More often than not, fantasy serves as an allegory of the world we live in. Sometimes, the allegory is clearer than at other times, and I suppose part of that is cultural. For instance, when I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the first time, I didn't know enough to make the obvious connections. With Ink, it was different. Especially with the right wing on the rise all around us, the links between the the protagonist Leora's world and our world assault us. In the fantastic world of Ink, every important event is marked on your skin. Your name, your family, your qualifications. And then, you choose marks of your own that you would like to add to your skin - and having marks there is a sign of your integrity, for what to you have to hide? Let the world see you for what you are! Those who hide are likely to be untrustworthy, cheats, thieves. Long ago, there were blanks who … [Read more...]
Secrets of a Sun King
The first book I read by Emma Carroll was The Girl Who Walked on Air, and I loved it enough for it to have been one of the top ten middle-grade books I read in 2018. As a child, I devoured Galliano's Circus and I picked up the book with nothing in mind other than the fun of exploring another, different circus. When I saw Secrets of a Sun King at Lightroom, a delightful children's bookstore in Bengaluru, I recognised Emma Carroll's name and after a very slight hesitation, I decided to pick it up. I'm glad I did. In the Q&A section at the end of the book, Emma Carroll talks of the challenges of writing a book about Tutankhamen. The boy king is shrouded in intrigue, and countless stories have been written about and around him. The young pharaoh's tomb revealed unimaginable treasures, and incredibly, the boy's heart is missing. That forms the seed of all kinds of stories, doesn't … [Read more...]
World Read Aloud Day 2020
Five days late, but why can't every day be read aloud day? I happened to have a session with my Writers' Club on World Read Aloud Day, so each of the girls chose something to read. It was delightful! Above all, I was struck by how well most of them read, without burying their faces in their books and without too much stuttering and stumbling. That is privilege, isn't it? That level of fluency? Also, this time, I loved that nearly all of them chose their pieces well. While last year, I had children struggling to read an abridged version of King Lear aloud, fumbling with names like Cordelia and Goneril, this time, I found that their choices were, on the whole, quite good! Some read easy poetry; I had a couple of stories about Akbar and Birbal, and we had excerpts from Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton. I have written earlier about why children choose texts that are too difficult for them; … [Read more...]
Books I Read in January 2020
I wrote already about the three hOle books I read, as well as about The Lilliputians. But there's so much more, as always, especially as I was travelling! Instead of doing one post per book, here's a list of books I read and loved. Neel on Wheels Neel on Wheels is a lovely picture book written by Lavanya Karthik (who also created the cover of The Prophecy of Rasphora) and illustrated by Habib Ali. I love picture books that play with rhyme and rhythm! In this delightfully imaginative book, Neel's wheelchair becomes his superpower. It can fight dragons and can scare monsters away! TitleNeel on WheelsRating (out of 5)5GenrePicture book Boo! When My Sister Died Stories about dealing with grief are so important! I remember attending a session on death, divorce and other difficult subjects at the AFCC 2017 and thinking that we needed more books … [Read more...]
The Lilliputians
Street-smart Tilly ropes Poesy in to audition for the Lilliputians, a children's theatre group that is to travel to America. Poesy qualifies, only to discover that the world of acting and singing is rather different from everything she had dreamed it would be. For one, it seems that everyone cannot be friends with everyone else. There is more backbiting than she had ever imagined, and suddenly, she needs to grow up. Nothing is the way it seems on the surface. Being naive is going to get her nowhere. The reader is sucked into this world of gossip, rumour and drama that is not restricted to the theatre. Through Tilly and Poesy, we learn that even the idea of their childhood seems to be a farce. Tilly pretends to be innocent - because it works. But the thrill of being a Lilliputian comes from much more - from temptation, adoration and secrecy. The Lilliputians starts slowly, but grips … [Read more...]
Three hOle Books
Who doesn't love a hole in a book? I love the idea of the hole, and I do wish it were possible to make the holes part of every illustration! I'm sure the illustrator would probably find that rather restrictive, but even so, I delighted in each picture that used the hole in some way. Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles What if you really need a football and the only person who can get you one is the tooth fairy? And then, what if the tooth fairy bargains with you and says that a football is worth at least two teeth and not just one? I chuckled as I read Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles and could picture so much of it as the kind of cartoon I would have watched as a child! The very correct, very polite letters to the tooth fairy; the joy of a fallen tooth; the conviction that a tooth deserves some sort of payment ... What fun the book was! TitlePetu Pumpkin: Tooth … [Read more...]
Bangalore 2020
Bangalore is probably among my favourite cities in the world. I love the weather, I love the trees (even though so many have been cut), and most of all, I love the mood of the city. As a child, I used to spend every summer there, at my grandparents'. Now, I continue to go there at least once a year, sometimes more. This year, I went for my great-aunt's 80th birthday. For a long time, my great aunt and great uncle have been asking us to perform at the senior citizens' residency where they live, and we finally did! It was lovely, absolutely lovely.They last saw us perform when we did our Arangetram - over 15 years ago. To their minds, we had just continued. We performed and all of that, but I don't think they expected us to be professional dancers. They were overwhelmed, and that's what makes me feel that a performance was possibly the best gift we could have given my great aunt for her … [Read more...]
A Day in Luxembourg City
The strangest thing about visiting Europe in the winter is how late the sun rises. In France, it was bewildering. Pre-dawn hours, to me, should be unearthly. But 8 a.m. in December is still pre-dawn! The lovely thing about the late sunrise in Luxembourg, however, was that I had a table at the window and could watch the daylight slowly purpling the sky and spreading over the city. I sat and wrote, watching the lights of the city go off, and the sunlight make it all come alive. From the warmth of a heated room, it felt like a beautiful, toasty day.It took Google to tell us that the temperature was -3ºC. Jack Frost had spread his fingers over everything. It was nearly 10 when we finally stepped out - late by my standards, particularly considering the sun sets at 4 - but the streets were empty. Many shops and cafes hadn't even opened yet! At the tourist office, we learned that the … [Read more...]
Luxembourg – A Train and a Bus
More than once, we went to the station to check if our TGV from Paris Gare de l'Est to Luxembourg would run. We went first to Bouray, and were told to check at Paris. When we went to Montparnasse, we went to the station there. Our train, we were told, was 'sure to run', despite the strikes. Yet, just to be on the safe side, we decided to leave early and get to the station. Sure, options of buses existed, but we had tickets already. Most importantly, even if everything else got delayed or cancelled, we needed to reach Luxembourg in time to catch our flight back! On the day we were to leave, a huge protest was organised - from Gare du Nord to Republique. And Gare de l'Est is exactly in the middle. Nervously, we made our way to Paris, and reached, much to everyone's relief, well in time, and once more, with the guarantee that our train would run. So that was that. Goodbye to … [Read more...]
Christmas – and Food
Is it possible to write about France and not talk about the food? Much more plastic conscious than ever before, I didn't buy any of the little cups of fruit yoghurt, or the chocolate mousse at the supermarkets, or anything that stood there on the stands in single-use plastic. But staying in a French family brings so much to the table that I missed nothing! I've written before about being what I once called 'impure veg'. I do eat meat, yes, once in a while. But I rarely - if at all - choose to eat meat. When I was younger, I was keen on eating everything; I tried hard to fit in. Now, I continue to try to taste everything, but I don't push myself to do so - no FOMO anymore! In Europe, my favourite meal, I realise, is breakfast. When our French friends came here, they commented, "Indian breakfast is typically savoury; how lovely!" A savoury breakfast is possible in France, of course, … [Read more...]
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