There's a bubble of contentment within me whenever I read Dick King-Smith, and All Because of Jackson is no different. Filled with delightful pictures and dreams, All Because of Jackson is the story of a rabbit. Of course, with Dick King-Smith, it has to be about an animal. An animal that is perfectly ordinary, but different. Different because Jackson the rabbit wants to be a sailor. No rabbit becomes a sailor! Human beings eat rabbits!But Jackson wants to be a sailor. And so he does. All Because of Jackson is a twenty-minute voyage of joy! … [Read more...]
A Mouse Called Wolf
Whenever I read Dick King-Smith, I think about C.S. Lewis's oft-quoted “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” How true it is! Whoever heard of a singing mouse? From the single line on the book cover, reading the book is like a joyful ride into a story that moves from the first page to the last in the course of about half an hour. When Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse was born, he was the littlest of all, so his mother wanted to give him a grand name. Her nest was was made of a chewed up sheet of music and somehow, a little bit had remained unchewed. It said 'Wolfgang Amadeus Mo'. Of course, Mary Mouse knew that the last three letters were missing because what could the name be but Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse? Wolfgang Amadeus had to have a nickname, of course. His name was rather a mouthful. And so, his twelve siblings nicknamed … [Read more...]
British Library Workshops
As part of the Reading Challenge organised by the British Library, I will be conducting four workshops! Age-group 5-7 Read Aloud and Colour your Thoughts! 12th January, 2014 Stories are always more fun when they have pictures. When they have more pictures, they are more interesting! So read a story, or listen to a story and imagine... Whatever you imagine, put down on paper. Draw and colour images from what you read – fill your ideas with colour! The best illustration will receive a prize. Show and Tell 9th February, 2014 Bring something from home and talk about it to the other children. Build your confidence as you talk about something you love. After that, let your imagination go wild. Look at the toys around you in the Junior Section of the library and try to talk about what you … [Read more...]
The Worry Tree
I remember having a conversation with a friend about the challenges faced by each generation. "Our grandparents had to work hard - physically," I said. "My grandmother has so many stories of how difficult it was to make dosa batter and things like that. Our parents had financial difficulties, more than anything else. What about us?" "We have emotional and intellectual issues," my friend said, thoughtfully, "basically about who we are and what we want from life." In that sense, I think The Worry Tree reaches out to the children of this generation. Children who are worried. Children who sometimes don't realise that problems around them aren't their fault. I loved the idea of the book, reading page after page with a half-smile. I love the pages at the end where the child who owns the book can write down his or her own worries, hang them up on the worry tree, so to speak. I took about an … [Read more...]
11.12.13
The date today made me think of something that always made me feel special. In many ways, I know I was a strange child. When I was about nine years old, I discovered two extraordinary things. The first was that when I turned ten, I would have a double-digit age for a very long time ahead. The precious uniqueness of a single-digit age was nearly over. Only if I lived to be a hundred would I be special again. Until then, I would be ordinary. Two digits. 10, 11, 12, 13 ... All the way to 99. I was so struck by this notion that I cried on my tenth birthday. The other extraordinary thing I discovered as a nine-year-young girl was that many, many years later, my birthday would fall on a very special day - 10.11.12. I was thrilled at the idea. At nine, though, I had a long, long way to go, but I was tremendously excited about the fact that one day in the distant future, I would have a … [Read more...]
On Two Feet and Wings
I'm a slow reader. Despite the fact that I love reading, I take my time over books. Sometimes, I take weeks to finish a book, even one I enjoy. On Two Feet and Wings was not like that. I would never have expected a book based on a true story to have transported me into a world I do not know at all. Powerful, moving, pacy - what cliched words these are! But each of them is apt. I started reading Abbas Kazerooni's story only because someone gave me On Two Feet and Wings for my birthday. When I started reading it, I didn't know what to expect. But I loved every moment and every page - I'm tempted to say that I loved every word. The innocence and pathos in the story reached out to me - I haven't been touched like that in a long time. I saw the dirty alleys of Istanbul, smelled the dank sheets, drank the tea and cringed at the cockroaches in the bathroom. I saw a precocious nine-year-old … [Read more...]
On the long list again!
Yes, it's a grand year! Toto Funds the Arts Creative Writing (English) long list for 2014 is here! Twenty-two applicants are on the long list for the Creative Writing (English) Toto Awards 2014. They are: 1. Shalini Jagadish, Bangalore. 2. Dion D’Souza, Mumbai. 3. Mihir Vatsa, Delhi. 4. Rohan Chhetri, Gurgaon. 5. Ronaan Roy, Mumbai. 6. Kaushik Viswanath, Chennai. 7. Urvashi Bahuguna, Gurgaon. 8. Dani Kumaramangalam, Chennai. 9. Pervin Saket, Pune. 10. Varsha Seshan, Pune. 11. Neha Mathrani, Pune. 12. Neeraj Sebastian, Bangalore. 13. Aditya Jha, Noida. 14. Vaswar Mitra, Bangalore. 15. M.V. Sita, New Delhi. 16. Ritwik Deshpande, Pune. 17. Mohit Parikh, Jaipur. 18. Anirudh Karnik, Kanpur. 19. Rihan Najib, Bangalore. 20. Amrita Nair, Trivandrum. 21. Aalooran Bora, Bangalore. 22. Neil Balthazar, Pune. The shortlist for these awards will be announced before December 15. … [Read more...]
Scrappy and Trashy
At the sixth annual TAISI Sports Meet, I think what made me happiest was the mascot! Broken bats, punctured footballs and basketballs, and other disused sports equipment came together to create Scrappy and Trashy! But more endearing than the mascot itself, were two bored young boys. Fed up of waiting around, they began, of course, to kick the punctured balls around. After all, who cares if the ball they want to kick around is part of the artwork that goes into making the mascot? It is, before anything else, a ball! … [Read more...]
Nehru Bal Sangh
One fine day in 1964, a group of fifth class students envisaged a forum where all of them could meet and spread the message of love, brotherhood and harmony to all the corners of the country. Their initiative and drive mixed with their deep commitment to make their country strong, united and prosperous helped lay the foundations of a voluntary non-political organization – Nehru Bal Sangh. It started in a very simple way in New Delhi and has emerged as a national organization with branches in more than sixteen states if the country over the years. It has the blessings of great leaders of India like Shastri, Dr. Zakir Hussain and Smt. Indira Gandhi who helped and guided it during the formative years. Now, almost 50 years after its inception, I was honoured to be part of it as a judge of the dance component of the talent contest for their national integration camp. The national … [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...]
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