Comments on: The Desi Equivalent of Baby Einstein …

By: ganesh

ganesh — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:18:29 +0000

Keep up the good work. We will look at adding this site of our kids corner section at nrispot.com/kids

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:11:58 +0000

My kids love the Galloping Minds Series – they have similar DVDs and flash cards. Look it up – http://www.gallopingminds.com!!

By: brownelf

brownelf — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:15:49 +0000

Thanks, Sandhya, I’ll definitely check out Tulika Books!

By: sandhya

sandhya — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:54:45 +0000

Tulika Books is based in Chennai and publishes bilingual picture books and up in several languages, including Tamil. They're wonderful. And, I believe they do ship to the US.

abcd - confused desi - while i agree with you that there are many worthy children's publishers in india (and more and more each day) worth supporting, there is something to be said for publications particularly aimed at a US-based audience as they take into account their particular experiences. that said, little guruskool is marketing to indian audiences as well from what i understand.

By: brownelf

brownelf — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:28:34 +0000

Thanks for this post! I wish there were equivalents in other Indian languages, too. Does anyone know of similar products in Tamil, for instance?

By: AR

AR — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:48:24 +0000

Thanks for this!

@ABCD: You bring up a decent point, except that 1)The first company doesn't ship to the US (not very helpful for those of us living overseas, is it?) 2)All of the books are for slightly older readers, as opposed to picture books. 3) I grew up in the US speaking English and practicing US customs, and frankly, it didn't help me relate to 'urban indians' either. 4) These books teach LANGUAGE, not culture.

A wise man once said: "read a book and up your vocab"

By: Budugu

Budugu — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:08:51 +0000

If you want a bilingual child, get him/her to really LEARN the Indian language. (Or would that be too much trouble for the parents?)

Dude/dudette, preach after you have had a couple of squids of your own. It is not that easy not to want to hold on to 'scraps' of one's culture.

Anyhoo, thanks for the tips on indian published kid books.

By: abcd

abcd — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:30:06 +0000

Sorry, that's -

http://www.prathambooks.org/

http://bonifisheii.blogspot.com/2009/02/one-of-spreads-from-childrens-book-im.html

Do check them out. And support the Indian publishing industry.

By: abcd - confused desi

abcd - confused desi — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:27:00 +0000

I find it both strange and sad how children are expected to ‘learn’ and ‘understand’ a culture which they have never experienced or been a part of. If parents made the decision to move out of India (for whatever reasons) their children shouldn’t be forced to learn about something so distant. NRIs don’t often realise that while they are abroad, the country they’ve left behind is constantly changing. In fact, diaspora communities are far more conservative and culturally backward and religioously intolerant than the billions of urban Indians living within the country. Teaching children the names of colours in Hindi isn’t going to help them relate to their culture. It seems like just another way for confused and alienated parents to hold on to whatever scraps of their ‘culture’ they can salvage. There are more than enough children’s books of hih quality language and more relevant cultural content being published IN India by Indian publishers – in English with Indian themes or in regional languages. If you want a bilingual child, get him/her to really LEARN the Indian language. (Or would that be too much trouble for the parents?)

Here’s a great initiative by a non-profit- http://www.prathambooks.org/

And just to share the calibre of Indian standards for books for older young readers - http://bonifisheii.blogspot.com/2009/02/one-of-spreads-from-childrens-book-im.html

By: Archana

Archana — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:27:05 +0000

I’m definitely going to look these up – thanks! (Although my South Indian parents will surely wonder why our child knows Hindi rhymes… looking forward to that Kannada version!)