Bibliofile

Kick-Ass Prank

It was a bit early for the bar to open but most journalists who had come to the Delhi Press Club for Cobrapost’s latest expose (defence sting operation, catching Bangaru Laxman taking bribe, Snoopgate) needed a stiff one to overcome the shocking prank. The Cobrapost Affair (HarperCollins) turned out to be a comic written by sting specialist Aniru­ddha Bahal and car­t­oonist Neelabh. Mail had gone out to newspapers with the subject ‘The Biggest Story of All Time by Cobra­post’. But ‘Operation R’ turned out to be the fearless Rhea Baughman, journalist and kickass girl, saving the world from terrorists.

Malabar Times

Suddenly, some venues have become favourites for book launches. Some time ago it was the charming Sak­ley’s, in Delhi’s Greater Kailash market. Now, it is the quaint The Toddy Shop in Hauz Khas village. It’s a Malayali joint serving kozhi varthathu, meen vevichathu and on request, pothu (beef) fry, apart from other favourites from Kerala like avial, kalan and ishtoo. Journalist Amrita Tripathi launched her book The Sibius Knot in this cosy eatery. Plans are afoot to serve real toddy in tetra packs.

So Many Pages

Britain publishes nearly 500 books in a day! The country published 1,84,000 books, new and reissues, in 2013—that is, nearly 3,000 titles per million people. Surprisingly, the second place is taken by Taiwan and Slovenia, at nearly 2,000 titles per million people. The US publishes less than 1,000 titles per million. But China prints the maximum number of books in absolute terms: 4,44.000.