Dehradun, March 18 -- From Prehistory to Vijayanagara', a treasure trove, not just for children, but also for adults who would like to share these stories and anecdotes with their children and grandchildren.

At the outset, I must confess that there is something quite wrong with the way we look at history in our country. While the history of the empires with capitals in Indraprastha, Hastinapur, Ujjain, Pataliputra and Parshupura is not called the history of North India, anything below the Vindhyas is dubbed South India. Whereas the fact of the matter is that the kingdoms of the south have been more 'Indian' and 'authentic', and the spread of culture from our coastline has all been from the south. Of the classical languages - Tamil, Kanna...