Airavata 1: Elephant Tales

This blog post is part of the Airavata1microbloghop hosted by MeeraVBarath

Serendipity is something I believe in. I am delighted each time things seem to align themselves to produce a desired result. One such event happened recently, culminating in the production of the book Airavata, by Mayaakatha, Where Stories Dance: the brainchild of Meera Bharath. It so happened that I already had the germ of an idea for a story featuring a baby elephant. I had narrated this story to my children as a bedtime story, many many years ago. I had never written it down as such, spinning the yarn out of my imagination and embellishing it with different expressions as I narrated it. My children are grown up now, yet the story stayed with me all these years. I had planned to write it down properly at some point in time. Well, the time was ripe, apparently. I came across a call for elephant stories, to be collected into a book. That spurred me into action, and the story took shape in its present form, “The Elephant and the Snail”. The concept of living beings helping each other is very dear to my heart and in telling this story to my children (and now other children too), I hope to spread kindness all around. This is especially relevant in the context of humans causing harm to the delicate ecosystem around them. I also wanted to emphasize that no creature is too small to help and no creature is too big to need help. Animal stories have a special resonance with children and adults alike. I had never read any story with a snail as a character, so I wanted to explore that possibility too. I hope everybody who reads this and other stories in the book takes away a smile and a thought to ponder on. https://meerasoasis.com/airavata1-microblog-hop/ https://www.amazon.in/Airavata-Meera-Bharat/dp/9354903258/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2GVR7ZJZMXLKD&keywords=airavata&qid=1642700111&s=books&sprefix=airavata%2Cstripbooks%2C226&sr=1-1 #AiravataAnthology #StoriesWithMayakatha #PachydermTales #UkiyotoPublishers

Airavata: Stories for Children & the child in you

This blog post is part of the Airavata1microbloghop hosted by MeeraVBarath

Serendipity is something I believe in. I am delighted each time things seem to align themselves to produce a desired result. One such event happened recently, culminating in the production of the book Airavata, by Mayaakatha, Where Stories Dance: the brainchild of Meera Bharath. It so happened that I already had the germ of an idea for a story featuring a baby elephant. I had narrated this story to my children as a bedtime story, many many years ago. I had never written it down as such, spinning the yarn out of my imagination and embellishing it with different expressions as I narrated it. My children are grown up now, yet the story stayed with me all these years. I had planned to write it down properly at some point in time. Well, the time was ripe, apparently. I came across a call for elephant stories, to be collected into a book. That spurred me into action, and the story took shape in its present form, “The Elephant and the Snail”. The concept of living beings helping each other is very dear to my heart and in telling this story to my children (and now other children too), I hope to spread kindness all around. This is especially relevant in the context of humans causing harm to the delicate ecosysytem around them. I also wanted to emphasize that no creature is too small to help and no creature is too big to need help. Animal stories have a special resonance with children and adults alike. I had never read any story with a snail as a character, so I wanted to explore that possibility too. I hope everybody who reads this and other stories in the book takes away a smile and a thought to ponder

Beauty be held

A tiny tale

He: I will love you as long as you are beautiful.
She: I will be beautiful as long as you love me!

THE CHORES CHORUS

Dust  bunnies skitter merrily away

As I chase them with my broom

Though I did it just yesterday,

The laundry doth again loom.

The mop, I swear, has more hair

Than was ever on my head,

Alas! I was not aware

That like a dog I shed.

The table has a carpet of dust

The carpet, a table of contents

The iron wok wallows in rust

The plates have all got dents.

In the sink, with festive air

The dishes doth get married

In no time, they come to bear

The children they have carried.

The burns and cuts behoove me not

For, no greenhorn am I

Yet I seem to have forgot

The basics that apply.

I chop and cook and stir and bake

No sooner than ‘tis done,

Dinner follows in lunch’s wake

I am back to square one!

Naked Beneath the Midnight Sun by Kamalini Natesan: A Review

This novel can be called a garden of the five senses. It reads at a languorous pace, taking the reader into sylvan surroundings, a pastoral paean as it were. We can "see" the scenes, so visual are the descriptions.

The novel is set in India and Norway, around the mid eighties. Suchareeta, or Suchu for short is a young adult straining to break away from parental bonds to find her feet in a foreign land . She gets the opportunity to study in Norway for a year and jumps at it, aided by her parents in their own ways.

In discovering Norway she also discovers herself. How it all comes about forms the rest of the story. 

The relationship between Suchu's parents is delineated delicately. The author's grasp of human relationships is admirable. For example, attention is subtly drawn  to secrets shared separately with each parent. 

The author has her finger on the pulse of characters across countries and generations. She has got every character's accent or dialect down pat. The finely nuanced differences in cultures are highlighted by juxtaposition. 

The story illustrates how distance can sometimes bring you closer. Letters can express emotions which cannot be shown face to face. The letters exchanged between Suchu and her parents, showcase the feelings of both generations. Suchu's need to prove herself deserving of independence in a letter to her mother, stands out beautifully, and is topical. Maybe parents whose children are straining at the leash, can get some perspective with this. In another instance,Bhuvan's letter is just right, mistakes and all!

The writing is peppered with unobtrusive homilies ("I dont fight, I simply resist the need to be right"; "The balm needed was in the listening of the tale")and unusual metaphors (" The wooden staircase accompanied her every step in the night, that went by unnoticed in the day.")

This is not a quick read, but one to be ruminated over. It is to be enjoyed like a symphony or an epicurean dish. The vocabulary is a delightful deviation from the usual frenetic, clipped, snappy, staccato reads, yet does not send the reader running to the dictionary. Rather, the reading is like meeting old, nearly forgotten yet dear friends.

I would like to have a little more insight into the secrets of Suchu's parents; here's hoping for a standalone book on their life too!

A few typos have crept in but nothing a round of editing cannot fix.

All in all an unusual, lyrical read. 

Review of "From An-Other Land" by Tanushree Ghosh

Friends!

I am not addressing you, the readers, but remembering the iconic sitcom from where many of us got our images of life in the USA. This and other TV shows and books, of course, have been our window to the American way of life. “From An-Other Land” by Tanushree Ghosh brings to us a view from another window---- through the eyes of Indian immigrants to the Land of Oppportunity.

Laced with understated humour, this book of short stories throws up the complex dynamics of relationships, between people and between people and the country they have chosen as their own.

The story of Tarun and Michelle slowly and poignantly unravels, as the complicated emotions of Michelle lead us to wonder about Tarun, “Will he, won’t he?” Then there is the unusual tale of a woman who marries her brother-in-law for a green card, not only for herself but for her husband as well!

The author puts a lot of thought into the naming of her characters. For example, the sisters Asti and Tiyash are named like inverses of each other, and their personalities are opposite too. The characters are introspective. Tanushree showcases the dichotomy that immigrants must deal with---- their Indian heritage and their American sensibilities. A perfectly harmless question in India may be construed as an intrusion in America.

A couple of stories also bring up the other point of view--- that of American citizens who feel insecure about Indians taking away their jobs. Yet, through this insecurity, an empathy prevails, with both sides realising that the other is human too.

The development of each story and the delineation of the characters bring to mind an iceberg: there is a lot more beneath the surface, than what is seen at first glance. The author hints at many layers of emotions. She also employs quirky turns of phrase. In the tale about the Biswas family, she says of the forgetful mother, “--- some names had fallen into oblivion through the cracks in her sixty-five year old memory.”

In many of the stories, the underlying theme is loneliness, yet the human spirit also shines through.

Instead of plunging straightaway into the stories, the author has cleverly introduced her characters in the first story, as people in line for Immigration. As we go through the book, we are compelled to turn back to the first story, just to see where each character comes from, in terms of their mental state, and their aspirations.

The author is an observer and she gently brings to life the myriad characters that people this book.

Gurgaon Moms Book Club Meet: From An-Other Land

An event attended for GurgaonMoms  .www.gurgaonmoms.com 

#MomSureCan

On a sunny winter morning, many of us from Gurgaon Moms Book Club got together at the GreenR cafe, located in the 32^nd Milestone Complex. The cafe was sunlit and spacious, just right for an animated discussion.  The philosophy behind GreenR is to provide healthy and delicious alternatives to the regular fare available at other cafes. Not only that, they are strong believers in the plant protein revolution, which provides nutritious and sustainable alternatives to meat, for both vegetarians and non- vegetarians.

 We were to meet two authors:  Rinku Paul, who has written “Daughters of Legacy” and Tanushree Ghosh, author of “From An-Other Land”.

Tanushree is a multifaceted personality. She is an alumnus of the Presidency College, Kolkata and IIT Kanpur. She holds a Doctorate in Chemistry from Cornell University and works for the Intel Corporation in the USA. Tanushree is also a social activist, working with the India Chapters of ASHA and AID in the USA and is connected to many women’s and civic engagement organisations.

For many of us, our window to life in the USA has been American TV shows, films and books. “From An-Other Land” brings to us a view from another window --- through the eyes of Indian immigrants to the Land of Opportunity. Laced with understated humour, Tanushree’s book throws up the complex dynamics of relationships between people, and those between a person and the country they have chosen as their own. For Tanu, her writing is linked to her social activism as well, as can be seen by the dedication at the beginning of the book. Instead of straightaway plunging into the stories, the author has cleverly introduced the characters in the first story, as people in line for Immigration.

 As for Rinku Paul, the present book, Daughters of Legacy ( about heiresses to business houses) is the third she has written, the other two being “Dare to Be” (about women who gave up corporate careers to follow their passion) and “Millionaire Housewives” ( about housewives who started their own businesses and emerged successful)

I asked Tanushree Ghosh, if the Great American Dream is also still the Great Indian Dream. She feels that this is true to a large extent. It is not just the economy and infrastructure, which are conducive to development; the work culture itself encourages excellence. At University, the quality of research is something else, as it attracts the crème de la crème of brains.

A recurrent theme in her stories is loneliness. Asked about this, Tanu said that as a society, the USA is a private one. So immigrants can feel alone in a crowd.

In a free ranging conversation with Upasana, both Tanu and Rinku gave us insights into the fields of their interests.  When asked about what was common to the protagonists in their stories, Tanu  felt that it is a feeling of the identity suffering a blow. The country defines your identity as well as makes you lose it.

Rinku felt that all the women she had spoken to, had a secret formula: to outshout the naysayers. As women, we are prone to second-guessing ourselves. This feeling of inadequacy is called the Imposter syndrome. We have to overcome that, since there is no right time to start ---one just has to take the plunge. We never negotiate for ourselves ---- for this, an effective trick is to think one is negotiating for one’s child!

Another discussion dealt with what changes when one becomes a Mom. There is Mom guilt. This can be overcome by really spending quality time, where the mother is totally with the child with no distractions whatsoever. She also needs to accept herself as an individual and do something nice for herself. The mother can prepare the child for the road, and not try to prepare the road for the child.

Asked about the stories she wrote, Tanushree said that most of them are based on true stories. She does not want to tell people what to do, but just present life as it is. Thus her book is a mirror to society, and is her way of reaching out, and turning the lens on to social problems.

Rinku was asked why she chose to write only about women; specifically why only those women. She feels that with the prevailing patriarchy inherent in the system, women have had to face a different set of challenges all together.

Each statement sparked a further discussion, until the sunshine outside was reflected in the brightness of the conversation within this cosy cafe!