Literature on Pitara Kids Network

William Shakespeare: The Father of The English Language

Wed, 27 May 2020 18:30:00 +0000

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616):

“Neither here nor there”, “with bated breath”, “vanish into thin air”… Words we use today, but they were written by one very talented writer nearly 500 years ago. The English language as we know it today owes a lot to William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare is considered the greatest writer in the English language and the greatest playwright to have ever lived. Born on the 26th of April 1564, his complete works include 39 plays and 154 sonnets. His plays have been performed more than any playwright.

J.K. Rowling: Casts a reading spell on children in the era of digital media

Tue, 26 May 2020 01:30:00 +0000

Joanne Kathleen Rowling (1965 - ):

J.K. Rowling is the author of the most widely sold book series in all of history. Her fantasy novels are about the story of a boy, Harry Potter. He is an English orphan who is given admission to a school of magic, exclusively for wizards and witches. Rowling’s Harry Potter series takes us into the world of magic as Harry and his friends fight the source of evil in their world, Lord Voldemort.

What is the Mystery of Dracula?

Thu, 19 May 2005 21:41:38 +0000

As bats flap through the musty castle, a coffin lid creaks open and an ashy white hand gropes for the cover. The lid slides off and a caped figure rises in the gloom – Dracula is on the prowl! Vampires have enthralled generations of readers and moviegoers; and the most popular ‘vampire’ is the fearsome Count Dracula of Transylvania.

Of course, these blood-sucking monsters do not exist and are merely the figment of our imagination.

Rabindranath Tagore

Wed, 24 Oct 2001 18:09:04 +0000

Mystic, painter and Nobel laureate for literature, Rabindranath Tagore was a prolific writer (3,000 poems, 2,000 songs, 8 novels, 40 volumes of essays and short stories, 50 plays), who drew inspiration both from his native Bengal and from English literary tradition. His major theme was humanity’s search for God and truth. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his collection of well-known poems Gitanjali (Song Offerings).

Born in Calcutta on May 7, 1861, Rabindranath was the youngest of fourteen children. His father, Debendranath Tagore, was a Sanskrit scholar and a leading member of the Brahmo Samaj. Rabindranath’s early education was imparted at home. In school, while others use to learn their lessons, he would slip into more exciting world of dreams. Inspired by his older nephew, he wrote his first poem when he was hardly seven. At the age of seventeen, his first book of poems was published.

R.K. Narayan

Sat, 24 Jun 2000 00:38:39 +0000

Nearly 70 years ago, India’s greatest living writer in English, took out a brand new exercise book and wrote in it: “It was Monday morning.”

With those four words, Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan (just R.K. Narayan to most) took off on a journey to that oddly populated fictional continent called Malgudi, with the young boy Swami and his eclectic mix of friends.

“The very first line I wrote was ‘It was Monday morning.’ And then I had an idea of a railway station, a very small railway station, a wayside station. You’ve seen the kind of thing, with a platform and trees and a stationmaster.

Vaikom Mohammed Basheer

Mon, 25 Sep 2000 11:50:57 +0000

We Indians are story-lovers. We were all, at one point or the other, children at our grandmother’s feet, listening wide-eyed to her tales of days long gone. And if we love to hear stories, there are many among us who love to tell them as well. Nowhere is this truer than in the world of Indian languages. India abounds in storytellers who write in their mother tongue.

There are several reasons why such writers are special. The range of their stories is amazing. And they smell very real. It is as if we were back at grandmother’s feet again.

AHA! Books: Arvind Gupta

Thu, 25 Apr 1996 10:42:46 +0000

An individual booklist is found to reflect the compiler’s own interests and biases. To that extent this booklist does not lay claim to any objectivity. It contains some extremely fine books on education, popular science, maths and children’s stories. Over the years, I have been actively involved in translating and popularising many of these books. At times we have been successful in bringing out low-cost, Indian reprints like for instance The UNESCO Source Book for Science in the Primary School, Publisher : National Book Trust, India.

The Arrow and the Song

Wed, 11 Jul 2001 04:50:09 +0000

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to the earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

Ali Sardar Jafri

Tue, 23 Jan 2001 19:43:13 +0000

He was a poet who spoke out for the poor. He was also one who truly believed that India and Pakistan could be friends, if the countries tried hard enough. From the time he was arrested for writing against British rule in India, to when he climbed onto the famous Lahore “peace” bus with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1999, Ali Sardar Jafri spent his entire working-writing life speaking out for what he believed in.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sun, 06 Jan 2002 11:06:56 +0000

Dear Vishrut and Anushrut,

I forget the name of a short story by W.Somerset Maugham that I read long ago-perhaps you will read it some day. But I still remember the story and in particular one sentence from it. This is spoken by a chap, brought up strictly to tell right from wrong, who has to go out to the colonies as the British called the countries they ruled in Asia and Africa.

Well, he has been told not to mix with an uncle there who has become “bad”. Our pal finds that this uncle does cut corners and cheat but also that he his kind, generous and helpful to people especially the poor. So our pal grows to like this uncle.

Jumble-aya

Sat, 08 Dec 2001 16:20:47 +0000

Questions from all over, without any theme or defined category. So go click, click click..as fast as you can.

In Shakespearean Settings!

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 07:34:50 +0000

April 21: Nearly 400 years ago, the brilliant English dramatist William Shakespeare, wrote Macbeth, the story of a Scottish general who kills his monarch, King Duncan, and slowly becomes mad. The play is based on the life of a real 11th century general. It is universally accepted as a great tragedy, and is one of Shakespeare’s best plays.

It appears that all the ingredients of another bloody Shakespearean tragedy are brewing among Macbeth’s modern-day descendents. The ingredients include an ancient castle in the Scottish Highlands, sinister curses and a family feud, writes a

Fictional Detectives Quiz

Tue, 27 Apr 1999 18:28:31 +0000

Can you identify these fictional detectives?