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By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

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Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#31

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

jeswin wrote: post #4

Soviet books and influence were especially common in the state of Kerala, where we had the first democratically elected communist government. I remember this book called Misha (for kids) and Soviet Woman for well, women. They were very high quality prints, and was a joy to read. Till the 80s Kerala had strong Soviet influence in politics, lifestyle and even in the architecture of buildings. I remember when I visited…

I'm from Coimbtore, Tamilnadu.

Me & my sister loved reading Misha in the early 90's. Some of the stories where deep.

Is there an online archive for those magazines?

P.S. I'm writing this via kindle & I didn't take any effort to search for it.

Edit:typo

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#32

Post by sseth »

I remember too. Wonderful books at throwaway prices. I remember Ya Perelman's books on physics. Also a wonderful book just on limits which helped me understand the concept in a way which no other maths book could. And we also used to have beautifully illustrated magazines. I still have many of these books. I think Ya Perelman really made me fall in love with Physics.

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#33

Post by yantrams »

I can't emphasize enough how important these books were in shaping my childhood in a rural town in India. I still vividly remember making a fuss when Misha and Sputnik stopped after the fall of Soviet. A part of me is forever indebted to Russia for this.

Given the strong Communist presence in Andhra Pradesh, the state I am from, we were lucky to have a great number of these books translated to Telugu, by no less than legends like Sri Sri.

I have some of the children's books uploaded on my blog at http://linkdot.link/sooviytt-prcurnnlu-childrens-books.html

PS: I named my daughter Aelita after the science fiction classic.

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#34

Post by yantrams »

sseth wrote: post #32

I remember too. Wonderful books at throwaway prices. I remember Ya Perelman's books on physics. Also a wonderful book just on limits which helped me understand the concept in a way which no other maths book could. And we also used to have beautifully illustrated magazines. I still have many of these books. I think Ya Perelman really made me fall in love with Physics.

Yakov Perelman forever! Are you referring to the limits book in dialogue format ? I came across one few years back.

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#35

Post by Tsubasachan »

bibyte wrote: post #2

This is really fascinating. Because even though I am an Indian I didn't know the Soviet Union and India were that close. I wonder if any Indian school books mention this.

During the Cold War India was leaning to the Soviets. Its also the reason why Nato never really tried to stop Pakistan from acquiring the atomic bomb.

Ofcourse nowadays India is a democratic republic with a good relationship with the West.

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#36

Post by jhbadger »

yantrams wrote: post #33

I can't emphasize enough how important these books were in shaping my childhood in a rural town in India. I still vividly remember making a fuss when Misha and Sputnik stopped after the fall of Soviet. A part of me is forever indebted to Russia for this. Given the strong Communist presence in Andhra Pradesh, the state I am from, we were lucky to have a great number of these books translated to Telugu, by no less than…

Funny thing about the Sputnik magazine. In a lot of the West it was seen as Communist propaganda (which to be fair a lot of it was), but in the late 1980s it was actually banned in East Germany because it wasn't Communist enough as it wrote favorably about Perestroika and Glasnost, which the leaders of the GDR weren't happy about.

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#37

Post by krat0sprakhar »

g4omingron wrote: post #6

No mention of the most famous Russian book among Indian high Schoolers: [Problems in General Physics by I E Irodov]( https://www.amazon.com/Problems-General-Physics-I-Irodov/dp/... )?

Haha, this brings back memories! Spent so much time slouching over this book and taking a crack at the problems. Thanks for comment and triggering a trip down the memory lane :)

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#38

Post by yantrams »

kobiguru wrote: post #8
g4omingron wrote: post #6

No mention of the most famous Russian book among Indian high Schoolers: [Problems in General Physics by I E Irodov]( https://www.amazon.com/Problems-General-Physics-I-Irodov/dp/... )?

I have spent so much time with this book growing up. It was THE Book to solve to get the bragging rights that you know your physics.

For REAL bragging rights, you had to solve Krotov :)

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#39

Post by yantrams »

jhbadger wrote: post #36
yantrams wrote: post #33

I can't emphasize enough how important these books were in shaping my childhood in a rural town in India. I still vividly remember making a fuss when Misha and Sputnik stopped after the fall of Soviet. A part of me is forever indebted to Russia for this. Given the strong Communist presence in Andhra Pradesh, the state I am from, we were lucky to have a great number of these books translated to Telugu, by no less than…

Funny thing about the Sputnik magazine. In a lot of the West it was seen as Communist propaganda (which to be fair a lot of it was), but in the late 1980s it was actually banned in East Germany because it wasn't Communist enough as it wrote favorably about Perestroika and Glasnost, which the leaders of the GDR weren't happy about.

Interesting to know that!

Re: By the book: reflections on an Indian childhood reading Soviet hardbacks

#40

Post by yantrams »

vishnugupta wrote: post #14
muks wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow.. wow.. there are others who have read the same things. :) The hydro pneumatic rocket! I tried to find Mir publishers books about 10 years ago. Apparently Mir got bought out and publishing ceased. Another gem is "Fun with maths and physics" by Ya Perelman. It's available in a cheap reprint now, nothing that matches the original Mir publishers book.

I read the Kannada translation of the book "Fun with Physics" back when I was in primary school. Didn't understand large parts of it but that didn't stop me from repeatedly reading the books. As high quality as the content was I absolutely loved the high quality print, glossy and gorgeous paper, and really beautiful and durable hard cover. The illustrations were also of high quality. They also had a very distinct sme…

Is this the book you are referring to ? - https://sovietbookbugs.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/rassian-c...
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