My room....my world!

Abhay loves his room! He loves to play by himself and conjure up his imaginary world within the four walls of his room. When my little monster is busy in his den, he wants to be left alone! When he is up in his room, building with his legos, or setting up his own version of the Island of Sodor (the land of Thomas and other trains) or the town of Radiator Springs (From the movie ‘Cars’), he is in a parallel universe! Nothing we say or do can get him back to real world! The real world where dinner is waiting, or visiting guests eager to meet him, or his grandparents expecting to hear his voice on the phone! So much so that there have been times when he has chosen to remain in his room over going to the park, or going cycling, or even playing or reading a book with me! In other words, my five-year old has already put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign on his door and I’m unable to understand how we got to this point so quickly!:-)

Today we read about one such girl named Padma, who wants to be left alone in her imaginary world of space and time travel instead of having lunch! “Padma goes to Space” by Swetha Prakash and pictures by Shreya Sen. Padma has been hiding under the sofa trying to read her favorite book “The Time Travel Adventures of the Amazing Eight” where eight adventurous children travel in a butterfly shaped time machine along with the green-eyed star pup called Glazza, who always gets them in trouble.  As she is immersed in her world of space excursions, fruit juice erupting volcanos, and giant tortoises holding the universe on their back, her mother calls her for lunch. Padma does not find her mother’s Bhindi curry (Okra) appetizing; Instead she wishes to eat Star Rock Salad from Galaxy Stellar 5689, the regular diet of the Amazing Eight during their space expeditions! Even as her mother rubbishes her claim of the Amazing Eight, she holds on to her belief that somewhere in the universe children travel in time machines and decides to build a time machine of her own when all grown up. But now her mother sounds upset as she looks for Padma all over the house. Too scared to crawl out of the sofa, Padma closes the book and lies motionless in order to avoid being caught by her mother who now seems livid with anger. Just as she tries to control her breathing, she imagines the green eyed dog, Glazza popping out of the book. Before she reacts, Glazza calls out to her mother and gets her into trouble just like it always does!  This book shows how books ignite the imagination of young minds and empower them to think out of the box! Though Abhay could relate to Padma and her fascinating world of space, I felt the ending was a bit abrupt. I guess Abhay felt the same and wanted to know more  – did Padma get a scolding or was she given a time out, did she have star rock salad or did she settle for bhindi? Left to your imagination……Abhay!