statesman said, 'It was mind-boggling how bad the book is,' while others called it a 'literary atrocity'. The Indian scene In India, a few celebrities have turned authors. Actress Soha Ali Khan and her husband, actor Kunal Khemmu, wrote Inni and Bobo, a series about a little girl and her dog. Actress and entrepreneur Alia Bhatt wrote Ed Finds a Home, a picture book, launched as an extension of her children's clothing line, Ed-a-Mamma. The book was illustrated by the award-winning Tanvi Bhat who admits, 'The exposure it got because of the involvement of Alia Bhatt and her brand was unmatched.' One cannot deny that visibility has its perks. Grandma's Bag of Stories, authored by Sudha Murty, was the best-selling children's book in India, with 97,000 copies worth more than ₹18 million sold by 2021. Normalising ghost writing But does the success of a few titles justify the broader industry trend of commissioning celebrity authors? Lubaina Bandukwala, children's author and curator of literature festivals such as Peekabook, says, 'Celebrities usually have time only for their books. Seldom have I seen them use the platform to promote reading. It is a question of mindset — children's authors and those working in the children's literature space are more concerned about wanting kids to read, exposing them to newer themes, etc.' News and commentary platform The Conversation published an article by senior lecturer and author Penni Russon, who critiques how celebrity-authored books often undermine the craft. She highlights the 'derivative nature' of such books, which rely on tired tropes and rarely offer something original to children. Ashwitha Jaykumar, freelance editor and author of The Book of Emperors: An Illustrated History of the Mughals, finds the trend of celebrity authors disheartening. 'The worst outcome of publishers commissioning celebrity authors is that they normalise ghost writing or mediocre writing. If all it takes to be published is a pre-existing fan base, then what message does it send to people like us who spend years honing our craft? It's like saying the quality of your writing doesn't matter as much as the number of Instagram followers you have,' she says. But publishers continue to see value in commissioning celebrities to write children's books. Himanshu Giri, CEO, Pratham Books, explains, 'When influential voices from outside the traditional children's publishing space — whether economists like Esther Duflo, athletes, or artists — enter this world, they bring insight, purpose, and passion. Duflo, for instance, offers an economist's perspective on fairness, poverty, and inclusion, ideas that can be conveyed to children through age-appropriate storytelling.' The presence of a known name increases a book's discoverability and uplifts everyone connected to the project, from illustrators to publishers, especially in the 'independent' space. As Giri puts it: 'When respected and inspiring voices write for children, they lend credibility to the idea that children's books are serious, transformative work, drawing in new audiences, and shining a light on all those who are working quietly but powerfully to shape young minds.' However, for celebrity authors, the vibrant world of indie bookstores, where passionate readers and curated selections thrive, might still be out of reach. Vidya Mani, curator and co-founder of Funky Rainbow, a popular independent bookstore in Bengaluru, says, 'When people walk into our store, they are keen for us to recommend books that their children will enjoy. We have sold more books by Ashok Rajagopalan, Roopa Pai, Pika Nani, Priya Kuriyan, Rohan Chakravarty, and Asha Nehemiah than by any celebrity author. In our world, it is these authors and illustrators who are the real celebrities.' The writer is founder of Mother of Readers, a platform championing Indian children's literature.
