Book of the week: Philosophy for Children by Sundar Sarukkai
Book: Philosophy for Children
Author - Sundar Sarukkai
Illustration - Priya Kuriyan
Price - ₹175 Pages - 72
Published - 2021
Do we think while seeing, reading, and writing? Are our children engaged in many given activities that they do not have the leisure to think on their own? Writing a book for children is a very difficult task for even a seasoned author. It becomes even tougher when that book is on philosophy.
Philosophy for children is a beautifully crafted small 72-page book written by Sundar Sarukkai. He is currently a Professor of Philosophy at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. He is the founding director of the Manipal Centre for Philosophy & Humanities, at Manipal University, from 2010-2015. Additionally, Dr Sarukkai is the founder of the Barefoot Philosophers initiative (https://www.
This amazing book is divided into eight chapters. Those are seeing, thinking, reading, writing, mathematics, art, being good, and learning. Each chapter is prepared with children aged around 10 in mind. For example, “The funny thing about seeing is that we can also see when our eyes are closed! Try this exercise. Close your eyes. Do you see any shades of colour? When we dream, we do see many things. We can see people, we hear them talking. But when we are dreaming our eyes are closed.”
Each chapter provides us with different perspectives on the human senses. Let me quote another example from the chapter thinking. “Ask yourself these questions: Do you think differently in your Hindi class and your English class? Is that thinking different from what you think when you are learning science and mathematics?”. In this way, Sarukkai walks us through various situations and encourages children to ask questions. It is not often that one comes across classrooms that are question-friendly. “Pindrop silence” is considered the benchmark of a good classroom.
Priya Kuriyan has done exceptional work by adding a large number of colourful illustrations all throughout this book. These pictures play a vital role in making this book extremely children friendly. Priya is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She has been awarded the prestigious Big Little Book Award for her contribution to the field of children’s literature.
The valiant effort of Sarukkai and Priya would have gone in vain but for Ektara’s production. Ektara is a group working in Bhopal towards enriching the child’s world. It is virtually impossible to make this striking book available for ₹175. If you love children and who does not? You cannot think of a better gift than ‘Philosophy for Children.
Auswaf Ahsan
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
