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Shikhandi and Other Queer Tales They Don't Tell You  By Devdutt Pattanaik As the word ‘Queer’ which means unconventional or unusual so is this book which is a collection of unorthodox tales from Hindu Mythology. After reading this book you will realize what seems unusual and unconventional to us in present has always existed in Hinduism since ages but have been overlooked by everyone as we cannot accept our deities whom we bound our heads to, are part of these tales. Yes, I am talking about those tales of our traditional history where the relationship between 2 men or 2 women, or where a man becoming a woman, or a woman becoming a man were not considered unconventional, were not demeaned, were not looked down upon by the society, rather were well accepted and worshipped at times. Queer stories are not restricted to Hindu mythology. Arctic regions have a different tale, as per them the first couple on earth were two men, they got married, made love but child conceived coul...

Elephant Prince By Amy Novesky Once I was randomly going through the books recommended by Goodreads, I encountered Elephant Prince and seeing it was related to Ganesh about whom I was already looking for a book to read, so I added this one in my reading list. Neither did I read the synopsis nor any review. It’s the title and the book cover which made me excited to read it. Then and there, I searched this book on Amazon and added it in my wishlist. I didn’t order though, it stayed in my wishlist for almost a year. It’s recently I bought it and read. And realized its a folklore and not the kinda I was actually looking for. :D I know it sounds silly but the truth is I was not aware that Amy is a children’s book editor based out of America, and even by the book cover on good reads I couldn’t figure it out that it’s a children book. But after reading the book, I didn’t regret buying it as I enjoyed it. Its the illustrations (by Belgin) in the book which further added to my happy feel...

Famous Stories of Akbar Birbal By Shanti Publications Akbar Birbal folk tales are very well known, especially in India, so they don’t need an introduction. They are liked by all. Even today, if we have to teach kids how to deal with difficult situations we land up citing the tale from this collection. So here I am excited not mainly to review but to tell you briefly how I landed up buying this classic. I went to the World book fair’19 held in Delhi. And while exploring, I came across the kids' section and was curious to explore what kind of books are there for children nowadays. And there when I saw this book, I was overwhelmed as this gem is still loved by. And that very moment I put it in my cart. I realized how much I missed reading these books. And not only this, I ended up buying two other classics from this section. Blog posts about them will soon come. Those who are not aware, who was Akbar and Birbal. Here’s the brief: Akbar was the Mughal Emperor who ruled o...