Kids thoroughly enjoy reading Ruskin Bond’s encounters with ghosts, spirits and wild animals. In Sudha Murty’s stories, they meet a wise elder, who provides mental nourishment with tales rooted in Indian family values and mythology. Deepa Agarwal and Paro Anand’s stories are fun and chirpy, and also profound, filled with real life lessons.
On Children’s Day, we chat up three authors to know more about the fantasy genre and their craft of writing.
ENGAGING MINDS
Pune-based Sowmya Rajendran, who has published several books with Tulika, writes on strong themes peppered with humour. When writing for children, Sowmya articulates her thoughts about the world around her and what she feels about it. “Writing was and is my process to understand myself better,” she says.
New York-based Rakesh Kaul, the writer of Dawn: The Warrior Princess of Kashmir, says, “I don’t write for children. I have written for the child within all of us. According to Descartes, ‘Wonder is the first passion’. Children have an open absorbent mind and they experience the world through wonder. Adults, sadly, stop exercising this cognitive faculty. But if one wants to be creative and innovative, it is precisely this life experience which one has to stimulate. That is why my stories are best read together by all members of the family whether the young adult or the senior citizen.”
Stephen King has said that, for authors, every book is at first a letter to ourselves and once it is out there, it is for others to own. Quoting him, Mumbai-based Mila Kahlon says, “The added challenge in children’s literature, especially a younger audience, is that kids’ attention span is short and precious, so while writing a book, it is very important to also put oneself in the child’s mind and strive to keep them engaged from the first to the last page. My own kids helped me a lot while I was writing my book. I kept retelling them the story even before I put it in writing, watched their reactions and listened to their feedback.” Kahlon has penned Kaya’s Journey: The Story of a 100-year-old Koi Fish.
THE BEAUTY OF LANGUAGES
The publishing industry is bringing out books in English, translating books from English to regional languages, and in some cases, bringing out bilingual books. The reasons are obvious, that no one should be deprived of missing out on a splendid tale, just because they are not conversant in English.
However, this is in contrast to what the education institutions are practising. Their students are encouraged to speak only in English, whether in school or at home. When asked about this, Kaul says, “To the degree, there is regional literature it should be encouraged because it is soul food. We are seeing the emergence of regional cinema and hopefully, the literary reading community will grow regionally, and emerging authors will create content to satisfy their need. Hindi is already well established and other regional languages will have their star authors and books.”
Sowmya, a Malayali who grew up in Tamil Nadu and married a Telugu-speaking man, says, “My husband and I read, write and speak Tamil and English. My daughter is growing up in Pune and is exposed to several languages. It’s always good to read and speak to your child in the language that’s used most at home and knowing the local language is obviously beneficial. But I also think language is something one takes to — either because of love or necessity. It’s something you learn and become good at because you are using it or you really like it. So the bottom line is: exposure is necessary, force absolutely not,” she says.
Journalist-author Kahlon makes a case for kids who are being raised in multi-lingual households. She describes learning more than one language as ‘mental gymnastics’. “If a child is learning and speaking English, it does not mean they cherish their mother tongue any less. And from a linguistic point of view, learning and speaking languages before the age of six is like gymnastics for the brain and expands their mental abilities. So the more the better. I have friends in multilingual households where the children have picked up two or more languages. It is wonderful. Languages are pathways to the world. Later on in life, one can also appreciate how every different languages have their own ‘music’ and beauty,” she adds.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR GOD?
There have always been value-based books, stories that are full of morals and preachings. But cognisant of the changing atmosphere in the country and the world, more and more authors are finding it necessary to make sense of religious books, gods and goddesses for young minds.
Sowmya, who has written books like The Pleasant Rakshasa, Bhimrao Ambedkar — The Boy Who Asked Why, says, “I’m an atheist and I think it is good for everyone, not only children, to have a questioning mind and not just accept the status quo. That said, I like reading mythology because it’s the oldest form of storytelling, when humans were trying to come to terms with the world around them. I also like the fact that there are several versions to one story and the collective ownership means that there’s a lot of freedom to experiment within the same framework.”
Telling us the difference between storytelling and religion, Kaul says, “There is an old saying that the shastras instruct, the scriptures command while stories seduce. My starting point is that every child is born with the birthright to achieve complete material and spiritual fulfillment during their lifetime. Different religious frameworks take differing cuts at this objective. I seek to entertain, educate, empower and enable the reader. In that sense my stories are a technology for use in the reader’s life quest. This is what our stories have done since times immemorial whether the Panchatantra, the Kathasaritsagara etc. We remember the stories from the Mahabharat but to find folks who can quote the Gita is much more difficult.”
NEVER SEEN BEFORE
Fantasy is one genre that stimulates imagination and curiosity. The idea of journey to a never known land finds many takers. There are many bestsellers in this genre with several reprints and translations to their credit — J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series for one, The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein. What’s the secret, we ask? “Fantasy is healthy and wonderful. If not for our ability to fantasise, life would be very boring indeed. Fantasy breaks the rules of possibility that govern the real world — and by doing that, it often cleverly offers us insights and perspectives about the times we live in,” says Sowmya.
Kahlon adds, “A child’s imagination is endless and anything that can stimulate it, anything that makes them read on a daily basis, is welcome! Let their curiosity lead them and open up their minds.”
In his writing, Kaul prefers the term fictive reality as opposed to fantasy. “Fictive reality is more in tune with the Indic literary tradition while the fantasy, under which Harry Potter series falls, is more the domain of the Western tradition. Fantasy and mythology hooks one because it startles and fills one with astonishment. A child’s development is filled with many such startling experiences. As one grows, the material world becomes more and more predictable to the point that one often tunes it out. Fictive reality harnesses fantasy. Fictive reality is a better carrier of eternal truths than facts. Our Niti and Vetala stories are all examples of this genre,” he concludes.
