The joys of Rudyard Kipling, retold by Heather Adams

Would you like to do a book reading? What a question to ask a ‘just published’ writer. How can I refuse? Vanity gets the better of me and I say YES – it’s all in a good cause, of course! And I now feel like a ‘proper author’.

With time on my hands when I first moved to India, I started rediscovering the joys of Rudyard Kipling and the Jungle Book. To my amazement I then discovered that my favourite Just So stories were not available in an easy to read format. Now, here was something I could do to fill my days….retelling the Just So stories for Ladybird's Favourite Tales.

Retelling the stories were easy with RK (as I fondly called him) looking over my shoulder at each step of the way. His marvellous language once more reminding me of the wonderous world we live in and the joys of imagination. What fun he must have had creating the stories and telling them to his children. What fun did I have retelling them for our little ones of today and reading them aloud to just about anybody I could get to sit still long enough to listen!


The beauty of the books lie in the imaginative world Kipling creates – and the fantastic pictures created by the illustrators for the Ladybird editions. I feel like a fraud for my part in it all.

Still fraud or not, the book reading is booked and the day arrives. I choose two books to read (How the Camel got his Hump and How the Elephant got its Trunk) and nervously turn up wondering what will happen. Eureka, the specialist children’s bookstore in Alaknanda, are marvellous. 20 parents signed up their children to savour the delights of the Just So stories – or to have a Sunday morning in peace – but the results are the same: 40 deep brown eyes looking up expectantly at me and happy to go on their own journey of self discovery into the world of Kipling. How magnificent. If only adults could suspend all judgement and go with the flow. It was magical and good for the soul. The children were enthralled in the stories, joining in as appropriate, asking questions, being concerned for the hero (the baby elephant having his nose pulled in this case), delighting in the world Kipling created. They made my day.


Thank you Mina for persuading me to do the reading, thank you Ladybird for publishing the Just So stories, thank you children for just being you.

Oh, and I’ve now agreed to do a reading at Bookaroo, the Children’s Literary Festival in Sanskriti Anandgram, on 28th and 29th November. See you there!


Heather Adams
Editor - Penguin Portfolio

SPECIAL GUEST BLOG by Elaina Zuker on the changing nature of the New World

Here, Elaina Zuker, author of The Seven Secrets of Influence, looks at the diversity of issues facing today's workforce, and how your "Portable Power (TM) Tools" can help you achieve those crucial career goals.

Welcome to the New World of unprecedented change

As many of us are all too painfully aware, change seems to be the only constant these days. Many organizations (and the individuals in them) are, voluntarily or reluctantly, finding themselves in a world that may not resemble anything they ever imagined.

Economic conditions, changing social and political climates and current sociological trends in human behavior have led to a number of challenging issues in today’s workplace, in private industry, and especially in State Government.

Some of the most significant of these are:

New Technologies have revolutionized the flow of communications across departmental and functional lines. Even “technocrats” and former loners (individual contributors) now must work on teams and task forces with others. New technological advances, which promised to make our lives easier, and in many ways have, also have distanced us from our fellows. As John Naisbitt said in his book “Megatrends”, “HI-TECH leaps ahead, HIGH TOUCH lags behind”. In other words, we are losing the very important personal contact with other individuals, and our human interaction skills are getting rusty in the process.

More and more, we will have to influence others in order to achieve our own goals.

Innovation is no longer just the province of ”research” or “development”. Now, we are all required to come up with innovative solutions to problems. But good ideas are just that, until you can influence someone to take action. So, we are all going to have to become better influencers.

New Worker Values. There is a new sociology in today’s workforce: workers are more sophisticated, have different expectations and want less of a “command” style and more of an “influence” style from their management. Managers will have to learn new ways of managing and motivating their people in a more open, participative, “influencing” fashion.

Organizational Structures are changing in rapidly accelerating ways. Most organizations are becoming flatter, less hierarchical. This is partly the result of much “streamlining”, “downsizing” and “reorganizing”. Networks and staff roles become much more important in this kind of structure, and there is much more need for interdepartmental and cross-functional collaboration. People at all levels must learn new sets of skills - Influence Skills - in order to survive in this “matrix” type of organization (some have called it the new “ad-hocracy”)

With all these changes and uncertainties going on, neither WHAT (your technical or professional expertise) you know nor WHO you know (your network of contacts) will guarantee your success. Your technical know-how can become obsolete with the next new innovation, and even your network of carefully acquired contacts can vanish overnight with a surprise “reorganization”.

What will help? Portable Power (TM) Influence skills - a set of Skills you can take with you any time, anywhere you are in any organization.

What is Influence? We define Influence as the “power to affect change, or to achieve a result, without the use of force or formal authority”. This means that in order to be truly influencing, you must cause a change of some kind in another’s behavior, actions, attitudes or values. In some cases, the desired effect might not be immediately apparent, as in changing attitudes. This can be a much longer process and will only result in changed behavior at a later time. And notice that we are saying that Influence is different from formal authority. Any bully can say, “I’m the boss and you must do as I say”, but that requires no skill. We have seen that while some may be “born Influencers”, almost anyone can learn to develop these basic skills. We believe Influence is a simple but powerful tool to help you get the results you want.

Some Myths About Influence

Many people believe that the ability to influence others is simply a matter of good communications skills. Not so. Communications skills are only one part of the equation in getting other people to do what you want them to do. To achieve enthusiastic cooperation and consistent high performance, successful influencers use a carefully orchestrated, strategic approach.

Some people think that “real” managers do not need influence skills.” After all, the manager can demand that the staff carry out instructions. Wrong again. Today’s employees are less likely to mindlessly obey the old style, “top-down” kind of management.

Finally, the word “influence” is often maligned, especially in government, and thought to connote manipulation. Is there a difference, or is the use of “influence” just another way of saying “manipulation”?

A way to distinguish between the two is that while “manipulation”, strictly speaking, means “skillful handling” an interaction can be said to be a positive influence when the influencer has the intention to provide value, ad benefit or enhance the experience of the other person. It can be called “manipulation” if there is an intention to exploit or mislead the other, or to misrepresent the product or service. Positive influence has as its result a “win-win” outcome. Both parties in the transaction reach their goals and sometimes even exceed them.

How Can You Learn to Be a Better Influencer?

Research has shown that there are six basic influence styles we all use. We determine this by the use of a specially designed questionnaire, Secrets of Influence ™Inventory”, which we use in our seminars, (a version of the Inventory and a detailed analysis of all six styles is contained in the book, “The Seven Secrets of Influence”) Each style is a “road”- an approach, made up of a number of different skills or behaviors. For example, one of the styles, called “Telling” or “Analyst” describes a person who favors reason, logic and an orderly process for influencing others. This is the kind of person who must see concrete and solid evidence and data, in order to be convinced.

Other styles are characterized by skills and behaviors such as negotiation, or gaining rapport, strong listening, or creating a sense of vision or mission.

Most of us use one dominant or preferred style, and while it is interesting to become aware of one’s own style, if you are only using the same style all the time, you may not be as effective as you can be.

The real key to successful influencing is our “formula” INFLUENCE = ATTENTIVENESS = FLEXIBILITY. That is, one must learn to become aware of other peoples’ styles, (Attentiveness) and then develop the Flexibility to shift into another’s style, so that they feel most comfortable. People are usually influenced by a style similar to their own.

The result? You will be a more effective influencer, and will have a set of your own “Portable Power Tools” to enhance your success in the fast-changing, exciting workplace of the 21st Century

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To learn more about how to determine your own Personal Influence Profile, how to analyze your Influence Styles and those of others, and how to put these powerful tools and skills to work for you, you can order the book, The Seven Secrets of Influence, which was released in March, or visit the website www.ezinfluence.com.

Elaina Zuker

Treasure Found!

The Delhi Treasure Hunt, part of the online promotions for Sam Miller's Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity, came to an end with our winners Vipra and Ambika Malik (see below) solving the final clue and discovering the treasure first! They win Rs 5,000 worth of books of their choice courtesy of IndiaPlaza. 5 runners-up also found the treasure to claim their prizes of Rs 1,000 worth of books each.

Winners Vipra and Ambika Malik with author Sam Miller

For those of you who weren't sure, the Treasure was located in the park, in Panchsheel Park, hidden behind the 'Uneven Walk' which forms part of the Fitness Trail there. Watch a video as author Sam Miller reveals where exactly it was hidden here.

We created a special minisite for the book, containing photos, features surrounding Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity, and the Treasure Hunt, and I’m pleased to say that it received over 15,000 page views since it was launched.

The Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity Facebook Group has a fantastic 550 members, many of whom have taken part in the quizzes, ‘fill in the blanks’, ‘translate the Hindi blue movies’ and other games that have been taking place online. See more photos from Treasure Hunt.

The Google Map we created had over 640 views throughout the Treasure Hunt, and contains extracts from the book, plus other information about Delhi.

Thanks to everyone who took part, we hope you had as much fun solving the Treasure Hunt as we did in creating it!

Keep an eye out for similar online initiatives soon!

Guy Fowles
Business Development & New Media
Penguin Books India

The Delhi Treasure Hunt reaches its conclusion!

Over the last two months we've tried something a bit different in promoting Sam Miller's Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity online.

In the book, Sam, a BBC journalist, undertakes a series of walks around Delhi, traveling in an anti-clockwise spiral as he works his way out of the city, writing about his adventures, the people he meets, and the fascinating eccentricities of India's capital.

We decided to replicate his journey on Google Maps, offering people extracts from the book, and photos Sam took during his walks. But there was a twist-the Delhi Treasure Hunt! Each week as the spiral grew we set clues to be solved, which in the end reveals the whereabouts of the real-life Treasure. There has been a great response to the Hunt, with lots of people enjoying following Sam as we recreated his journey online.

In addition to the Treasure Hunt we set up a Facebook Group for the book, filling it with additional photos, games, quizzes, and information surrounding the book. The group has some 540 members, many of whom have joined in the fun by writing pieces on Delhi and posting comments to the photos, particularly when translating 'blue' film posters from Hindi into English!

The final clue has just been published, and the Treasure will be in place from 10am, tomorrow morning, Saturday, 21st March. Whoever solves the clues and finds it first will be declared the winner, and receive Rs 5,000 worth of books of their choice, courtesy of IndiaPlaza. 5 runners-up will get Rs 1,000 worth of books.

Good luck to all those who are taking part in the Delhi Treasure Hunt, we hope you are successful in your quest! Here's a final hint to help those of you still struggling:

Guy Fowles

Business Development & New Media

Defining Diaspora: Hari Kunzru, Nadeem Aslam, Tahmima Anam and Tash Aw

The Jaipur Literature Festival 2009 took place recently at the lavishly-decorated Diggi Palace, on the outskirts of the famously Pink City. Author discussions (such as the one below, featuring Michael Wood and Charles Nicholl), book readings, and all-things literary were the delightful order of the day:


One of the sessions I was lucky enough to attend, 'Defining Diaspora', was chaired loosely by Penguin India's very own Hari Kunzru, who was joined on stage by Nadeem Aslam, Tahmima Anam, and Tash Aw to discuss their feelings towards diaspora, and how these might have changed from previous generations.

The first subject the panel addressed was their relationship with the English language. English, Hari felt, had become very much the ' lingua franca' in south-east Asia, and this allowed him to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. Tash Aw agreed, pointing out this was especially the case within middle-class book readers. The panel dismissed the common notion that the use of English is a colonial hangover; things have moved on, it seems, at least within literary circles, from the resentment in postcolonial attitudes, or within postcolonial literature, as suggested here.

One thing that had remained the same, Tahmima Anam noted, was the practice by book publishers to stereotype disasporic or ethnic writers by portraying iconic images of south-east Asia on their book covers. For Tahmina, from Bangladesh, it was the classic 'woman-in-a-sari' tag, on which I found an interesting debate, whereas for Tash, from Malaysia, it was 'houses on stilts...or naked Chinese chicks', the first of which can be seen on a Spanish version of one of his books below:

Having exhausted themes from their own cultures, are European publishers looking to play the ethnic card too often these days? This was a subject raised by both the panel and members of the audience, and perhaps works to the advantage of the 'displaced' writer, propelling them above their less exotic counterparts. Several people felt publishing houses were too quick to compartmentalise all of south-Asian literature, when surely this area is too vast a fiefdom to fit snugly under a generic 'Asian' umbrella.

Whereas diasporic writers before them drew from their experiences to serve as a vehicle for passionate vitriol against colonial oppressors, superbly in some cases (Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart springs to mind, you can read an extract here), there certainly seemed to be less resentment in the panel's feelings towards the past, and in turn the focus of their writing.

Nadeem Aslam (below), felt no pressure to write from a personal cultural viewpoint; instead he argued it was his skill as a writer that allowed him to craft a book. He also revealed that for his next novel, which is based in Afghanistan, he spent time researching the experiences of Afghanistani immigrants now living in the UK, and he would draw from these memories to construct the book.

In closing, displacement, Hari Kunzru surmised, although uncomfortable at times, ultimately provided the creative spark, because it is the very feeling of not belonging that actually enhanced their writing. As the great Lee Marvin once said, "I'm an ex-citizen of nowhere. And sometimes I get mighty homesick..."

It would be interesting to get your thoughts on diaspora and how it impacts on a writer's work, do you feel the definition of diaspora has changed over different generations? Has the subject matter of 'diasporic' books similarly shifted over time?

Guy Fowles
Business Development & New Media

The Summer of Cool - Suchitra Krishnamoorthi on her return to innocence

Over the coming week, we'll be featuring recent interviews with our latest, coolest author, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, in which she discusses her book, The Summer of Cool, the first in the exciting new Swapnolock Society series, and other aspects of her busy life.

Here Suchitra reveals how writing The Summer of Cool was her attempt to return to innocence:


Sometime in late 2007 I decided to take a couple of months off from painting continuously for the last three years. I was exhausted and needed some refueling. My plan was to sit back and do nothing, except perhaps to read gossip magazines (even a novel seemed daunting) watch the sunset, go for a jog on the beach and spend hours at my local spa.

But I couldn't stick to my plan beyond a week, when restlessness crept in and the compulsive creative need for expression took over once again. I decided to revisit a story idea in my head that I had written a synopsis for many years ago. The story of a ten year old girl looking for her father and her trials and tribulations in that journey. As I started to write, I delved into the rich memories of my own growing years in a very interactive and involved housing society in downtown Mumbai. So, many of the characters and incidents from my childhood emerged (my friends will forgive me for using their names I hope).

There was underwear aunty and underwear uncle, jealous aunty, Haldi maami and her cola water, a khadoos uncle who hated dogs, the building bully, the beautiful confident friend from London, the upstairs boy who flirts with my didi and many more. Of course as the story evolved I found that the characters were speaking words to me that came not only from my memory, of events that had actually occurred but also from the magic of my own imagination. I heard them laugh I heard them cry, I felt the breath in their hearts as they whispered their secrets to me. The process has been fascinating and exhilarating.

What is the series about? Why the name Swapnalok Society? Is it like Harry Potter? Is it a children's book? These are the questions I am frequently asked.

Swapnalok Society is a really metaphor for urban utopia. A world in itself. A parallel universe where all the questions and answers are contained within the four walls of the housing complex. Where people are as nice as they are naughty, as comical as they are conniving, and as good as bad can be. It's a place where children run free, a place where dreams come true.

It's a series of books for children and for the child in every adult. Was "The Alchemist" a children’s book? Or "The little prince" a children’s book? I have no answer. I read them both as an adult and I continue to read them even today so maybe I'm an overgrown kid then. Dang! I hate to admit that my mother is right on that one. I also have to admit that when I was writing The Summer of Cool (the first in the Swapnalok Society series) I kept in mind that my daughter Kaveri should be able to read it in a few years time. So there are no gangsters, no whores, no swear words and no sex scenes.

The Summer of Cool was supposed to be a one off thing. I finished writing it in six weeks, and dashed if off to a friend of a friend who happened to be in the publishing world. I was delighted at the enthusiastic response I received from Sudeshna Shome Ghose, the Commissioning Editor at Penguin Books India. Not only did she love The Summer of Cool she was asking me to develop it into a series called 'Swapnalok Society' and write three more books along the same lines. The challenge was too great for me to not take it up and I must confess here that I have surprised myself. The process of writing is thrilling and more satisfying than I imagined.

The world is getting better and better.

Become a spy in Puffin's Alternate Reality Game!

The Shadow War has officially started! Become either a British or Russian agent in the Young Bond alternate reality game.


To celebrate Young Bond: By Royal Command, we thought it was time to invite you, the reader, to become Bond...James Bond!

The Shadow War involves seven missions which takes the intrepid adventures in the world of Young Bond. It's never too late to join - head over to http://www.youngbondshadowwar.com/ for details of your first mission!