#584 - Raman and Chandrasekhar : Lighting up the Stars
by Arundhati Venkatesh and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan
“Raman and Chandrasekhar : Lighting up the Stars” by Arundhati Venkatesh and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan. Published by Duckbill. A delightful story featuring an incredibly unusual family having not one but two Nobel laureates in a magical historical setting of a memorable holiday.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar aka Chandra is eleven years old and his winter holidays are starting. This has been his first year at school after being homeschooled during the initial years of his education. He has no friends in school and it has been a harrowing experience for him so far, making him hate school. Just when he thinks of the joy of spending his holidays in peace without the hassles of school, there is a problem that crops up. C.V.Raman aka Raman Chithappa, his uncle who is a world renowned scientist, is coming to stay at Brindavan, their home, in Madras. This is not a welcome news for the eight kids in the family.
Raman Chithappa likes to talk about himself and about science. His love for science makes him bulldoze the children in the family to participate in a series of adventures or rather misadventures while attempting to perform experiments in Physics. The children of different age groups have varying degrees of enthusiasm in these experiments. Their mischief and curiosity leads to hilarious things happening causing the household to be disrupted, adults getting angered, domestic staff being harrowed and neighbours being shocked. However the children have a whale of a time and it turns out to be a unique vacation. Their time with Raman Chithappa is going to open doors into the amazing world of science for the children. Read the fabulous book to get a glimpse of the world of Raman and Chandrasekhar while learning physics in an interesting and enjoyable manner.
Packed with mischief, humour and physics, the book gives a wonderful peek into the family of Raman and Chandrasekhar making us savour their world. The book is a part of “Great Minds at Work” series which looks at the childhoods of people who made history against the backdrop of the times and places they grew up in. My ten and a half year old son and I attended the session on this book by the author at the recently held Bengaluru Literature Festival and enjoyed it. After having loved the first book in the series on Ramanujan, we were thrilled to know about this book and looking forward to reading it. It proved to be equally captivating as the first book. We found the characters, their traits and mannerisms as well as the setting quite endearing and memorable. We felt like we were part of that bygone world watching it all unfold in front of us :) The word “Excellent” will now remind us of “Rasam” just like it did for Raman Chithappa. The constant squabbles between feisty Rajakka and mischievous Chandra as well as the bonding between the siblings was also quite enjoyable and heartwarming. The rollicking humour and hilarious adventures have been brought to life not just by the deftly woven narrative but the striking and detailed illustrations too.
The highlight for us is the ease with which scientific concepts have been introduced through relatable and observable examples making them understandable even for younger children. The impeccable selection of absolutely brilliant and apt quotes by eminent scientists and luminaries have been given at the relevant places in the footnotes. Also, the well designed mathematical expressions for chapter numbers using only the corresponding numbers were a treat once more just like the first book. While there is science and humour in generous proportions, we also get to know some of the societal norms of those days like child marriage, gender discrimination and the treatment meted out to widows which were unfair. The story is a mix of fact and fiction. The author has provided details of the same in the afterword. Overall this book as well as the series itself is a “MUST READ” for everyone.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for anyone aged 10 and above.