epaper.dnaindia.com COVER2COVER Jaipur, Saturday, October 2, 2010 21 Suman Sarkar/DNA IN BOOKISH COMPANY: Bina Kak browses BEAT-O-METER through some books at the exhibition Taking on Melven Castelino sings, plays the keyboard and runs a music band. And, oh yes, he also teaches English! Manikda… … was no easy task, admits Rachita, while telling After Hrs The family of the idea behind the new logo Arkadev Ghoshal FUSION The task was daunting. To try and give a modern look and feel to a logo that had ini- Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan team up with tially been designed by the polymathic their illustrious father for a sarod album Satyajit Ray was no mean feat! And the in- structions regarding this ‘revamp’ were ex- that crosses the boundaries, and not just plicit: the font must not change, but the end that of Indian or Western classical music result must have a contemporary look. This was the task that Jaipur-born Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad tener face to face with the Rachita Rakyan faced. Rupa, the publishing Ali Khan dates the idea of universality of the music - house, was celebrating 75 years of exis- fusion, particularly that of its ability to tap into the tence, and wanted its logo to be given a con- Indian western classical deep well of our emotions, temporary twist. However, they did not music, to being at least five its ability to evoke different want to change it too much. decades old. Music may moods and ambience, and Rachita, who now lives in Delhi and runs a branding and advertisement firm there, had her task cut out. “My team and I tried several ideas, like birds coming out of books. Finally, the people at Rupa decided on this logo, where the words are depicted as written horizontally over books in a shelf,” she explained. “Books add colour to our life, and hence the use of coloured books as the motif. Be- sides, they are arranged on a shelf, with ‘Rupa’ emblazoned across them. This was the idea behind the logo, and that was why it was chosen as the new one,” Rachita told In league with RK Narayan After Hrs. [email protected] City girl Rachita Rakyan redesigns Rupa Books’ logo on 75th anniversary, gets publisher’s recognition award

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (centre) with sons Ayaan (left) and After Hrs Correspondent day afternoon. Kak also inaugurated the number of book releases over its Amaan (right) She was given a memento and three-day book exhibition. three-day span. It was a proud occasion for the a cheque of `1 lakh for giving the Rakyan, she said, “has made us On Friday itself, it saw the re- know few barriers, but in a city. Jaipur’s own Rachita Rupa logo a new look on comple- all proud. I hope that youngsters lease of Text and Context, a book race for cultural superiority, ALBUM: Sarod Symphony Rakyan joined the likes of RK tion of 75 years of publishing. take away a positive lesson from by well-known politician Arif we pit one order against the ARTIST: Ustad Amjad Ali Narayan, Sampooran Singh The earlier one had been de- this, and an increasing number Mohammed Khan. A compilation other. The antithesis of this Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Kalra aka Gulzar, Ruskin Bond signed by the multi-faceted and emulate this success,” Kak of Khan’s own articles published Rahita Rakyan conflict is fusion music, a and Sunil Gavaskar, when she re- eclectic Satyajit Ray. added. She was also appreciative in various newspapers and mag- (right) is Ayaan Ali Khan felicitated by rage with the current gener- PRICE: `295 ceived the publisher’s recogni- Rachita was given the award of the exhibition. azines, the book has immediacy Bina Kak ation, which perceives the tion award at the Rupa book fair by Bina Kak, the state minister of Open from 11am-8pm, the ex- in the prevailing atmosphere. GENRE: Classical world as a global village. at Rajput Sabha Bhavan on Fri- tourism, art and culture. hibition is also expected to see a [email protected] Khan’s recent release, Sarod Symphony, captures Rating the traditional nuances of Rupa & Co is back in the timeless interpretation its ability to bring us in the city with its annual of Indian classical music in communion with the Di- For, by and from Swift is finally over the a new light. vine. fair. For a change The concept behind the The seven-track fusion al- youngsters are picking album, according to the sar- bum renders raags like Kanye West Incident od maestro, was not only to Shankara, Malkauns, up fiction instead of GK Taylor Swift’s has claimed that her song reach out to a global audi- Kedar, Anand Bhairo, Dar- YOUNGISTAAN! books… yeah! BUZZZZ about last years MTV Video Music Awards ence and showcase Indian bari Kanhara, Yaman, Be- clash with Kanye West, which she performed culture, but also to bring to- hag, Pilu, Jinjhoti and many After Hrs Correspondent fiction, however, should not deter at this year’s prizegiving, has helped her turn gether two diverse ethoses more, amalgamated by the others. History buffs, for instance, her back on the incident. and create a confluence. music arrangements of The young adult fiction seems to can find an intriguing collection Swift was left red-faced last year when Sarod Symphony is in- Stephan Devassy. rule most of the fresh shelf space too. The books in this category West ruined her magic moment by storming deed unique in many ways. Amaan and Ayaan, to- this time. From the geeky murder range from the serious The Long the stage to protest her Best Female Video For one, this is the first time gether with their father, mystery Hickory Dickory Shock! Road to Siachen: The Question win. She returned to the event this year and that sarod will be heard in a have played some soulful The Tale of Techies to Can’t die for Why to the satirical Mango Mood. agreed to perform a dramatic new song she very different space and pieces in the album tracks Size Zero (a chick lit about 30-year- With 10,000 titles for readers to wrote in the wake of the controversy. She flavour. And secondly, it is such as Sacred Imagination, old Joyeeta’s journey from flab to choose from the publishers are sang “Guess you really did it this time...” the first recording of all Earth Speaks, Silver Moon- fab), the choice for young readers expecting a good turnout even Swift is pleased she plucked up the three artists, Ustad Amjad light and Truth Begins. is wide and varied. though the discounts are not ex- courage to perform the track, Innocent,be- Ali Khan, and his sons Though, a lot has been “I came in looking for some GK n’t decide which one! actly top of the line. “We sent out cause now she can finally move on. She says, Amaan and Ayaan, with an put into it, classical music books. But the fiction section Whether it is because of the lo- 2,200 individual invites this year to “I felt like performing (at the) VMAs was the orchestra! still remains a genre to be caught my attention!” exclaims cation of the book fair or the pull our past readers,” said Vijay Shar- best way to go out there and sing how I was ac- The album brings the lis- relished by everyone! college student Priyanka Gupta. of the new titles, day one of the ma of Rupa, expressing confi- tually feeling. Being there really helped put And she couldn’t resist buying at fair saw a mainly young crowd. dence in the success of the fair. all that behind me. —femalefirst.co.uk Poor | Average | Good | Very good | Excellent least one book, though she could- The larger presence of young [email protected] Kovalam fest to focus on Pakistani literature The book fete will see writers like Ali Sethi and Mohammaed Hanif among others The spotlight will be on contemporary litera- ture from Pakistan as over a dozen writ- ers, thinkers and political analysts from India and abroad converge in Kerala for the two-day Kovalam Lit- erary Festival from Oct 2. High points To be held in Thiruvananthapuram, the festival will feature a global panel of writers for the first time. This is the third edition of the festival that will bring contemporary literature, cul- ture and cuisine under one roof. The high point of the festival will be a sneak peek into writer Deborah Baker- Ghosh’s new book, The Convert: A Parable of Islam and America, to be published next year. She is the wife of novelist Amitav Ghosh. The two-day festival, compered by Ira Trivedi will be inau- gurated by Kerala Minister of Education and Culture M.A. Baby at the Kanakakunnj Palace on October 2. Writer Paul Zachari- ah will be the keynote speaker at the Inauguration. The KLF emerging writer’s award will be presented to upcoming Malay- ali writer Saheera Thangal followed by readings from her book. “The festival will be going international for the first time this year. The focus is on contemporary literature from Pakistan,” Binoo John, organiser of the festival, said. The day’s session will begin with a discussion on the graph- ic novel by Sarnath Banerjee, of The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Ca- pers fame. Banerjee, the co-founder of the platform for graphic novelists, Pao’s Collective, will open the stage for brainstorming with Mridula Koshy. This will be followed by readings by Chi- nese writer Lijia Zhang from Socialism is Great. Indian tale New York-based Indian journalist and writer Basharat Peer will read from his book, Curfewed Night and discuss the situation in Kashmir — a subject that the book explores with sensitivity — with BBC journalist Amit Baruah. Pakistani author Ali Sethi, who wrote The Wish Maker pub- lished by Penguin-India’s classic imprint Hamish Hamilton, will read from his book and discuss it with Deborah Baker-Ghosh. It will be followed by discussions and readings by Karachi-based H.M. Naqvi, Manu Joseph, Suresh Menon, Daman Singh and South African writer Zubeida Zaffer. The proceedings for Oct 3 will begin with the K.C. John lecture, Do We Have a Sense of His- tory by journalist Satish Jacob. —IANS