A Flock of Penguins

While picking up the Indian editions of the first three in Canongate's excellent myths series, it occurred to one that Penguin India really seems to have come into its own in the last few months. Not all that long ago, their collection of titles was mundane, proofreading shoddy and cover art indifferent. Now, however, their selection of contemporary Indian authors actually seems worth reading, from Altaf Tyrewala to Kalpana Swaminathan to Nilita Vachani. Their non-fiction list, too, sounds promising, ranging from Ammu Joseph's account of women in journalism to Yagnik and Sheth's The Shaping of Modern Gujarat to Kavita Watsa's travels through south Indian history. A few forthcoming titles to look forward to include fiction from Upamanyu Chatterjee and Sonia Faleiro as well as Sudha Murthy's attempt to discover the spirit of India and Bibek Debroy's new translation of the Bhagawad Gita. Why, it wasn't half as interesting when David Davidar was at the helm. (Ooh, nasty.)