Aayi Aur Mein is the story of a girl whose mother has been hospitalized for a while and what her thoughts and emotions are on the day of her home coming. The girl and her dog Nimki are eagerly looking out of the window waiting for that moment. When she hears the familiar voice of her mother calling out to her, she rushes to hug her. The story has been narrated in the first-person format, so the reader gets a feel of what the girl is thinking to herself. She remembers the day her mother goes to the hospital and explains to her what the doctor has told her about the need for surgery. Her mother had also assured her that she would be back in the time it would take for her to learn her tables. She still feels disconsolate and keeps wondering whether her mother would really come back. On seeing her mother back home, that fear is allayed. But she senses that things are changed as far as her mother’s appearance is concerned as also the smell about her. She wonders and feels anguished about the short hair her mother is sporting now. She thinks about her mother’s long tresses that she had also inherited and how her grandmother always remarked about her looking exactly like her mother. She is angry with the doctor who had altered her mother’s appearance and wonders why her mother did not prevent him or why her grandmother did not object to it.
All these feeling of the little girl have been portrayed by the author in a natural and sensitive manner since it is not easy for children to understand the gravity of some illnesses. The girl tries various methods to make her mother cover up her altered appearance, but her mother just smiles and tells her she is content to be as she is now. This obstinacy of the mother also annoys the child. Finally, the little girl finds a solution that will make her mother and herself look alike, just as in the past. Her mother is astonished at what she does but just laughs and hugs her tight. I would like the young readers to read the book and find out for themselves what solution the girl has found. Her solution gets the approval of her granny also who assures her that she would always be like her mother, whatever changes may occur since her mother would always be within her being.
Mamta Naini is an award-winning author who has written more than 30 children’s books, many of which have been acclaimed nationally and internationally. She is inspired by the vivid imaginativeness of children and finds her stories in them.
The illustrations in this book are very evocative and will make the story interesting for the young reader. The artist Sanket Pethkar is a Mumbai based freelance artist and designer for different Indian publishers. He loves to develop illustrated story books for children.
When she hears the familiar voice of her mother calling out to her, she rushes to hug her. The story has been narrated in the first-person format, so the reader gets a feel of what the girl is thinking to herself. She remembers the day her mother goes to the hospital and explains to her what the doctor has told her about the need for surgery. Her mother had also assured her that she would be back in the time it would take for her to learn her tables. She still feels disconsolate and keeps wondering whether her mother would really come back. On seeing her mother back home, that fear is allayed. But she senses that things are changed as far as her mother’s appearance is concerned as also the smell about her. She wonders and feels anguished about the short hair her mother is sporting now. She thinks about her mother’s long tresses that she had also inherited and how her grandmother always remarked about her looking exactly like her mother. She is angry with the doctor who had altered her mother’s appearance and wonders why her mother did not prevent him or why her grandmother did not object to it.
All these feeling of the little girl have been portrayed by the author in a natural and sensitive manner since it is not easy for children to understand the gravity of some illnesses. The girl tries various methods to make her mother cover up her altered appearance, but her mother just smiles and tells her she is content to be as she is now. This obstinacy of the mother also annoys the child. Finally, the little girl finds a solution that will make her mother and herself look alike, just as in the past. Her mother is astonished at what she does but just laughs and hugs her tight. I would like the young readers to read the book and find out for themselves what solution the girl has found. Her solution gets the approval of her granny also who assures her that she would always be like her mother, whatever changes may occur since her mother would always be within her being.
Mamta Naini is an award-winning author who has written more than 30 children’s books, many of which have been acclaimed nationally and internationally. She is inspired by the vivid imaginativeness of children and finds her stories in them.
The illustrations in this book are very evocative and will make the story interesting for the young reader. The artist Sanket Pethkar is a Mumbai based freelance artist and designer for different Indian publishers. He loves to develop illustrated story books for children.
November 2023, volume 47, No 11