Today is World Storytelling Day. Here is a story to celebrate the day! If you like it, use it. Read it out to children. Make them imagine and colour - spread the joy of storytelling! Alka sat down on the floor to tie her shoelaces. Weekends were fun. She could meet everyone, play Lock and Key and Polo and Crocodile-Crocodile and Zoop and...“It's time to throw away this terrible pair,” said Alka's mother, looking down at Alka's blue shoes – her favourite pair for running.“No, Mamma, please!” said Alka, looking up, alarmed. “Please, Mamma, it's my favourite pair, really! I'll never ever get a pair like this again! How will I play?”Her mother smiled. “But look at the state they're in, Alka, they're falling to bits. You can barely see that they were once blue, and the sole is completely torn!”“But they're my favourite pair ...”“All right, baby, I'll tell you what,” … [Read more...]
Waterslain Angels
When I was about ten, I read British Folk-Tales (not linking this to a place where you can buy it because Amazon is selling it at an incredible price of 11,000 rupees) by Kevin Crossley-Holland and enjoyed it. I had my favourite stories in the collection and I read them over and over again.A few years later, I read The Seeing Stone and loved that too, even though the story was familiar, the old tale of King Arthur retold.And because I still enjoyed the experience of reading a story I knew, I picked up Waterslain Angels.I liked the essence of the story. I liked the idea of a quest rooted in the place to which one belongs. I liked the notion of bringing history back to life.Yet, I found the telling overly dramatic for the proportions of the story. Sure, the quest for angels is beautiful as an idea. The moment in history when the angels were 'slain' must have been powerful, but … [Read more...]
Girlie
When I was five years old, I moved from Vashi to Pune. There, I came across a strange word - 'girlie'. If you didn't know a girl's name (yes, I went to a girls' school), you would say, "Excuse me, girlie, what is your name?"The word felt awkward in my mouth. Girlie.What would I call a boy I didn't know? Boyie? It was incomprehensible and most confusing.But, aged five, I wanted to fit in. So I started saying 'girlie'. Excuse me, girlie, could I borrow your pencil? Excuse me, girlie, you're sitting in my place. Excuse me, girlie, I put my bag there first. It's my bench.By the time I was twelve, we were laughing at girls who said 'girlie'. "Yuck. Who says 'girlie'?" Giggle, giggle, giggle. "Girlie!" Giggle, giggle, giggle.And now, rummaging through my memory, I wonder, do girls still say 'girlie' when they are five years old and then mock at the word when they are 12? … [Read more...]
Publicity and Me
Somehow, it seems as if I never do enough to publicize myself as an author. I sent links to my latest story, "Sacrifice" to friends and colleagues, and I put it up on Facebook and on my blog.I got responses, and a little feedback. 'I REALLY liked the story!! :) Looking forward to reading similar ones!' 'Wonderful as usual...varsha! keep it up! Enjoyed this read more than the previous one.....you are getting better and better !'And then a colleague sent me this - 'Varsha!!! This is so catching and interesting …I was so engrossed in it. It’s a superb work. You seriously have a beautiful gift. All the best for the future' When she met me, she said, "If ever you write a novel, or a book, or anything, tell me, and I'll buy it." "Erm... I have written a collection of stories for children, actually." "Oh, why don't you tell people about it, then?"And that's when I realised that … [Read more...]
Ace
I always link my book reviews to amazon.in for people to buy the book there, but when I searched for Dick King-Smith's Ace, the first thing I found was a hardcover priced at ₹12,527.41 + ₹99 delivery charge! I did find a copy that's cheaper, though, and that's a mercy; however much I enjoyed the book, even I wouldn't pay so much for it!Ace is funny, lovable and altogether a hugely enjoyable half-hour's read. An author who has lost count of the number of books he has written has to be a master storyteller, and there's not doubt that that's exactly what Dick King-Smith is. If he's lost count of the number of books he's written, I've certainly lost count of the number I've read, and the number I've read more than once!Ace is the story of a pig. A non-pedigreed pig, mind you, but a descendent of the famous Sheep-Pig Babe. Ace is born with a remarkable mark of the ace of clubs on his side … [Read more...]
Fantastic Mr Dahl
Yes, Mr Dahl is fantastic.What I find interesting about Fantastic Mr Dahl, though, is the way in which Michael Rosen examines what makes him fantastic. Is it the fact that he used a special yellow pencil and special yellow paper (because his favourite colour was yellow)? Or because he loathed Christmas and loved Easter? Or because he had a lucky break when Disney was interested in making a movie of The Gremlins?For me, Fantastic Mr Dahl kept shifting from wonderfully perceptive to 'Okay that's weird'. But in all, I finished with a sense of gladness that I had read the book.I'm not fond of the word 'fan', but I guess I am a Roald Dahl fan.And being a Roald Dahl fan, I lapped the book up and savoured it. … [Read more...]
Incredible Bus Journeys
Yes, I have travel woes. Often. I faced a bird-hit in Ahmedabad. A light-bulb shattering in my hair on a train journey. Floods in Bengal and trouble in Bihar caused a train-detour of twelve hours. Aircraft crew went on strike to watch a football match. And that's just scratching the surface.Of late, thanks to an irritating back-ache, I've taken to wearing a belt while travelling. Today, when the lock of the bus-door gave way, I used the belt in the most innovative way possible. … [Read more...]
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
So many TED talks make me chuckle and nod in agreement that I wish to express so strongly! "I agree!" I want to say. "Oh, I agree, I agree, I agree a thousand times over!" Sometimes, I think, "And I have more to add to that. Think about this, in the same context. I've felt and thought this, and this, and this!"And then I realise, sitting alone with my laptop, I'm agreeing with a screen and myself.I just listened to a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I had never heard of her, but now, she fills me with all the joy and empathy of a kindred spirit, with respect to so much of what she says.At about the age of seven … I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading: All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather: how lovely it was that the sun had come out. This despite the fact that I lived in … [Read more...]
Royalty for The Story-Catcher
Royalty makes you feel good, even if it doesn't make you feel royal!For the financial year 2012-2013 - that counts as roughly eight months considering the date of publication - 119 copies of The Story-Catcher were sold! (I don't count the author copies, of course.)It's not much, but I'm feeling pretty grand about it being my first real percentage royalty! … [Read more...]
Avameru
Since I know that this author will barely publicize his book, if at all ...This is what I'm reading.There's nothing like reading something (published) that is written by a real and very dear friend.Buy it now on Amazon! … [Read more...]