Literary Safari

Originally published at Sepia Mutiny.

My two-year old nephew can’t get enough of Lingo the Lion and ever since I watched the DVD “Animals”, I can see why.

One of the offerings from the bilingual publisher Little GuruSkool, “Animals” is what I’d call a Desi equivalent of the immensely popular Baby Einstein series. Combining video footage of the natural world with animated characters, adorable little puppets and Desi babies, and catchy music, it promises to help the diasporic subcontinental parent “introduce their children to the Indian culture in a fun and interactive way.”

Little GuruSkool is a relatively new company, based in Chicago and founded by Pooja Pittie Goel, the mother of a preschooler who “wanted to expose her son to Indian languages, music, art and nature at an early age, but could not find any books or DVDs in the market (either in the US or in India) that were appropriate for pre-schoolers – educational and entertaining at the same time.” When she couldn’t find what she needed in the market place, she decided to create the products (DVDs, audio CDs, and illustrated, high quality board books) herself. The production quality is impressive, and after I finished watching the “Animals” DVD, I couldn’t get the song about “choti choti machliya” (little, tiny fish) out of my head.

If you’re in the market for a gift for that little desi toddler in your life, Little GuruSkool’s line is sure to be a happy discovery for you. It’s a welcome addition to the current offerings of bilingual, multimedia educational lines such as Sonali Herrera’s Meera Masi, Monika Jain’s Kahani, Rashmi Turner’s Global Wonders, and Kavita (Shah) Bafana’s Little Ustaads (Indian classical music classes), all created by moms to fill existing gaps in the Desi educational marketplace. (I certainly did not have any of these options when I was a toddler, and am glad to know my little one will!)

Below the fold: a brief interview with Pooja Pittie Goel for those interested in her story and process. (more…)

This picture in today’s New York Times magazine (“The Way We Live Now”) made me smile. These uppity lunching ladies really need to make an investment in the purse hook I picked up in Spain earlier this month.

The purse hook is a little hanger that you can latch onto the edge of any table at a restaurant and from which you can hang your purse (no long straps please, but heavy purses are fine as some of these hooks supposedly hold up to 200 lbs! I haven’t tested this claim yet!) . No more slinging purses on the shoulder of your chair or putting them on the floor.

Here, in the US, this is a burgeoning online business, especially since  recent studies reporting on the variety of germs that can be carried around via our purses have made many of us wary of where we put our bags down:

A study conducted in the US tested the purses of 50 women in your average shopping mall. Swabs were taken from the bottom of the purses and then taken back to a lab to test what was living on them and the results are quite disturbing. One out of four purses were carrying the e-coli bacteria. A host of other bacteria were also found on the purses, the most notable being hepatitis. The researchers recommend that woman wipe the bottom of their purse once a day and to be very cautious of where they place it.

What a clever little invention. I’ve been on the look out for one for quite some time, but they aren’t easy to find in retail stores here as they are in Spain (where I picked up my Miro-designed version up in a souvenir shop for a mere 3 euros) or in Brazil, where girls grow up with the superstition that you’ll lose all of your money if you put your purse on the floor. According to this article, the hooks have actually been around since the 1920s, when handbags emerged as a symbol of the emancipated women. “Even Queen Elizabeth is said to employ an S-shaped one to hang her handbags, the contents of which remain a mystery.”

This is definitely one of those handy inventions that belongs in Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things.

A few places where you can get one of your own (no, I don’t make a cut off this endorsement!):
Flo’s Accessories: Personalized and engraved ($15.95 plus shipping)
Bed Bath and Beyond: The As Seen on TV version ($9.99 for a set of two, plus carrying case)
Purse Jewelry: Lots of pretty designs ($8.95 each plus shipping)