What a crazy book. And that’s a compliment. There were parts of the book that I read only because I wanted to finish the book. I pushed myself to read, page after page, completing each chapter before putting the book down. So I simply can’t give it those overused compliments – ‘page-turner’ and ‘unputdownable’. When […]
A Note of Music
Everything is made out of notes, vibrations. Many people think the universe started with a great big bang. What’s that if it isn’t a note, albeit a rather loud one? Somewhere there’s probably a note that brings the whole universe together… Goodness knows what will happen if anyone finds it… We’ll probably be blown up; […]
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison introduced me to the real horror of slavery. When I read Beloved, I simply could not get over the idea of black slaves being forced to wear the bit. I still cannot get over it. ‘Racism’, in the way it exists in the west, simply does not exist in India. Sure, we have […]
The Dictionary at School
The portion for the exams has been completed; students are fed up with revision. So, a colleague of mine decided to do something different – she read out a story from The Story-Catcher. I was thrilled! This reading went one step further than ‘I loved your story’ and ‘nice story’ and ‘I like the story […]
Non-Cooperation
Leela Samson, in her book Rukmini Devi writes: ‘Mrs Besant disagreed with Gandhi on the issue of non-cooperation. Her opinion was that mass civil disobedience was fraught with dangerous possibilities. She was apprehensive of the nation’s integrity being weakened as a result. She repeatedly warned that if and when India attained swaraj, it should be careful not […]
Mourning Achebe
So many people have written about Chinua Achebe so knowledgeably in the past few days; I can’t come close to that. I know next to nothing about him, but the sense of loss I felt when I read about his death was like a pit within me. I was introduced to Achebe when in college, […]
More Readers?
I, Varsha Seshan, author of The Story-Catcher and English teacher at your school… … donated two books to Vishwashanti Gurukul library. One for the primary school library and one for the whole school. I also spoke to the principal about the way I’ve done readings in the past at St. Mary’s, and she seemed interested. At the […]
Wide Sargasso Sea
Post-colonial literature frightens me. When I think of it, I wonder whether I have to read it closely and carefully, and then pretend to the whole world that I understood it perfectly. I have to talk about how good it was, and what I felt and thought. More than anything else, with great literature, it […]
Not Just a Witch
I sometimes feel that a book that is easily read and easily forgotten cannot be a great book. Easy to read is always an important factor, but when it’s also easy to forget, I begin to wonder… Not Just a Witch by Eva Ibbotson is simply charming. It’s old-fashioned in its ‘moral’ idea of doing good […]
Will I ever call it junk?
How do teachers throw away cards they receive? The children I read to gave me so many cards. Some were beautiful; some were thoughtful; some were sweet. How can I throw any away? Just a sample of those gems… THANK-YOU FOR SHARING SO MANY THINGS I LOVED […]
Book-Reading – A Different One
An acquaintance who is part of the Teach for India programme asked whether I would be willing to come to a small government school in Chandannagar and talk about my book, about writing and about dance. I was tremendously excited by the prospect, and agreed immediately. When I got there, though, I realised how different […]
The Circus Boy
I did two more book-readings yesterday – The Circus Boy and The Old Yellow Scooter. The reactions were completely different! Children never stop surprising me. The first reading (The Dictionary) was wonderful – I got questions about reading, writing, publishing, drawing… The second reading (Dreams) was strange – I wondered whether the girls understood the story at […]
Why I Write for Children
My first reading at St. Mary’s school yesterday told me, yet again, why I love writing for children. The number of questions they asked me and the way they interacted with me for a whole hour was simply wonderful. Writing, editing, publishing, marketing, illustrating and designing – they had questions about all these things. They […]
Book-Reading in MY School!
Once upon a time (in 1995, to tell the truth), my wonderful school-librarian encouraged us to write and illustrate books of our own. A friend and I sat and wrote a book of stories and poems. I forget what it’s called. We illustrated it painstakingly – and one important lesson that I learned from that […]
Treasure Hunt
All my friends ask me where The Story-Catcher is available, all the time. I know how easily it’s available online, and I tell everyone to buy it online. But I’ve wanted to know for a while where it is actually available so that people can go to a store and pay for it at the counter […]
Apricots at Midnight
Many would say that Apricots at Midnight is an outdated book: old-fashioned and preachy. Yet, the simple childlike stories made it altogether loveable. Imagine a patchwork quilt, in which each little bit of cloth has a story to tell. I wish I had one! Apricots at Midnight has the sense of a collection of stories, united by this […]
Reflex
If I don’t read, I can’t write. It’s as simple as that. My mother introduced me to Dick Francis years ago, and I never imagined I would like more than one odd book about jockeys. I’m not horse-mad, and I don’t like the idea of horse races. It’s a lifestyle about which I know nothing. […]
The Ant Colony
Books that I’ve loved and re-read time and time again have nearly always emphasised character over plot. Take, for example, Anne, Emily, Little Lord Fauntleroy and the little princess. There’s something about character that just warms me, perhaps because it’s like discovering a friend, rather than having an experience. Stories with exciting plots are certainly […]
Thank you, Santa!
Yesterday, I went to my old school to meet my librarian and give her a copy of The Story-Catcher. She still had the book in her hand about half an hour later when children from class III were lining up to go into the library. One excited girl saw the book and exclaimed, “That’s The Story-Catcher, isn’t […]
Toto Funds the Arts
Long-listed (but not short-listed) three years in a row. Surely, that’s a record of sorts! For The Story-Catcher (now published) and Vanilla: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2011/01/toto-awards-2011.html For Ridhima and Sacrifice: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html For Laying an Old Ghost to Rest and Ethics: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012/12/long-lists-for-toto-awards-2013.html