When the rains come!

With the near revival of monsoon…….everyone from the farming community to stock brokers are upbeat about the possibility of normal monsoon this year. At the same time, many areas that have received heavy rainfall recently are on a flood or disaster alert!  I just can’t get enough of the cloudy days and rainy evenings ….not to mention the crispness in the air and the near- nippy nights that seem like a teaser for this year’s winter!  Why…we even made a last minute change and extended our stay at our farm house in South Kanara,  a few weeks ago just to experience the monsoon magic of the coastal rain! Well….the trade off ... was lots of pending homework when we got back!:-(((  

 

 

As a part of the monsoon special…… we read "When the rains come" by Tom Pow and Malika Favre, a tale set in Malawi, in South East Africa. This book is as they say "A Story within a story" and the beauty lies in how the story within seamlessly  continues through various interludes....very similar to  how it sometimes happens at home…right?. The story starts off with an African lady, by name Beatrice dropping off  her children, twins Oscar and Jennifer and baby Grace off at Grandmother Rose's house as she is going away on work. The children slowly settle in with Grandmother Rose who regals them with her favorite story of the tortoise who brought forth water when the whole land was parched owing to a great drought.

Once upon a time, grandma begins ... There was a great drought and all animals are weak and thirsty ... when the least important of all animals, the tortoise suggests that if they animals stamp on the earth, water will flow! Though most animals are skeptical, for lack of better ideas,  decide to try out his idea. The lion steps in first and stamped and stamped hard on earth, but not a spot of dampness appears! Branding it a silly idea, the lion gives up.

Just as grandma was about to go on, she notices that Oscar and Jennifer appear to even more tired than the lion as they had fallen fast asleep! :-))) During the day, the children go about their routine that includes queuing up with other children of the village for their share of the porridge and helping grandma to sell her vegetables in the market and having fun along the way. At night...once again it’s time for grandma to continue the episode of "The Tortoise and the Drought"…....picking up from where she had left before.

 Grandma thus resumes ……The lion is followed by the elephant  and then the giraffe both of whom kick up dust and nothing else! Finally the tortoise  who is the closest to the ground notices the dampness rising from the a spring of water deep within the earth and steps forward to try out his own idea, as other animals ridicule further.

But just as the plot thickens, the twins are seen dozing off in an "anti-climax" of sorts!:-) Soon the days pass by, the twins and baby Grace are getting stronger and seem to be learning new things, thanks to informal training by one of the dancers of the village by name Promise! The hot dry months finally yield to the rains.....and when the rains come....grandma Rose believes its time for the Tortoise and the Drought story to end!

So at night...grandma continues.....

"Tortoise lifts his scaly little foot and stamps on earth. Though not a sound was made and not a speck of dust raised but from dry earth, there comes a tongue of water licking its way through the dust...."

So everyone agrees that the least and lowest can turn out to be cleverest.....!!! So grandma goes on to conclude that because of what tortoise had done, he was made the king! As Jennifer wonders aloud if the tortoise made a good king.........grandma sensing  another story in the offing...........says "that is another story ' !!:-) 

 The story of the tortoise and the drought becomes their favourite rain story too. Soon their mother Beatrice is home and all of them join in getting the leaking roof repaired so that it rains only outside! Safe and warm inside.....Oscar and Jennifer can’t wait to tell their mother their favourite story......and baby Grace too gurgles in delight! At the end...the story switches to the story within ...and in a way provides an answer to Jennifer question about Tortoise's tenure as the king!  An African folk-tale beautifully inter-wined with the story of survival, community spirit and hope…in all  making this a must read for young readers. The rains have indeed come……!!! J

Friends for life!

When Google plus asks you add people and categorize them into different circles, the “circle of friends” has probably most number of members…right?? That’s because people you bond with in many cases may outnumber the people you have been bonded with!:-) Friendships can blossom from various places and circumstances….. for instance being in the same place at the same time over a considerable period of time. I had read about life-long friendships between people who travel by the same local train, who share everything from their lunch boxes to life stories, but have never visited each other’s homes!  So one may have friends touching upon every facet of one’s life, current and past… from school-bus friends to morning walk or gym buddies you meet  only for a short time in the morning to colleagues and chai buddies at office, from kitty party friends to weekly music /tennis classes mommy friends, from blogger friends online to community comrades offline, friends from a bygone era now with  renewed ties thanks to Facebook and Whatsapp, family friends who mean more than extended family…..truly friends make your life richer, happier and  much more fulfilling …….and this is a day to wish them all a Happy friendship day!

 

 

While we all have been blessed with company of good friends in our lives, here’s hoping our little ones too enjoy the company of friends….at every juncture of their lives. What a better way to celebrate friendship day than to read about two friends who despite their differences and oddities and best of friends! “My Friend is sad” an Elephant and Piggie Adventure by Mo Willems, is a book we received from my blogger friends at the picture book exchange initiated by friend and fellow blogger Bubbleink. Gerald, the Elephant is feeling low and Piggie in her attempt to cheer him up tries many things from putting on a cowboy costume to dressing up like a robot  only to realize that all the while Gerald was unhappy as he wanted to enjoy the sight of a cowboy, clown and a robot with his best friend Piggie! A nice little story that conveys a simple message that most growing kids can relate to - it’s no fun when your best friend’s not around!!! Isn’t it??

Cloud tea to the rescue...??

Bangalore has been experiencing change in weather conditions owing to the on-and- off monsoon this year. We all know what a weather change heralds for a household with kids..... don’t we? Abhay has been down with throat infection and has been at home the whole of last week that in turn had our schedules turned upside down!! Of course, kids choose to fall sick during the only week you can't work from home (as was the case with my husband) or have Court work every single day of the week ( as was the case with me!) We do have Abhay’s paternal grandparents at home ... so why are we complaining... ?? Simply because no one can get Abhay to have his medicines except his mom and dad!!! If there's one thing at which his maternal grandparents (who are otherwise quite persistent) have conceded defeat, it is in the task of getting Abhay to gulp down the anti-biotic, in whatever form! Of course, not that we are Subject matter experts..... but as parents, we have no one to pass the buck over to!! So by hook or crook, by threat or bribery, by fair means or foul, we had to ensure the pink liquid's passage into his tummy and also see to its retention! Even during exams, I hadn't been  as tensed as I was while handing over 4 ml of antibiotic syrup to Abhay and waiting with bated breadth for our not-so-little one to sip the same bit by bit over the following one hour as rushing him into a "bottoms up" will only yield in him throwing up in the same breadth!:-) So mid way, along with a course of antibiotics and paracetamol,  you can imagine how despondent the situation got when the Doctor also prescribed an additional cough syrup!!!! I almost wished that I hadn't gone the doctor for a follow-up check-up and instead should have let him cough his way to recovery!:-)

Reading is one of the best things you can do to cheer your little one on a sick day..or days.  I was looking for books on coaxing my little one into taking medicines without a fuss, but couldn't find one. So we first read a Charlie and Lola 's "I am really ever so not well" by Lauren Child. Lola is down with cold and flu and  Charlie reluctantly tries to cheer her up while waiting for his friend Marv's phone call  to go a football match with him. Finally when the phone calll does come, Charlie discovers that he has caught his sister's cold, making him feel "so not well" too! 
We read another book that has a young girl trying hard to save her mother as she falls ill.  "Cloud tea Monkeys"  - Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham and illustrated by Alan Marks is a book I have been wanting to read ever since we participated in friend and fellow blogger Bubbleink's picture book treasure hunt. 

This is the story of Shenaz whose mother works for a tea plantation in the hills. Shenaz accompanies her mother to the plantation everyday where her mother picks tea leaves along with other tea workers under the hawk eyed supervision of the Overseer. Shenaz sits in her usual  place, where endless rows of tea bushes appear broken by a jumble of rocks out of which a tree stands and spills shadow onto the ground. She is not alone but enjoys the company of a herd of monkeys headed by their lead monkey Rajah who all form an integral part of her daily routine at the plantation. One day, Shenaz wakes up to find her mother ill and not able work anymore. Shenaz then decides to work at the plantation in her place and drags the basket that is bigger than her onto the path leading up to the plantation. As she accompanies her aunt Shami, she is terrified of the Overseer who ridicules Shenaz and kicks her basket. Shenaz drags her empty basket to her usual spot and pours her heart out to Rajah when suddenly all the adult monkeys pull her basket and climb up the mountain moving high up almost into the clouds. As she wakes up from her nap,  she is surprised to see her basket full of tea leaves that are the colours of emeralds with tiny droplets of due sprinkled on them making the basket seem full of green light and give out a rich sweet perfume. When Shenaz brings the basket to  the Overseer's station, she finds a purple shaded chair tent - and out steps the Royal tea taster who's wrapped in a silver coat and a blue turban, with a white moustache and a nose shaped like an eagle's beak. He  visits the farm to scout for the best tea for the Empress. The tea taster is unimpressed with all baskets in the farm, but he is amazed to see what Shenaz has to offer ...cloud tea that is so hard to find and pick as it grows so high up in the mountains that its almost near the clouds.  Does Shenaz manage to impress the Royal tea taster ? Does Shenaz help her mother get well? Read on as you learn in the end that there are only three people in the world who drink cloud tea. One of them is a small woman called the Empress of all the Known World and Bits that have not been discovered yet and the other two are retired tea picker and her daughter who live in village at the foot of the mountain whose top is lost in clouds. We loved the mystery and setting of a faraway land and the perceptive  portrayal of the helplessness of young girl trying to take on adult-like responsibilities which she handles in a child-like manner and courage! Brilliantly written and illustrated, this book is truly a master piece and a must read for young  readers! If not the antibiotic.....at least Abhay took in cloud tea.....  most eagerly and wanted more of it! :-) 

Aha! ........Yakshagana!

With Aha! International theatre for children festival on at Rangashankara until the 20^th of this month, the highlight for us this year is most definitely the Yakshagana performance of "Jatayu Moksha" put up children from Udupi’s Yakshagana Kendra.

 

Yakshagana is folk theatre that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume and stage techniques with a unique style and form native to coastal Karnataka. Though I’ve been brought up in Bangalore, I have grown up watching and listening to Yakshagana performances during the annual Ganesh chaturthi celebrations in our native village or during our numerous holiday visits. With most Yakshagana performances based on stories from Hindu mythology, a Yakshagana performance typically begins during the twilight hours and extends through the night! The performance consists of a storyteller, called the Bhagavatha who narrates the story by singing as the actors dance to the music, perform the dialogues, there being ample scope for improvisation and on-the spot philosophical debates within the framework of the plot and the mythological character being played. Accompanied by his grandparents, who are true Yakshagana aficionados, this was the first time Abhay was watching young artists don the spectacular costumes and setting the stage on fire with their traditional yakshagana dance steps and spins while beautifully displaying the fierceness, gallantry and maturity of the adult characters they were portraying. We are indeed grateful to AHA children’s theatre for bringing our little one closer to our roots!!J

 

 

Ideally I would have liked to read a book on Yakshagana that explains the art form in an age appropriate manner, but since I couldn’t find such a book, I had to settle for a  story closer to the plot of yesterday’s  performance “Jatayu Moksha”.  As a prelude to the show, I had picked up “Divine Beings’ by Amar Chitra publications,  a mini-omnibus on non-human mythological characters like Jatayu, Nandi, Airavata, Shyama and Sabala, etc.

 

We read the story of the magnificent vulture, named Jatayu scripted by Mimi Chacko and illustrated by Arijit Dutta Chowdary. Not many of us were aware (at least I wasn’t!)  that Jatayu was the son of Aruna, the Sun- God’s charioteer, Garuda’s nephew and Sampati’s brother. Not only that, Jatayu’s benevolence saved Dasharatha’s life and thereafter went on help his son Rama too. Most of us are aware of the story of Jatayu’s valiant efforts to rescue Sita from the evil clutches of Ravana and his resultant injury that moved Rama into performing his last rites with full honours… bringing in water from seven sacred rivers so that Jatayu’s soul is granted salvation. But to have the young troupe bring life to this famous story from Ramayana through the indigenous art form of Yakshagana was truly an unforgettable experience!

 

AHA! ...once again!

The Aha! International  theatre for children festival is back at Rangashankara between the 10^th and 20^th of July! Like last year…the festival boasts of an impressive line-up of children’s plays by theatre groups from India and all over the world, including a plays for toddlers and a film show for older kids. Like last year…....we checked the festival schedule and had our tickets booked as soon as the bookings opened. Like last year, we’re taking turns to accompany Abhay for five of the eight plays being staged this year. So if Abhay’s daddy took him for “The Little Blue Planet” yesterday, it was my turn to take him for “Heroes Weroes” today…. And his grandparents have chipped in to take him for the Yakshagana performance tomorrow….and so on! Unlike last year though…this year  Abhay’s school too has come forward has planned a class field trip for one of the plays during the coming week……thus saving us from readjusting our schedule for one weekday at least! Phew!! J

 

Today’s performance is “Heroes Werose” by Theateact, Mumbai. This is a hilarious physical comedy that seeks to question the idea of a super hero solving all our problems. Abhay was completely taken in by the super hero histrionics, lighting effects and couldn’t stop laughing at the supposed dialogues…a mix of English and Gibberish! If ever happen get a chance…don’t miss the play Heroes Werose!

 

 

As a follow-up to the play, we read “Eric! ..the hero?” by Chris Wormwell. This is the story of Eric who seemed to be no good at anything and was called many names  like Twit, Dummy, Dunce and Dope! Eric thus felt miserable and he ran away. As he grew tired, he began wandering in the forest… when he heard a shout from a woodcutter who came rushing out of the woods screaming that a huge monster has come down from the mountains and suddenly hordes of people  were seen fleeing across the fields towards the king’s castle. As Eric turned and ran with them, they felt enormous footsteps of the Monster approach when he heard someone shouting – “Where’s a hero when you need one”…to which someone else shouted back that any hero would need to be a twit to fight someone as huge as the said monster and others added in that he’d have to be a Nitwit or a dummy or a dunce or a dope! This made Eric think since he was considered to be all of that….he may as well be a hero and wondered if that’s what he’s good at??!!! Does Eric become a hero, after all? Read on as everyone in the castle, including his mother watch as Eric takes on the monster who in turn happens to be wallowing in self-doubt himself! We all are our own heroes….isn’t it??