The One Day Elsewhere series by Puffin consists of a set of four beautifully illustrated books, translated from the French by Nakashi Chowdhry, which tell the story of individuals and events in history that changed our world. Picking up incidents from world history which have resonated across time and have significantly impacted politics, environment, science and humanity, these books place them within the context of a child’s life. They link the personal and the public, thus making these intertwined momentous events come alive and seem like they are a natural part of a child’s life. The political and the public become a more immediate and felt experience.
In each of the books, the reader is gently led into the wider context but the focus remains on the impact of these events and their intersection with the lives of the children through whose eyes and in whose voice we see the events unfolding. The book which deals with the earliest of these events is My Father’s Courage, which introduces the young reader to one of the most important landmarks in India’s struggle for Independence, Gandhi’s historic Salt March. The event is seen through the eyes of a young boy, Aslam, whose life is brutally impacted by the unjust and unfair laws of the ruling British. His father, Adil, is a simple straightforward man who has never been a rule breaker. He has always told his son, ‘Stay straight, my son. On your feet and in your head. Then no one can find fault with you.’ But the unfairness of the law pushes him to challenge it, a brave act which leads to his arrest.
For Aslam, the law is incomprehensible. He cannot eat a meal without salt and he cannot comprehend why his father should be jailed for harvesting some salt from the sea which is at their doorstep. Aslam’s father’s arrest is a moment of despair for the entire family but there is also a sense of hope in the solidarity which brings all the neighbours around to help Aslam and his family in any way possible. People visit to show their support, some of them bring food and in a heart-warming gesture, an old woman gifts a Ganapati idol to the Muslim family saying , ‘He will help you overcome all obstacles.’ Aslam’s mother accepts the idol with reverence well aware that ‘this solidarity means more than our religious beliefs’.