I was relishing a cup of coffee this morning and thinking about its history, both a personal history and the history of coffee itself. Personally, I disliked coffee. I did not like the smell or taste. Now, having become a good south Indian, I love a cup of good, strong, hot filter coffee. At a more general level, I often wonder how tea, coffee and tobacco entered human lives. What strange human being imagined the result of the complicated process that goes into the making of these things? In a book I read some time ago, The Moneylender's Daughter, there was one amusing section about coffee. In 17th century Holland, one merchant attempted to convince another to invest in coffee. "Coffee? What good is coffee?" the second merchant replied. (I'm paraphrasing, of course.) The first merchant stumbled, trying to explain how it was a drink that was sure to catch the world's fancy. "Rubbish!" … [Read more...]
Animal Farm
Animal Farm is the kind of book that I could read over and over again. It was written in just a few months and it's less than a hundred pages long. I was revolted and fascinated by it the first time I read it and I'm revolted and fascinated even now as I teach it. What a fabulous book it has to be to evoke a response time and time again! How rich it is, and yet, how simple! When the pigs begin the gentle takeover, I squirm within, but believe how it could happen. I am enthralled (more than a little guiltily) by the very idea of their power. It's frightening how easy it is to manipulate the truth by abusing the language of power. It makes me shiver and shake my head. Succinct and complete - this one is most certainly a classic. … [Read more...]
Chalkline
I recently read Neil Gaiman's views on escapism: I hear the term bandied about as if it's a bad thing. As if "escapist" fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the foolish and the deluded, and the only fiction that is worthy, for adults or for children, is mimetic fiction, mirroring the worst of the world the reader finds herself in. If you were trapped in an impossible situation, in an unpleasant place, with people who meant you ill, and someone offered you a temporary escape, why wouldn't you take it? And escapist fiction is just that: fiction that opens a door, shows the sunlight outside, gives you a place to go where you are in control ... And that's the way I feel when I leave a book like Jane Mitchell's Chalkline unfinished. I have nothing against the way it's written. It's powerful, hugely moving and terribly disturbing. And that's just why I could … [Read more...]
Writing in the Genes
Never thought a business magazine would have a picture of me! All thanks to my father, and to the fact that I have writing in my genes! … [Read more...]
The All-New Media Page!
I'm delighted to have a brand new page on my website - the media page! From Let's Play! onwards, there have been several articles about my writing and about me. Finally, they come together on the media page of my website! Sakal Times, DNA, The Times of India, Mid-Day ... And hopefully many more to come! … [Read more...]
Bookaroo Festival of Children’s Literature, Pune – 2013
Twenty-two speakers from five countries and 11 cities are going to be interacting with children, bringing children and books together. It's happening in Pune! Dates: 3oth November and 1st December Venue: Sambhaji Park, Jangali Maharaj Road, Pune I'm looking forward to it! … [Read more...]
Running Wild
I don't usually like thick hardbound books. They are daunting and, usually, boring. As soon as I make that statement, though, I realise how many exceptions there are. Running Wild is one of them. It has pages and pages of description, but not once was I bored. Morpurgo, at the end of the book, talks of his motivation for this novel. He talks about The Jungle Book, about his fascination for elephants, about the Iraq war, the Indonesian tsunami and the impending extinction of orangutans. Running Wild brings together all these. After a long time, I felt rage, a lump in my throat, relief, joy and excitement in the course of a single story. I was excited about, filled with grief for, repelled by and at peace with the story of a young boy in a jungle in Indonesia. Oona the elephant won my heart over and over again making me wonder if it's possible to look at an … [Read more...]
Day Five – Reading was Fun!
And that was the end of that. Photographs will come soon, I'm sure. But right now, my head is filled with all kinds of thoughts. Children are like magpies. They love shiny things. All of them loved the golden tape I took with me to bind their work together. I thought they'd like to use ribbons, but golden tape won hands down. Children are affectionate in ways that adults can never be. One of the children stood at my elbow, rubbing his stomach on my arm. I cannot even begin to imagine an older child doing that. Children are unbelievably creative. Drawing, colouring, writing and sharing - team work seems to come naturally to most of them. Only one group yesterday found it difficult to work in a team. The best part, I think, was the fact that everyone was too excited with the workshop to be sad that it was over. One child wrote in her feedback form, "I don't think that the workshop was … [Read more...]
Day Four – Reading is Fun!
"Tomorrow, our last session, is going to have the most exciting activity of all!" I announced, at the end of today's session. "Ooh! What is it?" "What are we going to do?" "What is the activity for tomorrow?" "I'll tell you tomorrow!" I said, smiling. "So, how do you feel?" I expected them to say 'excited', 'enthusiastic', 'curious', 'eager' ... All of them, practically unanimously said, "We feel sad!" "The workshop is getting OVER!" one of them explained. I did not know whether to be happy or sad. … [Read more...]
Storytelling Workshop
Time flew. I simply could not hold on to it. When I thought about an 11-3 workshop, I confess I did think, "Hmm. There'll definitely be parts where I'm bored." I was wrong. Travelling from my school in Loni to British Library on Fergusson College Road, I realised for the first time why all the residential staff at my school thinks of 'going to Pune' as such a big deal. By the time I reached the library, I felt sticky and irritable, as one does after a long and rather tiresome journey. I definitely was not in the mood for an over-enthusiastic shedding of inhibitions that I assumed would be associated with a storytelling workshop. But Nell Phoenix created that mood. In slow steps, she guided us from being polite, formal listeners, sitting poised on wooden chairs to becoming active participants, relaxing on the carpet and using our entire bodies to tell stories. Nell Phoenix is … [Read more...]
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