Mountains have been shrouded in mystique since time immemorial. They are loved for their beauty and revered for being bountiful providers of water, food and energy. The sheer physical challenge they present to those trying to scale them commands respect! In Up the Mountains of India, they come alive with Mala Kumar’s lucid writing!
That Year at Manikoil is part of a series named ‘Songs of Freedom’ launched by Duckbill Books in the year of India’s 75th year of Independence. It seeks to explore the lives of children across India during the struggle for Independence.
I cannot understand what they are fighting for–the MNF rebels. I am perfectly fine with the way things are; I cannot imagine what more freedom I need. Sometimes, I feel that people ask for too much.’When Blackbirds Fly starts off as a simple story seen through a child’s eyes
History lessons in school can be pretty boring for 10-year-olds, with their rigmarole of dates, names of battles and rulers to contend with. They can be quite confusing and meaningless as well, for history happened a long time ago! Even something like India’s freedom movement can become a part of the very hazy past. The same events seen in the form of a story become so much more memorable and interesting for young readers.
An interesting title, and on the face of it this book is all about a cooking club in Chowpatty, Mumbai. However, the title turns out to be rather misleading, for here is a story of India’s freedom movement as told by 10-year-old Sakina in the form of diary entries in 1942. Set in Mumbai within sprawling Parsi and Muslim households, the idea of fighting for freedom is fast gaining ground with Gandhiji’s Quit India movement.
I must begin by saying that I loved this book. Name Place Animal Thing is about growing up as a Khasi girl in the ever politically-charged Shillong. It is a book of connected stories rather than a novel or novella (as the inner cover describes it), the stories connected by the first-person narrator referred to as D. The stories are told by an adult narrator who is recollecting her past, her childhood and young adulthood.