Ruchi Shevade
AMMACHI KI GAJAB MACHINE (AMMACHI’S AMAZING MACHINE)
By Rajiv Eipe. Translated by Rishi Mathur. Illustrations /design by Rajiv Eipe
Pratham Books, 2019, pp.15, R40.00
This book takes me back to my children’s literature classroom; 15 enthusiastic and excited faces, happily reading out the story from story weaver’s website on the big screen, trying to notice the literary nuances, simultaneously getting formally introduced to the components of children’s books. It has been over a year since the day, and the memory is fading day by day. But what is still fresh in mind is the utter pleasure we all had while reading it.
Sooraj is hungry. He requests his Ammachi (grandmother) to cook something for him and Ammachi agreed, on condition that Sooraj should help her.
The entire story is based on the event of how both of them together prepare coconut-barfi from scratch. And… what an action-packed, eventful process it is! Each step that she follows in the process is an interesting insight into our daily encounters with simple machines. Ammachi’s…. is an interesting example of how an author can transform an ordinary event into an adventure!