A far cry from the usual young adult literature about the glitzy vampires and shiny gadgets, the book tells a refreshingly normal, everyday story about a small town.
There’s an interesting book, all set to be launched for the Bangalore bibliophile on Sunday. It’s called Growing up in Pandupur, written by sisters Adithi and Chatura Rao.
A far cry from the usual young adult literature about the glitzy vampires and shiny gadgets, the book tells a refreshingly normal, everyday story about a small town.
The fictive town of Pandupur lies somewhere between Mysore and Bangalore, along the Dhun river. It is your average small town in India, complete in its contrasts, posh colonies and shanty towns, privileged children and orphans, a town where there’s honking traffic, and a forest nearby, where wild elephants roam. Just like there are many sides to Pandupur, there are just as many stories to be told.
There are 13 stories altogether, out of which Adithi wrote six and Chatura wrote seven. “We wrote the themes individually and later on had discussions around them and interlinked the characters. It was a gradual process, but we had a great time writing this book together,” says Adithi.
The central character in the stories are children who belong to this little town — the birthday boy Raghav who bemoans the lack of money and a Pizza Hut outlet in the town, Minchu, who lives on the edge of the forest, the children of the Little Pandavas orphanage — and others. And underneath this, the stories also deal with more serious issues of development and how it affects humans and their relationship with nature.
However, issues that children confront while they grow up is the central theme. “Children can’t spell out their problems. Through this book, we try to tell readers about a child’s psychology,” says Adithi. The book also helps instil in children some of the lessons that life teaches us all, but without any moral tones whatsoever.
Both Adithi and Chatura have written books for children earlier. Aditi has a degree in theatre from Smith College, USA and writes for both adults and children. She’s even done a stint as assistant director in Bollywood and writes scripts for both television and film. Her first book, Shakuntala and Other Stories was published by Penguin Books India, in 2007.
Chatura is a freelance journalist who has made short films and holds writing workshops for children. She wrote the children’s novel Amy and The Chawl of Colour, published by Penguin Books India in 2004. She has also written a novel for adults, Meanwhile Upriver, published by Penguin in 2008.
Where: Reliance TimeOut, Cunningham Road
When: June 19, 4pm
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