Bundling up India’s essence

Quite the perfect day to introduce your kids to some feel-good books about India, its people and its culture.

Little Indians

Independence Day for me is always an occasion to pause in my “busy”ness and recall the long road to freedom, and all the people who helped us get here. But at the same time, I can’t help dwelling a bit over the essence of India, the people, the culture, the food, the languages — everything that makes our country what it is. Unfortunately, misrepresentation of what constitutes the real India (or Indian) threatens the very essence of our nation.

So, how about immersing ourselves in some feel-good books about India, its people and its culture?

Karadi Rhymes have truly made a difference to what we Indians think of as rhymes. Over the last two decades, along with Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill, Indian children sing songs like “Chai Chai Coffee Coffee” and “My name is Madhavi, I’m from Alleppey” as par for the course, and that’s a significant achievement. Shobha Vishwanath has put into lyrics a bunch of essentially Indian things like trains, music, monkeys, trees, kites, cricket, mangoes, sambar, rain, places of worship, even crows. 3 Brothers and a Violin have set the songs to feet-tapping music in Indian raagas, and the fabulous Usha Uthup has sung them all with her inimitable energy. Let alone children, nobody can resist these songs. And of course, the collection bundles up the essence of India beautifully.

India A to Z by Vidya Mani and Veena Seshadri, and illustrations by Sony Bhaskaran and cartoons by Greystroke: This is a fun book packed with exciting facts and trivia about India. And the cartoons will surely make you giggle.

Little Indians by Pika Nani, illustrations by Shreya Mehta, will take you on a ride across 15 states of India and regale you with stories and facts from each state.

The Great India Activity Book by Priya Kuriyan: Kids can spend hours on the simple activities in this book — all of which portray the culture and wonders of India. And of course, the illustrations are wonderful.

Art of India: A wanderINDIA Drawing and Colouring book by Suhita Shirodkar and Suhag Shirodkar: This is a unique book — it introduces children to various Indian art forms — folk, traditional and so on. On each double-spread, children get an introduction to the art form, learn to draw and colour, and then there’s space for them to try their own designs based on that art form.

Festival Stories Through the Year by Rachna Chhabria combines fiction and nonfiction to introduce the details and customs of various festivals of India (of various cultures) through the experiences of two young children.

Indian Classical Music and Dance by Shrinkhla Sahai, is a beautiful, easy-to-read book with colourful pictures and photographs. It makes an excellent (and bold!) effort to introduce children to the basics of all the different forms of Indian music and dance, its history, theory, and stories of some of the stalwarts who populate that world.

Wishing India happier and more tolerant days ahead!

The author has written 12 books for children and can be reached at www.shruthi-rao.com

GobbledyBook is a fortnightly column that gives a peek into the wondrous world of children’s books. Hop on! Or as Alice did, plunge into the rabbit hole.