In Hindi, ‘Baatkhoru’ is a talkative person, just like Babita, the little girl in the story ‘Baatkhoru’, who talks incessantly to anyone and everyone. She talks even to herself in the mirror asking questions, answering them herself, and is lovingly pampered by her grandmother. Realistically speaking grandmothers, highly respected and beyond all criticism in Indian families, are generally lively family member and loquacious entertainers for their grandchildren. The narrative of short stories in this book follows the free-flowing eloquence of a typical grandmother.
What marks as the stupendous aspect of ‘Baatkhoru’ is its unhindered flow of words. A smooth stream of Hindi, reminiscent of a language spoken in small towns, sweet and evidently unimpeded by English intrusions, fulfils the demand of simple tales and situations among a Hindi majority. Certain words, commonly used and charmingly meaningful, sound fascinating in the text due to their strangeness in metros these days, like, ‘bolti-batiyati’, ‘ughare-pughare’, and ‘itra-phulel’.
In all, there are thirteen stories of animals, people, bees, birds, thieves and disappearing words, some realistic as well as some imaginative. Most of the stories are brief and crisp, dealing with amusing topics—all quaint, intrinsically funny, fantastic and elementary. There are groups of migratory birds enjoying sangam waters, community of crows with photography as a hobby, a frog losing its moustache to honey, an utterly chatty girl and a hero, talkative rat. Drawing honey from hives make an interesting event to talk about, similar to the invasion of dacoits upon a bunch of jarring unmelodic musicians. The centipede matron struck with arthritis can never get all the legs treated at the same time by ant nurses; the wonder of frozen lake in summer, the mystery of disappearing words and birthday celebrations of the squeaky village chief account for a collection of hilarious stories. The author, Virendra Dubey, has created a delightful book for young readers.
Likewise, the illustrations by Mayukh Ghosh complete the wonder of these unusual and entertaining tales. The pictures are highly stylized and attractive, competent enough to tickle the funny bone through masterstrokes in the artwork. The illustrations of every story are befitting, thematically and artistically. From the frozen lake to honey-soaked moustache of the frog, the pictures are through and through enchanting.
A fulfilling book such as this one reassures confidence in Eklavya publications and the immaculate quality of their books, which support quality reading material for the young readers.