Personifications are fun

Aman, Rakhee and Roshni sat in their mother’s room playing Ludo while their Mama corrected some assignments. Usually from their mother’s facial expression they always got to know her reaction.

Mama had a relaxed look on her face when the assignments were good and a frown when they weren’t. But today Mama had just a fatigued expression on her face throughout. An hour later, their mother stretched her neck.

“Mama, how were the assignments?” Aman asked. “Great,” she replied. “My ninth-grade students have done a good job with personifications.”

The children exchanged puzzled looks. If the assignments were good, why hadn’t she smiled?

“Personification is such a big word,” Roshni’s eyes were wide. “I’m sure that it must be a complex subject.”

Mama laughed. The children watched with frowns on their faces, as though she was going to unleash a monster.

“Personification is nothing but attributing or giving a personal nature or a human characteristic to something that is non-human,” Mama replied.

The triplets stared at each other with serious looks on their faces. They were still confused.

“My children are so puzzled,” Mama made a face. “I’ll simplify it for you all.”

“Please do Mama,” Rakhee pleaded.

“Your description just went over my head,” Aman said.

“Personification means when you take an object or an animal and give it some human qualities, like emotions, thoughts and feelings,” Mama explained.

“This sounds so difficult,” Roshni said.

“I’ll give you an example,” Mama elaborated. “When someone wants to describe the wind, they will say the wind blew over the garden rustling the leaves or that it was a breezy day.”

“Yes,” Aman nodded. “Both phrases show that a wind was blowing.”

“But when I describe it as the wind whispered against my hair, I’m personifying the wind, by giving it the human attribute of whispering. I can also describe it as the wind howled through the trees or the wind swept through the garden,” Mama added.

“Hmm, interesting,” Roshni said. “When I visited the school library yesterday, some books called out to me.”

“Perfect,” Mama said. You are a fast learner.”

“I’ll also give an example of personification,” Aman piped up. “As I wrote my ten-page assignment, my hand screamed for mercy.”

“You wrote a ten-page assignment?” Roshni asked. Her eyes were as wide as eggs. Her brother hated long assignments, constantly complaining that he got cramps in his fingers.

“Wow,” Mama exclaimed. “This is super.”

Rakhee’s face fell. She didn’t want to be left out of this innovative game. She stared into the distance, a frown creasing her head. “I’ll also give it a try,” she said. “My new shampoo made my hair dance.”

“You are always obsessed with your hair,” Aman laughed. Rakhee was always trying new shampoos to make her hair softer. On weekends she badgered her mom to apply warm oil on her hair and tie it in two plaits, so that it grew faster.

“Not bad,” Mama said, gathering the assignment sheets into her folder.

“The sun smiled down at us when we were doing our yoga exercises in school,” Rakhee added.

“I thought that the sun was scowling at us, it was so fierce. I was sweating,” Roshni grimaced. She didn’t like being in the sun for too long, grumbling that it turned her skin into a tomato.

“I’ll give it one more try,” Aman said. “Rani heard the jalebi calling her name.”

Rakhee and Roshni giggled. “Only you can understand the language of a jalebi,” Roshni said. Aman loved all kinds of desserts, swearing that they wanted to be inside his stomach. It was a family joke that food was Aman’s weakness and he could never resist a sweet dish, even if one woke him up at midnight.

Mama shook her head. “Don’t spoil the game with your arguments.”

“My window protested with a groan when I tried to open it,” Rakhee said.

“The window needs oiling,” Roshni quipped, earning a scowl from her sister.

Seeing the stern expression on their mother’s face, the sisters fell silent.

“When I was reading a book by my favourite author, the words jumped off the page and the characters leapt out of the book, with her amazing descriptions and story,” Roshni added.

“Super,” Mama raised her thumb.

Walking up to the refrigerator, she removed three ice cream sticks. Handing one to each child, she said, “a treat for you all. You three played extremely well today.”

“The ice cream begged to be eaten by us, it was calling us so loudly, that we could hear it through the closed door of the refrigerator,” Roshni announced.

“Actually, even my stomach was calling the ice cream,” Aman sighed. “I could hear it screaming for dessert for a long time.”

Mama shook her head. Aman was such a drama king and the girls were big drama queens.

In conversation with the author

1. What inspired the book?
A shorter version of ‘Vocabulary Villa’ would appear in a children’s monthly magazine a while back. My editor’s brief was to write stories that inspire children to get creative and use their imagination to enhance their vocabulary. Thus the idea of triplets and their mom, an English teacher, was born. I feel we learn better through stories and relatable characters. 

2. What can kids expect from the book?
Grammar is a boring topic. As a child, I hated writing essays and stories, and studying grammar. I know many children feel the same way. So I wanted to present different aspects of grammar in a fun and creative way. With the stories and activities in my book, one can learn to use the different techniques in their writing and day-to-day conversation. The book also features multiple writing prompts.

3. Your top three book recommendations for young readers.
‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl; ‘Rooftoppers’ by Kathleen Rundell; ‘The House At The Edge Of Magic’ by Amy Sparkes.