Blog by Vanshi | Digital Diary

                                           PREFACE This collection of whimsical prose poems which now has a second life is my homage to the mantic and punning texts I have read for decades with delight. They continue to offer a welcome relief from the other books in my library full of serious scientific social significant, sullen surly somer solemn sad, stern, [s] censorious and sepulchral concerns common to all times and places. A moral, social and religious education needs mocking shadows therwise it becomes oppressive. While this book is for my daughters, it is adout imagined words and strangs beings who refuse to obey logical ideas rational wishes and grammatical forms. Poems odout snarks by lewis carroll bestiaries by pablo Neruda hieroglphs by horace walpole purple cows by Gelett burgess practical cats by T.S. Eliot Dreamtigers by jorge luis borges jumblies by edward lear kipling;s just so stories and lucky's mad dance with his hat in samuel beckett play continue to sustain me in our cruel and mean times. I should of course add that I am always ready to be enchanted by the verbal and visual puns in the films of chapiln the marx brother buster keaton and laurel and hardy. The first edition of this book was published in 2014 by Tulikka. I was apprehensive  when Manjula padmanabhan persuaded me to send this eccentric book to radhikea menon and priya krishnan the editors at tulika. I thought they would dismiss it as flibbertigibbet. though i did hope radhika s note of acceptance was bemused and kind. she and priya instinctively understood that these minor verses dealing witrh many .

What is a River?  India abounds in rivers. Transcending down from the peaks of the Himalayas, the Ganga, yamuna, Brahmaputra, Sutlej, Indus and Jhelum and many of their tributaries wind their way across the northern states and merge into the Arabian sea or the Bay of Bengal. And from the vindhya Ranges in central India, the Narmada, Krishna, Kaveri Godaviari and their tributaries spread a web across the eastern and southern states of the country and finally find their way to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian ocean.  Despits their many similarities, all the rivers big or small are unique. They have a personality of their own as distinctive asthe landscape through which which 5hey flowm But you can only see these special qualities if you go closer and closer and watch the fascinating life in the flowing water and study the inter relation of plants and animals that dwell in it. Just a passing glance will not reveal the deep secrets you will then have the satisfaction of understanding the marvels of the living world of nature and the thrill of discovering a new life. Before we trace the course, the history and resources of the rivers of India, I would like to give you a basic and fundamental introduction to what is a River what are it's uses and explain how it is geographically divided into three parts the source of a River the channel if a River and the mouth of a river. It will help you to appreciate and understand the later chapters of the book as we go along. A river is a large body of water that flows over land in a long channel Most of the rivers begin from the mountains or ever hills. The source of a river could be varied a melting glacier or a snowfield an over flowing lake or ever tiny springs meging into one as the river flows downwards in tis channel it receives more water from streams and other smakk rivers and also rain fall. The end of the river is the mouth where the water empylties into a larger river a lake or an ocean . 

   A Bakery from goa Our elders are often heard reminiscing nostalgically about those good old portuguese days the portuguese and their famous loaves of bread. Those eaters of loves might have amongst us the mixers the moulders and those who bake the loaves. Those age old time tested furnaces still extinguished. The this this and jingle of the traditional bakers bamboo heralding his arrival in the morning can still be heard in some places maybe the father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession. These bakere are ever today, known as pader in Goa. During our childhood in Goa the bakes used to be our friend, companion and guide. He used to come at least twice a day. Once, when he set out in the morning on his selling round and then again when he returned after emptying his huge basket the jingling this of his bamboo woke us up from sleep and we ran to meet and greet him. Why was it so ? Was it for the love of the loaf? Not at all. The loaves were bought by some paskine or bastine the maid servant of the housed what we longed for were those bread bangles which we chose carefully. Sometimes it was sweet bread of special make. The baker made his musical entry on the scene with the jhang jhang sound of his specially make bamboo staff. One hand supported the basket on his head and the other banged the bamboo on the ground. He would greet the lady of the house with good morning..

If ever you should go by chance. To jungles in the east.               And if there should to you advance.  A large and tawny beast,  If he roars at you as you re dying, You ' ll know it is the asian Lion... Or if some time when roaming round. A noble wild beast greets you. With black stripes on a yellow ground Just notice if he eats you  This simple rule may help you learn The Bengal tiger to discern. If strolling forth a beast you view whose hide with spots is peppered. As soon as he has kept on you , You'll know it is the leopard. Twill do not good to roar with pain, he'll only lep and lep again. If when you re walking round your yard you meet a creature there who hugs you very hard be sure it is a Bear. If you have any doubts, I guess he ll give you just one more caress. Though to distinguish beasts of prey a novice might oneplus. The crocodile you always may tell from the heyena this hyenas come with merry smiles but if they weep they re crocodile ?. The true chameleon is small a lizard sort of thing he hasn't any ears at all and not a single wing. If there is notherg on the tree, Tis the chameleon you see.

What happened in Sri Lanka? In 1956 the year the states of India were repganised on the basis of language the Parliament of Sri Lanka then ceylon introduced on act recognising sinhala as the sole official language of the country. This made sinhala the medium of instruction in all state schools and colleges in public examinations and in the courts. The new act was opposed by the tamil speaking minority  who lived in the north of the island when you deny me my language said one tamil MP you deny me everything you are hoping for a divided ceylon warned another adding bo not fear I assure you that you will have a divided ceylon an opposition member himself sinhala speaking predicted that if the government did not change its mind and insisted on the act being passed two torn little bleeding states might yet arise out of one little state. For several decades now a civil war has taged in Sri Lanka whose roots lie in the imposition of the sinhala language on the tamil speaking minority and another south asi as n country pakistan was divided into two what the Bengali speakers of the east felt that their language was being suppreesd. By contrast india has managed to survive as a single nation in part because the many regional languages were given freedom to flourish had hindi been imposed on south india in the way that urdu was imposed on rast pakistan or sinhala on northern Sri Lanka India too might have seen civil war and fragmentation contrary to the fears of jawahalal Nehru and sadar patel linguistic states have not threatened the unity of India Rather they have deepened this unity once the fear of one language being suppressed has gone the different linguistic groups have been content to live as part of the larger nation called india.

                                                                                     A Baker from Goa Our elgers are ofter heard reminscing nostaligically about those good old Portuguese days thr portugurse and their famous loaves of bread. Those earters of loves might have vanished but the makers are still there. We still have amongst us the mixes, The moulders and those who bake the loaves. Those age old time tested furaces still exist. The fire in the fauriances a has not yet been extinuished. The thud and jingle for the traditional baker,s bambo, heardling his arrival in the morning can still be heared in some places Myble the father in not alive but the son still carries on the family proession. These bers are even today known as pader in goa.  

Rammohun Roy was particularly moved by the problem widows faced in those lives. He began a campaign against the practice of sati. Rammohun Roy was well versed in Sanskrit persian and several other Indian and European languages. He tried to show through his writings that the practice of widows burning had no sanction in ancient texts By the early nineteenth century as you have read in chapter 7 many British officials had also begun to criricse Indian traditions and customs. They were therefore more than willing to listen to Rammohun who was reputed to be a learned man.

                                                                 Creating Advertisements Advertisenents persuade people to take spectific actions related to a social cause or to pay for a product or service. This project will help you design and make an advertisement for a small business in you locality.                                                 As a part of the project you will bee able to . 1. Explore different kinds of advertisements. 2. Identify elements of an advertisemnt. 

                                                                   Water Audit For Water Management A Water audit is a sysstematic process through which data about water usage and wastage within a building or household is examined. This project is obout collecting and anyalysing data using different tools for water audit.                                    [As part of the project you will be able to] Have you ever wondered how the meteorolgical depaetment predicts the arrival of the monsoon or warns us about upcoming cyclones, rainfall, heat waves and snowstroms . They make these predictions based on past data assuming that similar tends wil continue. Data is any information collected for a specific purpose  in the form of facts figures, photographs videos and so on figures 5.1 and 5.2.  After collection the data is organised so that we can interpret it and draw conclusions. For example suppose we have data about temperature, humidity and rainfall over a period of time. In that case we can predict the chances of rain given specific conditions of temperature and humidity. Imagine a village where farmers usually grow crops that need water however if past data on temperature and humidity show that a particular summer will be hotter and the rains will arrive late, the weather forecast can help them plan better. Instead of planting the usual crops they can either delay sowing or choose crops that need less water this way they can avoid losses and better use their resources. In today age of information technologhy.

                                                                   Water Audit For Water Management A Water audit is a sysstematic process through which data about water usage and wastage within a building or household is examined. This project is obout collecting and anyalysing data using different tools for water audit.                                    [As part of the project you will be able to] Have you ever wondered how the meteorolgical depaetment predicts the arrival of the monsoon or warns us about upcoming cyclones, rainfall, heat waves and snowstroms . They make these predictions based on past data assuming that similar tends wil continue. Data is any information collected for a specific purpose  in the form of facts figures, photographs videos and so on figures 5.1 and 5.2.  After collection the data is organised so that we can interpret it and draw conclusions. For example suppose we have data about temperature, humidity and rainfall over a period of time. In that case we can predict the chances of rain given specific conditions of temperature and humidity. Imagine a village where farmers usually grow crops that need water however if past data on temperature and humidity show that a particular summer will be hotter and the rains will arrive late, the weather forecast can help them plan better. Instead of planting the usual crops they can either delay sowing or choose crops that need less water this way they can avoid losses and better use their resources. In today age of information technologhy.