Our Girl!

 

As I browse through some of my earliest blogposts almost a decade ago, I find that an oft repeated reflection on my part has always been “I wish I had a daughter” and such a longing was borne out of a desire to enjoy reading books that my pre-schooler was quick to dismiss as “girlie books”! Now that I have a daughter, we do revisit some of the books that hadn’t impressed my son then and now seem to be a big hit with my daughter, just as I had thought so! Well….not a day a goes by without feeling thankful for the pure joy of having a daughter and how blessed we’ve been with the arrival our little girl! Her indefatigable energy, perceptive and sensitized nature, generous and caring spirit have enriched our lives in so many ways that we could never imagine! As a daughter myself, I have always and still do share an extremely close relationship with my mom and without wishing to sound cliched…my mom has always been and continues to be my 'BFF' and vice-versa!  As the saying goes…God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers….as a natural corollary I can say that God made daughters so that they can be their mothers' best friends! Hoping to share the same relationship with my little girl!

On the occasion of daughter’s day,  we read a book by one Abhay’s  all-time favourite authors, the award winning Anthony Browne, whose books we would regularly borrow from the British Library almost a decade ago! “Our Girl” is quintessentially Anthony Browne in terms of narrative style, wit, visual-word interplay, pastel backdrop, water-colour style illustrations which makes it a truly perfect read for today. The books opens to a sweet little girl with a wide smile –“She’s lovely, our girl”… an goes on to celebrate “our girl” – a great goalie, brilliant swimmer, loves to draw, dress up and pretend play, alternates between quiet and loud, starts off as a busy bee and ends up as sleepy puppy, fierce as a fighter yet charms her way with her beautiful smile…..we love our girl and will always do…..a wonderful tribute to daughters everywhere!  Happy daughters day to all our girls!

A walk in the garden!

It has been over month since we drove out of Bangalore to vacation at my parents’ farm Shristi, at Dharmasthala, and with the extension of lockdown in the State, we are now looking at getting on with our routine - school, work or probably even court work, connecting from here.  Of course, barring a few sporadic connectivity issues, we are more than thrilled to be working out of this serene eco-system that opens up to beautiful views from every window and look out. From the stunning view of Kudremukh ranges from the terrace on a clear day, to the glimpse of the colourful asters outlining our garden area from the balcony, or the panoramic landscape view of our areca plantation from the veranda, to the sight of the silvery sheet of rain soaking the surroundings, we are entreated to the nature’s spectacular imagery at every turn and corner.

What was meant to be a ten-day summer break has turned out to be an extended vacation of sorts for me and the kids, and having settled into a slow paced routine here at the farm, our treadmill-like life in Bangalore now seems like a distant memory. Except for my husband who has been working full time connecting to his virtual workspace from here, we have been off our regular routines as the kids have been on their summer vacation and I have been off duty for most part. Neither did we nor did my-in laws back in Bangalore expect to stay this long  and nor did my parents expect to have us for this long! 😊

While it’s been a dejavu for my son who spent last year’s lockdown at his most favourite place on earth, it’s been  a dream come true for my little one who had always envied her older brother’s extended stays at Shristi.  So much so that she has probably even forgotten that we have a home in Bengaluru! In fact, Aadya’s daily routine here is -  cycling around the courtyard, roaming around our farm, accompanying the cows as they are sent off grazing around our plantation, taking a stroll in the garden picking flowers, stopping just a bit to watch the butterflies hovering around the flowers,  pulling the vegetables off the vine, pausing to discover a nest perched on one of the branches, joining her brother in playing with the pet dogs, regaling the farm workers non-stop with her over-the-top stories….. and with all this she couldn’t have cared any less for her Grade one class all set to resume next week!

Since Aadya’s all-time favourite activity is to spend time in our front garden, picking a wide assortment of flowers for the daily pooja by her father or grandfather or for the flower vase she happily arranges with the help of  her grandmother, or looking at the ready-to-pluck veggies grown in the garden, I knew she would enjoy Niyatee Parikh Sharma’s garden series as I’d like to call it. Brought out by tota books, we can’t thank Funky Rainbow enough for introducing us to Veer’s and Ananya’s green adventures in “The Tomato Thief” and “The Tomato Flood” written by Niyatee Parikh Sharma and illustrated by Alankrita Amaya.  

The Tomato Thief  has Veer eagerly and patiently waiting for the tomatoes to ripe in the green patch in his terrace garden and just as they seem ready to be picked, they vanish leading Veer to go on a who-dun-it-expedition, making him interrogate each and every member and visitor of his household, from his naughty sister Ananya,  Baba, Shoba aunty  Ramu Kaka, his friends Shreya and Pranav, but to no avail. Veer even wonders if the aliens and their UFOs had anything to do with his missing tomatoes! Read on to find out the culprit …who also makes a surprise appearance on the sidelines of “The Tomato flood” (which was discovered by Aadya reminding me of Mo Willems’ books that always have the illustrations of characters of previous books making guest appearances in the later titles!)

In fact, we live through the likes of “The Tomato Flood” almost every other day, with our vegetable garden abundantly sprouting brinjals, okra, snake gourds, string beans and jackfruits more than we can eat, and we totally empathise with the predicament of Veer and Ananya’s mother who is forced to churn out every recipe there is in this planet with tomato as its ingredient….all thanks to Veer and Ananya’s gardening misadventures. Read this hilarious tale of how Veer and Ananya's family avert a tsumani of tomatoes from their garden! Both the books make for delightful reads and the author beautifully strings everyday occurrences into engaging light hearted stories. We love the playful yet relatable illustrations that have a sense of continuity in both the books, and definitely has us begging for more stories from Veer and Ananya’s household!

Fourteen already??

 

Every year I begin this post with a sense of awe at the fleeting time and how it feels as if time is racing against itself to make way for this little being that came out of me to grow bigger, (almost surpassed me in height) bolder (read audacious), though  not wiser yet! As my son added another turbulent teen year to his adolescent life,  I can only hope for more patience for this tempestuous tide to ebb in its own flow…whenever that happens! Parenting teenage kids is like walking on a tightrope, a tough balancing act at that, alternating between liberal and authoritarian parenting strategies…and this indoors-bound life where he is logging into from one online class to another, owing to the pandemic isn’t helping at all!

As a  follow-up parent, while you may be in touch with the day to day life of your child, but you also run the risk of having only transaction based interactions, checking on whether his homework has been turned in, or whether he’s practiced the new krithi that’s been taught recently, or has he zeroed in on a topic to speak on his weekly gavel club, or if has he read up the Child Friendly news article forwarded to his mail and you suddenly realise at the end of the day that’s you’ve been behind his back all day to accomplish tasks but have not had a real conversation! Of course, it’s another story that despite so much follow-up, he still manages to play truant with you (story of my life right now!)

Needless to say, such interactions can turn into snapping matches especially on days when you are short of patience, escalating into acrimonious exchanges almost bringing the whole house down! It is then incumbent on the “good cop” playing parent to step in and diffuse the situation! Of course, I’m aware that it’s not an uncommon scenario, especially in households with an adolescent under the roof, and I’m sure our parents probably felt the same way and for all you know, years later, you may joke about it over a family dinner with your grown up son or daughter….but it’s far from being a laughing matter now. Well, people say  “Don’t sweat over small stuff” but its only when the stuff is behind you…that you realise it was small stuff..right?

 So Abhay’s foray into adolescence has been a true test of my endurance  and there have been times when I’m wondering if it’s just teenage trouble or the onset of early menopause…a la Kamala Das’s poem titled “Middle age)! I understand that my relationship with Abhay is going through a transition and I do need to hold back my controlling behaviour…..but it’s takes a mammoth amount of self-control not to peep into his room to check on whether he is actually logged into his online class or watching  Youtube football videos…or check for the browsing history on his system …..especially there’s a trust deficit when it comes to Abhay and devices! And of course……he still doesn’t have his own cell phone!!  I wonder if adolescent girls are much more malleable than boys during this phase…..….I will  realize in another five to six years from now! 😊

Anyway, we couldn’t let our love-hate relationship as unpredictable as the weather, cloud Abhay’s birthday celebrations, now could we? A home-bound celebration for our die-hard FC Bayern Munchen fan….creatively represented in this delicious creamy red velvet birthday  cake from bake_mon_rev which was indeed a center piece of the day! 

What a pleasant contrast it was from the previous birthday which was mostly spent in playing the perfect host to Abhay’s school friends. Celebrations during these times are a welcome change, with the focus more on ourselves rather than fussing and hovering around the guests all the time!

Anyway, with the world teeming with child prodigies and kidpreneurs, we have begun to wonder what would our perpetually playful, sensitive, self-entitled, smart-mouthing day-dreamer of a teenager do in his life!!  So on his birthday, I picked out a teasing poem from the magnificent collection of tongue-in-cheek poems titled “Tickle me, Don’t Tickle Me” by Jerry Pinto brought out by talking CUB publications.  This is a book that we bought on a bibliophilic weekend at Bangalore Lit fest last year. Well….don’t know if we will have one this year! 

An anthology specially written for children for “Turbo-loaded, Triple-Charged Children” filled with laugh-out-loud poems, reflective and contemplative poems, poems that seek to ask questions from the perspective of children….there’s even a poem about what happens to children who say that They are Going to fail Their Exams but stand first”!  A little reflection here….and a tit-bit of advice there (though Jerry Pinto will not want to call it that!) and loads and loads of ROFL moments you are guaranteed to experience with the quintessential style of Jerry Pinto with equally zany illustrations by Sunaina Coelho !  

“What do you want to be when you grow to be?” is a quirky poem that best reflects Abhay’s mindset today and here’s an excerpt …. 

(Quote)

I will drive a taxi
In Cotopaxi

I’ll cure disease

With Greatest of ease.                                                                                                           

I’ll dance with joy 
At  the Russian Bolshoi.                                                                                                   

I'll win a Grammy And say, “That’s for Mammy’ (Unquote) (Love this especially!) 

……..

(Quote) I’ll be a watch-maker
Or a lone census-taker
I’ll be a cake baker
Or a verdant lawn-raker

I don’t know yet what I want to do
But whatever I do, what’s it to you?    (They love to say that ..dont they?)
I’ll have you know I’m only ten (Unquote) (or fourteen)
…………..

(Quote)Whatever I’ll be, Let me tell you chappy, 
I plan to be ext-urr-emely happy,

Whatever I will be, 
I will be me.   

(Unquote)

So Abhay…..whatever you want to be….just plan to be extremely happy with who you are and what you do! Here’s wishing you fourteen more adventures this fourteenth year!           A small request however….. go a little easy on your amma! 😊                                                                 

First day jitters!

It was D-day for our little one going to big school with her older brother. It was the day when she would finally board the yellow school bus she’d so wished, just like her older brother. It was the day to put on “The Samhita Academy” uniform and continue to wear the same every day of the week, just like her older brother.  It was also  the day that we were dreading as it seemed near impossible to get her ready as early as her brother which is  almost two hours ahead of her usual time  the last two years!! Well... it’s finally here... with both our kids going to the same school ... and gone by 7.45 AM... we may finally get some quiet time for ourselves before our daily grind!!!:-)

While choosing the right school for the kids is a much discussed/debated topic in most households, it was quite the opposite with us. It was more of "We came, we saw and we enrolled....." with my older one who has happily continued in the same school ever since he first joined in UKG or Upper Kindergarten on our return from the US. So it was but a natural progression for his baby sister to be going to the same school, albeit a year earlier for LKG or Lower Kindergarten after two years of playschool.  While we didn't dwell too much on whether it was the right call to make when we filled out the sibling admission forms last year followed by a seemingly smooth admissions process,  it is only in the last couple of weeks that we began to get cold feet over preparing our little one for her big day and had misgivings about  whether it is too early to send our little one to a large school that is more than half-hour commute away or would it have been prudent to let her continue for another year in her close-knit Montessori school that's literally only a stone's throw away from our house. Added to this mix were several pre-occupations like work getting hectic all of a sudden, the fracture of my older one’s little finger at the start of the academic year, and my mother-in-law's backache, all of which only compounded our concern over her ability to fit in and our wherewithal to enable her to do so!  But when the D Day arrived, without much fuss,  our little one held her brother's hand and just climbed on to the school bus!   We even followed the bus into her school and hid behind other nervous parents to watch her alight at the school entrance and just as we were about capture the moment on camera ......she noticed us ... and  waved out to us  as if it were a "first day of school-red carpet",  reassuring us that she was going to be fine!! :-)

It had to be a special book to celebrate the start of our little one's journey in the yellow school bus, and I went all the way across town to "The Lightroom bookstore" to find it! Sounds too dramatic isn't it? Well, actually I managed to finish work in North Bangalore early enough to be able stop by the bookstore, that I had visited many moons ago. Browzing through the well stocked shelves of independent bookstores like "The Lightroom Bookstore" and a few other in South Bangalore, is such a joy that can't compare to the convenience of online shopping  and a friendly owner like Aasthi Mudnani and her courteous staff helping you the find the right book only completes this delightful experience!  

So we picked a few books and best liked "First day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg and illustrated by Judy Love, a part of the "Mrs. Harwell's classroom adventures series" by Charlesbridge publications. School year has just begun  and Mr. Hartwell has a tough time waking up Sarah for her first day at the new school. Just like anyone with starting trouble, Sarah refuses to budge from her bed and has to be goaded into getting ready for school, with her father gently persuading her at first and then resorting to sterner methods to get Sarah to look forward to the new experiences in her new school, dismissing all her apprehensions.  Despite all her diversion tactics from her head hurting to feeling sick, she is finally ready and packed off to the school in Mr. Hartwell's car and is welcomed by the school supervisor/principal who ushers her into her  classroom.... and the readers as well as the students  are finally introduced to Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell ..the new class teacher! :-)  We could relate to this ..... as except Aadya, everyone else from her parents, her older brother, paternal grandparents at home, maternal grandparents at a distance, and to her day-time nanny were all experiencing 'first day jitters"!Have a great school year without any jitters....my kindergartner! 

So much!

Extended family celebrations are something young children always look forward to. I guess it’s only as they grow up that they prefer staying away from them! Since both my kids haven’t reached that I want-to-be -left -alone phase as yet (thank God!) and more so, having been blessed with large extended families on both sides... social interaction with relatives has never been a problem with them (at least so far!) 

While our older one has always been comfortable interacting with his first and second cousins, cousins’ cousins, uncles and aunts, grand uncles and grand aunts, grandparents’ siblings, and grandparents’ cousins, (Phew!) ... at religious or social family gatherings or during their visits home,  (though he may not remember exactly how they may be related to us!), it was a pleasant surprise to see our little one  taking in to her extended family circle with ease and even basking in the extra attention she gets for being one of the youngest in the group.

So it was only natural that one of Aadya's all time favourite books has been  "So Much" by Trish Cooke and illustrations by Helen Oxenbury. A chance find at our  erstwhile favourite hang-out, Kutoohala, I have been waiting for the right occasion to feature this book on Onestoryaday! While we had borrowed and returned this book a multiple times at the library, under the trusted assumption that I could always borrow it again and never once did I imagine that there would be a time when this book would become altogether unavailable on account of closure of the library!  I will never forget that day in March at the library's closure sale when I tried to scourge all the sections of the library looking for this book and finally had to leave with a heavy heart, not only as I couldn't find the book but also because, I could never ever go back to Kutoohala which was more than just a library to me, it was my weekly relaxation therapy, a quiet retreat for me to escape into and a haven for books to pick as I'd imagine my toddler would enjoy! So this book "So much" (which I finally bought online) will always be special as it's a throwback to those good old days when I could stop over on the way back from work, to my little happy place of wonderful children's books!

Steering away from my ramblings, I must say that many of our reading sessions  culminate in a grand finale which almost always happens to be the reading of "So much", a book that is also a shout out to diversity and multi-culturalism. Set in a Caribbean Household with a big extended family full of loud and vivacious relatives,  "So much" is centered around a baby who is the apple of everyone's eye, just like all young kids at home. The day happens to be a special occasion as the mom and baby welcome the relatives who arrive one after another, with the doorbell going "DING DONG" announcing the arrival of all the relatives from aunty Biba, uncle Didi, nanny and gran-gran, to cousin Kay-Kay and big cousin Ross, who arrive in their characteristic styles and all of whom want to engage and pamper the baby in their own way- from wanting to squeeze the baby, to kiss the baby, to eat the baby (figuratively of course), and wrestle the baby as they love him "so much"! As the house gets a little too crowded for comfort with all the noisy relatives driving their own agenda, the final ding-dong sounds off....a moment they have all been waiting for ..... to surprise the baby's daddy on his birthday. This book is a joy to read to your little one .............vivid illustrations, this book also  offers plenty of fun read-aloud moments from guess-work to repetitive phrases for your little one to follow through and not to forget mirroring the cuddles and kisses on to your little one whom you love so much! Well....we couldn't have asked for a better book as it also happens to be the Daddy's birthday today.....which we celebrated with our extended family.............. so Happy birthday to our little one's  daddy! ­:-)

Aha! with Aadya!

July has always symbolized the Aha! International Theatre festival for children and it's almost a tradition of sorts for us to catch more than a play or two at Rangashankara! So much so that every time we are in the vicinity of one of our favourite places in J P Nagar, Abhay is always enquiring as when can he walk into the theatre and hear the "Ahahahaha Ahahahaha Ahahahaha song" play ( which is normally played as an interlude just before a feature performance at the festival). So, however busy we may be or howsoever hectic things get or how many ever homework/test assignments Abhay may have .... Aha! is not be missed!!

While Abhay has been a regular at Rangashankara, I was waiting for my little one  to grow up a bit to experience the Aha! magic and was highly disappointed (and had mentioned so) that last year's Aha! festival did not feature any plays for toddlers (as it did the year before when my little one was only just born). So imagine my delight when I discovered this year's edition Aha! international festival of theatre for children to be an exclusive theatre fest for toddlers!

Well, though I'd like believe that my note of disappointment on last year's post on Aha! festival (and as such it was an but an echo of the long standing demand for more quality programs for very young children),  had anything to do it, this year's Aha! festival is a creative product  of a Theatre workshop for very young children at Katkatha, New Delhi conducted by Barbara Kolling in December 2017.

So this year we skipped our naps and packed our baby bag (we still carry those around!) and off we went to "Rangshankra" ( as my little one puts it). As if mommy's enthusiasm was not enough, her school too jumped into the theatre band wagon all the way to Aha! festival as they gathered all their noisy toddlers into one of the featured plays. 

All the plays sought to introduce the little ones into subtle .shades, shapes, sounds, colours and joys of life as they see it..... just as Arundhathi' Nag put it and to rephrase  Children don't need rapid movements or loud and exaggerated sounds.....a quiet soft movement or subtly nuanced presentation is enough to make them sit up and notice. It may be a spider shaped woolen thread hanging from the clothing line in 'Ool" or the exploring how seemingly mundane objects from everyday life and transform into something striking in "Paper Fantasy" or varied colours created out of an assortment of plastic and refraction of light in "Plasticity"  or an endearing hide and seek play between two characters squeaking "Pattichae" (caught you!) in "Chidiya Udd"..... children did seem fascinated! I'm not sure how much of what they see actually sinks in or how much of what is put up is comprehended.....but the shared experience of watching some of best toddlers' theater live and laughing with your little one sitting on your lap is sure to be one of your most memorable moments in the fleeting early years of his or her childhood! As I see my little one waking up from her usual nap and saying "Rangshnkarage hoguva? (Shall we go to Rangashankara?)... I know that she is asking for more and more of such marvels!

While many of our Rangashankara or Aha! moments have made their way into Onestoryaday, all of them have been related to Abhay. This one is special as it's my little one's first Rangashankara experience and that's why I had to put it down even though it's been more than two weeks since the Toddler Theatre festival!  Anyway, the only person disappointed this year with the Toddlers' theatre festival was the eleven year old older brother!:-(

So on the occasion my little one's initiation to theatre at Rangashankara, we re-read one of her favourite board books introducing various sounds  a child might encounter in his or her surroundings....."Cheep Cheep", a Tulika offering for the very young, with pictures by Sowmya Menon. What are the sounds that your little one is fascinated by? Is the sound of "Koo-koo" of Koel or the "cheep cheep" of the sparrow or the "teep-teep-teep" of the water dripping, or cat going surr surr while drinking milk, or the neighbors singing "Sa Re Ga Ma"? ( or the older brother in our case) .........sounds are everywhere, from natural to man made and to machine made.  Inspired from a Marathi rhyme, this book is vivid yet simple and aided with suitable illustrations, and is almost like a cue for taking the concept forward in guessing other sounds subtle and loud, with your little one, from 'tick-tick-tick of the wall clock, "whistle" of the pressure cooker  or man seller greens shouting "soppu" on the road .... the of world of sounds never fails to fascinate our little ones!  Here's to more such lovely outings with your toddler!!! 

"Not yet" ready for bed??

One of the many fall-outs of having a long gap between your two kids ( my older one and little one are almost nine years apart) is that the early parenthood phase never seem to end! Just as you get a breather from the 'feeding-nappy-changing-toilet training-putting to bed routine', you've landed yourself into an encore.......as if it were a punishment for your dithering or an afterthought on the second child issue ( at least it was for me!) :-)

I had come to realise this all the more since I had been without hired help last month and it seemed as if I would wrap up one work shift during the day to get into an evening shift of toilet-training-feeding-bathing - putting my little one to bed!! Phew....!!

Of course the exhaustion aside, my husband and I did try to turn around the chores into fun times to share with our little one, with on and off success, even making us wonder if we really needed help with our two and half year old.  But that said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved when our nanny finally showed up!:-)

So the bedtime reading routine with my little one is like a shopping sale, where you can't get a discount with buying just one ...it's always "buy two and get 30% off and buy three and get 40% off"! So you can't get off by reading just one book, it has to be either three or more! 

The last book always happens to be Tulika's bi-lingual "Not yet"  by Nandana Dev Sen and pictures by Niloufer Wadia, the Kannada translation being "Eegale Beda" that  we both relate to, with translation by Bageshree. This book beautifully illustrates the sprightly unwillingness of a little girl who is "not yet" ready for bed! As her mother (totally identify with you, woman!) goads her little one into the bedtime routine of drinking  milk-cleaning up-changing-brushing teeth,   a routine that almost seem never ending.......but the little girl is busy in her imaginary animal world where she joins with her favourite animals from flying with the birds to diving in with the whale, from tickling the giraffes to playing tag with the crocodile, from singing in chorus with the rhinos to swinging with the monkeys....it is nothing but an animal circus at bedtime! Finally as she wears herself out and wears her mother down, she is tucked into bed with her favourite animal blanket to keep her company. The narrative and illustrations are brilliantly woven together to bring out a charming bedtime tale for toddlers!  Finally, an Indian bedtime book that can truly rival with numerous western publications, when it comes to the bedtime business!!

Gajapathi festival!

Previous weekend was Ganesha Chaturthi and as every year we travelled to my native town Dharmasthala to celebrate Chowthi ( that we fondly refer to)  with my father’s extended family in our ancestral house. Abhay has always enjoyed celebrating the festival along with his second cousins from my father’s side, and has even actively participated in the all-night-long family bhajan sessions that culminate in the immersion of the idol, the following morning, But this time, we were delighted to find that his younger sister too followed suit and had a fair share of family fun herself, not to mention her dancing and grooving to the “jagante-chande vadya” (percussion recital) that quintessentially accompanies all Poojas or religious rituals in South Karnataka. Though this is her second Ganesha Chaturthi, it is technically her first Chowthi experience, considering that she was hardly aware of her surroundings as a three month old last year.  Here’s hoping that with Lord Ganesha’s blessings, she grows up to enjoy each and every of her  experiences to the fullest.

So on the occasion of the Elephant God festival, we read ( and as have been reading for the whole of last month) my little one’s new favourite, Tulika’s Gajapati Kulapati series. Revolving around  everyone’s favourite elephant named Gajapati Kulapati, Ashok Rajagopalan’s three books have the beloved elephant in three different endearing situations that in many ways mirror the ‘predicaments’ faced by our little ones – from catching a cold to suffering from a terrible stomach ache! What happens when the center of the household ( read town in the case of Gajapati) isn’t feeling too comfortable? …Trust him or her to bring the whole house down right?? So as Gajapati Kulapati goes Aaaaaachchooooo!…. Or Kalabalooosh………! or Gurrburrroom……!, the whole town from  the fruit seller to postman, from the village cow to Paati amma, and from children to the school teacher are sent scampering about trying to find a solution for Gajapati Kulapati’s current challenge…. Whether it is his giant sneeze or his giant leap into the village pond or the loud wind that he passes following a bad stomach ache!  With a simple yet engaging storyline, playful and hilarious narrative, accompanied by words and sounds that toddlers would love to repeat and imitate…it doesn’t take you long to understand why this one is an instant hit with the kids! Of course we all know Ashok Rajagopalan through his bright and vibrant illustrations in many of Tulika’s publications but here's  full marks to Ashok Rajagopalan  as an author as Gajapati Kulapati series (at the risk of sounding  presumptuous to say so!) is one of most enjoyable, laugh-out-loud funny, and thoroughly entertaining read-aloud stories for young children. We will always remember Gajapati Kulapati as one of the first books my little one began responding to….. and when asked how does Gajapati Kulapati cry out when he has a stomach ache…”Owowowooooohh!..” says my little one!!! As Ganesh Chaturthi symbolizes the start of the festive season…season’s greetings to everyone…enjoy the festive season!:-) 

Aha! ...with Granny!

Come July and it’s time to say…Aha! …and head straight to Rangashankara! We have been regulars at the Aha! International Theatre festival for children since 2012,  making advance reservations even before the tickets arrived, planning and assigning chaperoning responsibilities well ahead in time so that all of us at home get a piece of Aha!  So much so, that my parents and in laws have often wondered who is the intended audience for the plays – children or their parents!! 

Ideally, we would like to watch all the plays ( and we have done that for a couple of years), but through the years, we’ve evolved in our choice of plays and  Abhay now prefers plays more suited to his age, with language, humour and themes he can relate to and so this year we’ve picked out plays and shows meant for children aged seven and above. In fact, my little one who is now over fourteen months old narrowly misses the eligibility to watch “Dinner at eight” presented by Headstart school of Montessori meant for children between the age group of 18 months to 36 months. Of course….left to me …I would have gone for all the plays!!!  So, waiting for my little one to grow up…I guess!! J

Yesterday we went for the screening of a Korean feature film, “The Way Home” directed by Lee-Jeong-hyang  Since it revolved around a relationship between a grandma and her grandson, Abhay was accompanied by his maternal grandma! Though the film was in Korean language, it was presented with English sub titles. Set in a remote village in Korea where a city bread spoilt kid is sent off to his grandma’s while his mother is in between jobs, the film beautifully portrays the evolution of a poignant relationship between the grandma and grandson, despite the age factor, generation gap and the urban-rural divide. Abhay and his granny thoroughly enjoyed the movie and thanks to Rangashankara, Abhay has been exposed to not only world class theatre but also brilliant movies from all over the world!

So we had to end our Rangashankara movie night with a moving story and who can be better than Ruskin Bond when it comes to insightful and charming stories on inter-generational relationships! With my last two posts also on Ruskin Bond…. it feels like a Ruskin Bond festival on Onestoryaday!  We read “A long walk with Granny” from the collection “The Room of many colours” and other stories brought out by Pensuin publications. The same story has been rejacketed as “Getting Granny’s glasses” by Puffin publications.

Nani (granny) needed a new pair of glasses but was reluctant to get them as she had to travel all the way to Mussoorie to get to the eye hospital. ( With Abhay’s own grandma’s legendry reluctance to get her annual eye check up…this story couldn’t have been more appropriate) So as Nani tries to make do with her old glasses that are badly scratched with spots all over, it is up to her doting grandson who agrees to accompany her on their two day tedious journey to Mussoorie to meet the eye doctor. Just as Mani wonders how to get by the first mile, which comprises of a long walk to Nain Market to catch the only bus to Mussoorie, Nani chides “I may be going blind but there’s nothing wrong with my legs”!  And so Nani and Mani set off on what turns out to be a rollercoaster ride along the foothills of Himalayas, with incessant rains and landslides aplenty. Though it is Mani who’s tasked with the responsibility of taking care his septuagenarian Nani, it is Nani who could give a well trained scout some stiff competition, when it comes to readiness and preparedness to brave any emergency, from carrying all essentials to being ready for a ten mile stiff climb when the bus breaks down! When Nani  finally gets her new pair of glasses…..she cant stop gazing out of the window on their way back as every turn and bend opens up new vistas for her! Nani’s child-like enthusiasm along with Mani’s mature sensibilities make for a  great story……and Ruskin Bond’s tender and vivid narrative packed with subtle yet tongue-in-cheek humour enhances the experience to a totally different level!  What an apt ending to an Aha! evening! 

History is a Mystery!

For today’s kids, it’s all about packaging!  Be it food, school, homework or daily routine activities…….they have to be jazzed up and made fun for them to want to do them! Well…we parents have to learn early that a direct approach can get us nowhere and the presentation is the key!

Staying on the subject of history, while "Children's History of India" (reviewed previously) makes for a great non-fiction read,  not many kids take to non-fiction as well as fiction. So the ideal way to get the latter to improve upon their knowledge quotient is to have them read books that present facts in a fun and an engaging manner and what better way to do it through the medium of stories?  

Of course, there are plenty of options in the field of science fiction for children, but what if there was a historical fiction series that enlightened the children on history while entertaining them as well? Here comes the latest offering from Duckbill publications, a pioneering publishing house that has changed the face of children’s literature in India - the History Mystery series by Natasha Sharma and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan.  

History, in a way, is a mystery, isn’t it? Here is a delectable series that unravels the enigma of the forgotten times with period drama/mysteries, set in the kingdoms of four of the most famous monarchs who ruled India at various points of time. The author spins off hilarious and intriguing tales around the actions, achievements or the administrative policies, the rulers are best remembered for. Though the publisher's age recommendation indicates that this is meant for younger readers, who’ve begun to read independently, the narrative and vocabulary employed certainly competes with middle level fiction catering towards early teen readers. As always, the stories make good family read-alouds, with added explanations and elaborations.

Like any mystery series, the pattern of each of the stories remain more or less similar – with something troubling the emperor prompting him or her to set the kingdom’s top secret super spies on the job. Imagine if  Emperor Ashoka finds his famous Rock Edicts inscribed with messages that are polar opposite to what he wants to preach to his subjects and you have “Ashoka and the muddled messages” or what if the well established trade and commerce links between the Chola kingdom and China is at the brink of a break-down owing to someone messing up with the shipments leading on to “Raja Raja and the swapped sacks” or what happens when Akbar discovers a mole amongst his close coterie who seems to pass on sensitive  information to King Adhbhut of the neighbouring kingdom,  resulting in “Akbar and the Tricky Traitor” and how does Razia Sultana, hell bent on gender neutralizing her role as the ruler of Delhi, deal with the so called gifts that are deliberately sexist in nature in “Razia Sultana and the pesky presents”! Starting with four such books, here’s hoping that there’s more coming in this delightful series.

  
Besides giving a glimpse of life and times of the era that was, the stories are set in the famous architectural monuments of the prevailing times that stand tall even today. What do you know…. the stories may even serve as a guide book if you plan on a heritage tour!   Laced with contemporary humour and aided by suitable illustrations, the backdrop of the stories are an authentic depiction of those times, especially the names, hierarchy of royal staff and the royal protocol, so on and so forth. While the specific plot is a work of fiction, the author draws heavily from historical sources to present a genuine picture of the bygone era and ends each story with a note that separates facts from fiction. Besides, the stories humanise the kings and heads of state, revealing a rather sensitive or vulnerable side, with some of it being fiction like Razia Nawaz’s fear of lizards and some reportedly true, like that of Akbar having invented a travelling bath.

You can't help feeling bemused as you watch today’s generation find names such as Agramahisi or Kalapathy Arrghety or Baaz Ayebeg more alien than the alien characters of Hollywood Sci-fi flicks!

Though set at an era when time stood still, the History Mystery series can sure give modern who-dun-it’s a run for their money, with your little wannabe detective begging for more!!

Bond with India!

‘Where do you want to live when you grow up?’ or ‘where do you want to go on  your next vacation?’ When posed to the kids today, both the questions elicit response that invariably points to a destination outside India. Of course, everyone has a right to live the way they want and where they want and it’s a matter of individual choice. I have nothing against living or working abroad but what I abhor is how kids today blindly assume that the key to a bright future lies anywhere but in India! Even when it comes to travel, (taking a cue from their classmates) sightseeing tours or vacations within India don’t seem to enthuse them as much as holidaying on foreign shores. I am not sure if this attitude can be put down to a childhood fascination with “the distant and dreamy” locales or an extension or a reflection of the Indian middle class mindset, but ever notice that our kids always come up with names of places outside India while playing Atlas games. For instance, when it’s Abhay’s turn to name a place starting from I …..his choices range from Istanbul  to Indianapolis……….. and never India! J

In an attempt to set right this anomaly, I picked a book that best illustrates the unique connection one feels with India like no other country. A gem of a book from a gem of an author whose writings and musings are evergreen in as much as they can be read as many times over by one and all, without running the risk of ‘been there and read that”! Well, the name is Bond..and no prizes for guessing that its Ruskin Bond I’m referring to! When I chanced upon “the India I love” at the “Funky Rainbow” bookstore at a Bookalore event,  the cover page itself looked so appetizing that I had to have the full course meal!

“the India I love” is a collection of prose and poems that has the celebrated author rewind and  have us unwind over his reflections on his India experiences!  Though some of his writings are a little above Abhay’s reading and probably comprehension level,  Ruskin’s Bond’s writings are meant to be read aloud ….and reading to your nine year old with a few explanations here and there is a treat by itself! As the author himself admits that his forte lies in “observation, recollection and reflection” and there are plenty of such musings in this work  – from his innate understanding of “Children of India” to why he chose to live in Mussorie heading a family of twelve in “Now we are twelve” to his diary notings during the period when he was still establishing himself  as an author in “Simply  living” to a throwback at a time when he was caught between the East and the West ( much like many of us) in “India I carried with me” to his many a reading adventures, and bringing back memories of his grandmother’s house in the Dehra Dun of the 1940s,  to the and finally to his “Thoughts on approaching seventy”…..there are so many facets and faces of India that he loves and writes about in his characteristic style that has you smiling away till the last page! Well, I’m not sure if reading the book has made any difference to how my little armchair globe-trotter feels about making India his home in the future…but the colours of the India that Ruskin Bond writes will never fade just as his writings never do! A must read if you are a Bond fan….the Bond from Mussorie!! J 

Bedtime Interrupted!

Ever since I moved back home with my little one, we’re suffering through disturbed sleep every other night….not because of our six month old (touchwood!) but all thanks to our nine year old!  While Abhay had been sleeping in his own room on and off before (more off than on!), neither did we (read father) have the mind nor the energy to insist on it every single time he came cuddling up to us during bedtime. Moreover, with my absence at home, Abhay found many more champions (read grandparents) ready to take up cudgels on his behalf and thus Abhay happily abandoned his own bed for the cozy comfort of co-sleeping with his daddy!  Well…all good things must come to an end….and so did Abhay’s sojourn in our room!  Though Abhay reluctantly gave up his place for his little sister, he is still going through some adjustment issues that range from mosquitoes buzzing in his ears to Lord Voldemont (from Harry Potter) appearing in his dreams and interrupting his and in turn  our sleep!

In the light of this unexpected sleep deprivation …we had to go back to a book that we had read many moons ago… “Good night, Anokhi!” a story from Finland by Tove Appelgren, illustrated by Salla Savolainen  and translated by Arundhati Deosthale as brought out by A & A publications as a part of “Celebrating the Girl child” picture books project. Young Anokhi has a similar problem as Abhay…she cant sleep by herself at night and as she supposedly has terrible nightmares that drives her to her mother’s bed almost every other night! The similarity does not end there as co-sleeping with her parents is out of the question as her mother too has her younger siblings to take care of.  As Anokhi literally gives her parents sleepless nights, her mother tries to explain how everyone including herself needs their sleep in order to be able to function the next day. They try everything to get Anokhi to sleep through the night in her own room, but Anokhi seemed to have developed a habit of waking up in the middle of the night that only has her yawning through the day.  Left with no choice, Anokhi is given a stern warning not to leave her room……come what may! Relentless as she is, ( I guess as every kid is!) Anokhi is yet again bothered by a strange and scary dream, and she heads towards her mother’s room only to remember her mother’s warning. The next morning, Anokhi’s mother wakes up to find her older daughter asleep at her bedroom door, mumbling in her sleep that she is not to wake up Mama. Of course as any mother, Anokhi’s mother feels guilty and wonders if she has been too harsh with her daughter. Finally, Anokhi and her mother choose the middle ground and while there is no compromise on Anokhi sleeping on her own, she is allowed to wake them up should she have a terrible nightmare she can’t cope with!  This story of Anokhi is something most parents can relate to and is surely for keeps…not only for our older one but also for our little one when she is ready to move into her own bed! That’s how it should be with kids, isn’t it?  …allow them to grow independent while you’ve got their back!