This week, two book that make India’s fascinating history and geography appealing to young readers: Batata, Pao, and All Things Portuguese Vaishali Shroff; illustrations by Suha Riyaz Khopatkar People Place Project 157 pages Rs 550 Appropriate for: 9+ years In 1510, the explorer Afonso de Albuquerque had defeated the Sultan of Bijapur and initiated what was to become 450 years of uninterrupted Portuguese rule over Goa. During this time, Goa had served as the administrative capital of the Portuguese empire in Asia. It would be as late as December 1961, 14 years after Independence, that the Indian government would finally wrest control over Goa from the Portuguese. Buy Now | Our best subscription plan now has a special price But Goa isn’t the only place where the pervasive Portuguese influence remains in India. Neither did Portuguese history in India begin with Albuquerque’s conquest (It did with the arrival of Vasco da Gama at Kappakadavu beach in Kerala’s Kozhikode in 1498). in In her book, Batata, Pao, and All Things Portuguese, a graphic novel with illustrations by Suha Riyaz Khopatkar, writer Vaishali Shroff traces the fascinating trail of Portuguese history in India across the Western coast of India. From the Vasai Fort, 70 km north of Mumbai, to Matharpacady in Mazgaon, one of the city’s oldest suburbs, from architectural influences to amalgamations of Portuguese cuisine with the local ones, Shroff traces how history is all around us, not just in the obvious relics but also in tiny everyday practices and things, that we often overlook. Told from the perspective of places and objects — trees, ships, beaches, temples, printing presses and even food — Shroff shows how our cultures are built through a process of assimilation, some imposed and a lot that is instinctive and unconscious. Published by The People Place Project, an initiative to nurture awareness of our city spaces, this is a book that is refreshing in its approach and painstaking in its reconstruction of details. Standing apart from the boring regime of dates and events, it makes the study of history contemporary and fun. Through its changing narrative voices, readers get a hint of how history changes perspective when told through different voices, encouraging them to look at multiple sources before arriving at conclusions. A to Z of Indian Cities: Ahmedabad to Zunheboto Rati Malaiya; illustrations by Bechain Nagri Studios HarperCollins India 64 pages Rs 299 Appropriate for: 8+ years In a game of “Atlas”, if you were to say Zunheboto or Xeldem, chances are you’ll leave your opponents quite flummoxed and reaching out for the atlas to challenge you about the veracity of your claims. Rati Malaiya’s book, though, is prepared for such challenges. A visual list of 26 Indian cities in alphabetical order, it is a repository of child- (and adult-friendly) information about the chosen cities. What makes Faizabad, a city next to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, famous (Identified as the mythical private estate of King Dashrath in the Ramayana, it is a city that showcased India’s syncretic culture)? Or, why should one visit Xeldem in Goa? (For the sun, sand and food, of course!) Offering a ring-side view of India’s unparalleled diversity, pictorial maps detail the traditions and myths, dress and food, festivals and customs, monuments and crafts of the chosen cities. While there are well-known cities such as Varanasi and Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, the book also explores lesser-known places such as Zunheboto in Nagaland, the city of bhoot jolokiya (ghost pepper) and the famed Hornbill Festival, and Yavatmal in Maharashtra, known for its puran polis and Lavani dance form. Each city comes with information about its population, language and speciality, in addition to cues about its flora or fauna, famous personalities or historical claim to fame. It is a lot of information to take in, but given the book’s adherence to contemporary rules of engagement — a visual format and capsules of information to go with it — it is a fascinating and more effective mode of learning for younger children than reading reams of information on the same. For all the latest Parenting News, download Indian Express App.
