Who Says Children Don't Read Books?

When an eleven-year-old devours a book on wildlife and goes on to write a book review, it calls for an exclusive story! Exclusive because the same eleven-year-old had led her parents on a hiking trail when she was only two-year-old. Yes, a two-year toddler leading a trail! Unbelievable, isn't it? Readers may browse our earlier story with title 'Toddler On A Trail'. In that story Maana's name had been misspelt as Mana for which Ghumakkad begs to be excused.

Ghumakkad is delighted to bring this guest story by Maana, Syon and Sachi, three siblings aged 11, 13 and 15. Born in USA to Anchita and Satyam Tyagi, their parents from India now settled in California, all three have 'Bharat/India in their hearts'. After nine years, it was a pleasure to meet Anchita and the children during their trip to India this summer. I was visiting Delhi and we met over lunch. Pressed for time, Kenneth Anderson's books came to my rescue for gifting it to all the three children. Kenneth was born on 8th March 1910 in Secunderabad and passed away on 30th Aug 1974 in Bangalore and wrote number of books on jungles and wildlife. Thanks Ashi our daughter in California and a family friend of Tyagis, for the suggestion. It is through Ashi that we came to know Anchita and family. 

As it turned out, the books were a hit with all three children. See the pictures below taken in Delhi and Jaipur.

All three children first read their respective books. Thereafter, they exchanged and read the other two books as well. As you can see from their 'reviews' which follow, they all loved reading the books. Who says children don't love books in this digital era?

We share their thoughts and impressions after reading the books. Youngest first.

The Black Panther of Sivanipalli by Kenneth Anderson

Reviewed by Maana (11 year old)

"I read The Black Panther of Sivanipalli by Kenneth Anderson. I liked it a lot because of the suspense that the book puts you in when Kenneth Anderson is hunting. You don’t know if the animal will even get shot because not all of the hunts are successful, which is realistic. It is amazing to know that all these stories are true. I also like that not all of the chapters are about hunting panthers and tigers, but also about other animals too, like snakes and elephants. One chapter was about a big bison with a crumpled horn. Kenneth Anderson did not shoot it, but it was still an amazing story. I also like that he doesn’t kill animals for fun, but because he needs to. Killing animals for no reason is terrible, and I’m happy that these stories are about only killing man-eaters and not innocent animals. The book is very informative and I learned many new interesting facts about animals."

Thank you Maana for sharing your thoughts after reading the book.

The Call of the Man-Eater, by Kenneth Anderson

Reviewed by Syon (13)

"I read The Call of the Man-Eater, by Kenneth Anderson. In this collection of short stories, Anderson writes about his adventures hunting man-eating tigers and panthers. He has also added a few stories about other things, like in A Night By the Campfire.  I loved reading these stories because of the way he writes, as if he is telling you the stories in person, instead of written on paper. They are also interesting because you really get to know about the people of rural South India, how they live, what they eat, and more. You also learn a lot about the animals of Southern India, including the ones that he doesn’t hunt. I would recommend this book to people of all ages interested in nature."

The book seems to have made an impact on the teenager. Thanks Syon. He was the first to finish reading the book.

The Kenneth Anderson Omnibus, Volume 3

Reviewed by Sachi (15)

"This review is for The Kenneth Anderson Omnibus, Volume 3. Overall, the book is well-written and quite interesting in content. The stories are paced well, and show facets of India that most people would never get to see, such as the simple lifestyle of the forest people. The lives of animals are painted in such a way that you felt as if you could understand the animal, its motivations, needs, and desires. The book also subtly advocates for wilderness conservation and protection, which shows how much the author really loves the forests and their animal inhabitants. The main criticism I have for the book would be that it provides a little too much detail about the geography. While there are maps in the book, they are mostly illegible (I don't know if that is bad printing or just me not being able to read it well), and the over-description is a little confusing. All in all, it was an interesting read, even though it was something that I wouldn't normally pick up."

Thank you Sachi for sharing your honest opinion and impressions. Yes, Kenneth Anderson roamed the jungles of south India during 1930s to 50s. The maps in those days were hand drawn and therefore not as sharp as Google maps these days. Your observation is well founded. Thanks again.

We hope you agree that children do love books. Books make a great companion for children and adults alike!

Other Guest Stories

Ghumakkad always encourages the readers to contribute their stories. Many such stories come from children of different ages. Some of the guest stories from our blog are listed below. Just click to browse it.

Coyote Gulch- Hiking In A Stream written by then 10-year-old Nikhil, our grandson (2018)

Ironman In The Family - a first hand account of Ironman 70.3 completed by our son Ankush. Read when he says "And my legs died"! How did he revive? (2022)

Fallen But Not Forgotten - Remembering our War heroes by Trixie Asirvatham from Bengaluru. Read about the Armistice Day and its history through a poignant picture story. (2017)

Women Hiking In Water by Akanksha, our daughter. Daring story of a hike in waste deep water by four young mothers all by themselves! (2019)

A Squirrel Comes Home by Rohini Tiwari a Nature lover from Coimbatore. Fascinating account of rescuing a baby squirrel and how it adopts the rescuer's home! (2020)

Winning The Hearts Of People by Abhishek Singh. Interesting story of how Indian Army helps the villagers in far flung borders of Arunachal Pradesh in north-east India. (2018)

Male Showstopper by Koushik Gopinath a wildlife photographer. Get close to the Tigers of Ranthambore with Koushik's lens. Superb photography. (2018)

Maya The Tigress of Tadoba - From Ranthambore Ankush takes you to Tadoba, Maharashtra where Maya the tigress rears her cubs. Feel the glory of the jungle.

Why Kodaikanal? by Ansh (then 14) and Nikhil (then 11) our grandsons. They describe the attractions of Kodaikanal through their pictures and story.

Ladakh: Shades of Heaven on Earth - breathtaking pictures by Abha and Akanksha who visited Ladakh with their families in Aug 2022.

After seeing all these guest stories, hope you are charged up to share your story. Your story can be on any subject as you saw above- from wildlife to travel to pets to hiking and so on! Do reach out to us on hbindia@gmail.com . We learn from each other as our logo below shows.

Thanks for browsing.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava and Anchita Nidhindra/ Secunderabad and California/ 19th Sep 2023

#Gueststory #BookReview #KennethAnderson #junglelore #Wildlife #Maneaters #Maana #Syon #Sachi #preservingtheenvironment #nature #environment #books #children #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

BITS of Success gets featured in The Economic Times

_________________ BITS of Success in ET, 16th May 2014 _______________

Hi Friends of Ghumakkad,

We are happy to share that our book 'BITS of Success' has been featured in The Economic Times.

Extract of the story which appeared in today's ET is given below.
________________________________________________

BITS Pilani: College that connects the creators of Hotmail, MapmyIndia, Onida

By PTI | 16 May, 2014, 09.18AM IST

NEW DELHI: They all graduated from BITS Pilani as did Maharashtra Chief Prithviraj Chavan, founder of SQL Star International LtdBSE 3.85 % Ashok Kumar Agarwal and filmmaker Mani Shankar.

A new book, "BITS of Success: Inspiring Stories of BITS Pilani Alumni," by the institute's alumni Harsh Bhargava, Kinnera Murthy and Anu Khendry takes the reader through the journeys of 50 individuals who realised their dreams through perseverance and determination, be it as entrepreneurs, techno .. 

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/et-cetera/bits-pilani-college-that-connects-the-creators-of-hotmail-mapmyindia-onida/articleshow/35189848.cms

_____________________________________________________ 

Those of you missed the earlier preview, here are the links:

http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2014/01/bits-of-success-is-released.html 

and 

http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2013/12/bits-of-success.html

As we had announced earlier, entire royalty from the book has been pledged by us to BITSAA, Hyderabad.

Thanks for your support and happy reading.

---- Harsh the Ghumakkad with Kinnera Murthy and Anu Khendry

Secunderabad/ 16th May 2014

____________________________________________________________________________ 

BITS of Success is Released

____________ The Book 'BITS of Success' is Out ______________

Dear Reader,

Thanks for browsing Ghumakkad’s blog.

Further to our last post giving a preview of our book “BITS of Success” (http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2013/12/bits-of-success.html  ) , we are happy to share with you that the book has since been released. Here is a picture.

The book was released by Dr BN Jain, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani on 3^rd Jan 2014 during BITSAA Global Meet at Hyderabad campus of BITS.

Forewords

Here is an excerpt from the Foreword written by Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor BITS Pilani and Chairman Aditya Birla Group.

“The book ‘BITS of Success’, captures admirably, how this great institution has spawned and shaped generations of leaders in India and globally.  An eclectic tapestry, this volume presents – the passion of 50 BITSians, their success drivers, their deep hunger for meaning and the lessons learnt in the journey of life!”

Here is another excerpt from the Foreword written by Dr K Kasturirangan, Former Chairman ISRO and Member Planning Commission, Govt of India: “The heart-warming stories of its alumni who have made a mark in the world through their contributions in myriad fields should make any Indian proud of this glorious institution.”

Highlights

Here are few highlights of the book.

• ·         It features 50 achievers over last 50 years of BITS
• ·         12 out of 13 Distinguished Alumnus Awardees who consented, are featured in the book. Balance 38 were selected from the nominations.
• ·         Number of alumni achievers featured in the book from the first three decades of 1950s, 60s and 70s, and the next three decades of 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are almost evenly distributed i.e. 56% : 44%. Younger alumni have also made a mark in their professional life.
• ·         Out of 50 achievers the book has:
• o   36 Entrepreneurs i.e. 72%
• o   6 Social Entrepreneurs
• o   Five Researchers and Academicians
• o   Two from the world of Art and Media
• o   And the only adventurer who has skied to both North and South Pole besides climbing Mount Everest
• ·         Only three out of 50 are women
• ·         One alumnus graduated through WILP route – i.e. Work Integrated Learning Program
• ·         More than 80% chose to set up their ventures in India
• ·         Sadly two of the alumni are no more—namely Mr Ramesh Grover of 1971 and Ms Shanti Vaidyanathan Sharma of 1978. We are grateful to their families for being present at the book release.

We would like to mention that there are countless other achievers who could not be included in the book as they did not want to be in the limelight. We salute them as well.

List of Achievers (In chronological order of the year of graduation from BITS) 

1. D Balasubramanian (LV Prasad Eye Institute) Eyeing success in vivo, in situ! 1

2. Ashok Kumar Agarwal (Former Chairman SQL Star International) Driven by curiosity 5

3. Gulu Mirchandani (Co-Founder Onida brand) Neighbor’s Envy, Owner’s Pride 9

4. Prithviraj Chavan (Chief Minister Maharashtra) A technocrat chief minister 11

5. Krishna Saraswat (Professor Stanford University) Attuning academic research to the needs of the industry 13

6. Bhagwati P Agrawal (Founder Sustainable Innovations) Championing innovations for people 17

7. Kishore Rajvanshy (Founder Fleet Management Ltd Hong Kong) Quality brings growth 21

8. Surendra Pal (Former Program Dorector, Satellite Navigation Program) Reaching out to the unknown 25

9. Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani (CMD Bharat Forge) Forging ties globally but firmly founded in India 29

10. B C Jain (Chairman Ankur Scientific) Enlightening lives 33

11. Chandralekha Bhaskar (Co-Founder Bhaskar Power Group) Generating power 37

12. Jinesh C Jain (Chairman Texplas India) One man, many dreams—and many more to fulfil! 41

13. Ramesh D Grover (Founder and Late Chairman CMS Group) An exemplary model of leadership 45

14. Surya P Sethi (Former Chief Investment Officer IFC) Heavy hitting pioneer 49

15. Narendra Ahuja (Director IT Research Academy) Innovative research through societal sensitivity 53

16. Rakesh Verma (Founder MapMyIndia) Business is like running a marathon! 57

17. C P Talesara (Founder Pyrotech Electronics) Raising the bar of success 61

18. Prem Jain (Former Senior VP Cisco) An entrepreneur and an executive 65

19. Shirish Chinoy (Co-Founder Electronics Devices) A true entrepreneur never sleeps 69

20. Vinod K Agarwal (Founder LogicVision and Applied Solar Technologies) Your dreams make you what you are 73

21. Pankaj Patel (Exec VP Cisco) Networking into success 77

22. Shanti Vaidyanathan Sharma (Late Hindustani Classical Vocalist)  A musical journey 81

23. Vijay Chandru (Founder Starnd Life Sciences) Innovating technology for life sciences 83

24. Vijay Kumar Kedia (Founder Kedia Rain Water Harvesting) No one can stop you 87

25. Mani Shankar (Film maker and Creative Director) Let the facts speak the story 91

26. Sunit Rikhi (VP Intel) Happiness is a decision 95

27. Rajesh Hukku (Former Chairman I-Flex Solutions) Dream big and persevere 99

28. S P Kothari (Dy Dean, Sloan School of Management MIT) Success hinges on teamwork 103

29. Sunil Nanda (Founder ThinkIt Technologies and Pilani Resource Centre) Ten thousand hours 107

30. Vivek Paul (Former Vice-Chairman Wipro) Reinvent yourself 111

31. Chandni Sahgal (Former Head MTV India) Thriving on uncertainty 115

32. Manoj Gaur (CEO and MD Jaiprakash Associates) No dream too big 119

33. Raju Reddy (Founder and Former Chairman Sierra Atlantic) Live your values 121

34. R Parthasarathy (Founder CADD Centre) Align your dreams to solving problems 125

35. Manoj Saxena (Founder Exterprise and Webify Inc) Your focus determines your reality 129

36. Ramesh Ramanathan (Founder Janagraha) Seize this moment 133

37. Diaz Nesamoney (Founder Informatica, Celequest and Jivox Inc) Luck is not a strategy 137

38. Suresh Kabra (Founder Clk2C.com) Two false starts and success! 141

39. Sabeer Bhatia (Founder Hotmail) A good entrepreneur never gives up 145

40. Sanjay Anand (Founder Microsoft India Development Centre) If your heart is dissatisfied, walk away 147

41. Sanjay Anand (Founder CMP Institute) Jumping in with both feet 151

42. Ajay Chaturvedi (Founder HarVa) Empowering people economically 155

43. Shashikant Khandelwal (Co-Founder The Find Inc) Sky is the limit 159

44. Kartik Hosanagar (Co-Founder Yodle Inc and Professor, Wharton School) Seek your own path 163

45. Sarathbabu Elumalai (Founder Foodking) Entrepreneurship is like a Japanese Bamboo Tree 167

46. Suhail Kassim (World Bank) Promoting tolerance and compassion in the world 171

47. Raj Kumar (Polar Skier, Submariner and Mountaineer) Skiing to the Poles 175

48. Kavikrut (Founder Mobile Medics) Wake up to a mission everyday 179

49. Mayur Patnala (Founder Nirmaan) A dreamer with a cause 183

50. Srikumar Murthy (Co-Founder, National Social Entrepreneurship Forum)  Give it a shot 187

____________________________________________________

Acknowledgements

We owe this book to the collective effort of so many people:

• ·         Firstly, all the alumni who nominated their fellow alumni
• ·         All the achievers featured in the book for sharing their life stories in a tight time frame.
• ·         The selection panel for working against time
• ·         Mrs Indira Susheel Kumar- for her unmatched line drawings which are on the book cover as well as the stage backdrop as also her editorial support
• ·         Mrs Bhashwati, Mrs Shyamola Khanna, Mr J Ramamoorthy and Mr N Raghuveer for editorial and research support
• ·         Mr Deepak Manchanda and Mr Vinay Prasad for their story on BITS and pictures respectively
• ·         Mr Rohit Koul, Ms Sherin Kurien and Mr Rahul Sengupta for web support
• ·         Mr Jatin Chuglani for suggesting the title. Thanks are also due to more than 500 alumni who voted for this title on-line! Jatin you rock buddy!
• ·         BITSAA Hyderabad team led by Dr Ashok Agarwal and Mr Sanjay Khendry for making this happen
• ·         And lastly, the entire team at the Universities Press led by Mr Madhu Reddy deserve special mention for doing a splendid job!

Book Review

Book reviews have started appearing in the media. Reader may browse the link for one of the book reviews: http://epaper.thehansindia.com/PUBLICATIONS/THEHANSINDIA/THI/2014/01/05/ArticleHtmls/BITS-of-Success-05012014143046.shtml?Mode=1

The review in The Hans India (5^th Jan 2014) says that “The book is about passion, dreaming and the ability to realise the dreams.”

On behalf of my co-authors Kinnera, Anu and myself, we would like to thank BITSAA Hyderabad for giving us this opportunity. As we said earlier, as a humble gesture from our side, we have pledged the entire royalty from the sale of this book to BITSAA Hyderabad.

We hope you enjoy reading the book. We look forward to your feedback on mail ID bitsofsuccess@gmail.com.

Thank you all.

-          Ghumakkad Harsh (with Kinnera and Anu)/ 9th Jan 2014/ Secunderabad India

____________________ The Book 'BITS of Success' is Released __________________________