Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Reflections: Brahma's Hair

If you are interested in flora and are into mythology, particularly Indian/Hindu mythology, you would like this book. It is a collection of mythological stories surrounding the origin and nature of several tropical plants of India. The stories are entertaining; quite reminiscent of Panchatantra tales. Kids who are interested in plants would love to read or hear these tales. It would be a nice collection of bedtime stories for them. Each tale is accompanied by a factual description of the plant and a few illustrations. The illustrations are decent, but I wish there were real photographs of the plants, fruits, and flowers to help visualize some of them better. 

Maneka Gandhi's writing is clear and simple. Reading the stories, one surely finds recurrent themes in Indian mythology. Plants are symbolized as blessed beings and virtuous souls that stand tall and steady withstanding the tests of time and the foibles of human nature. The stories reinstate them as life-giving, life-sustaining, nurturing beings that should be respected. Nice values to teach to kids on nurturing all-things-bright-and-green on Earth. The stories would also help them cultivate an interest in plants and trees.

To me, it served as a light read during lunch-times and breaks.

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