Book Review: Indian Folktales Retold

Book: Indian Folktales Retold

Author: Ruskin Bond, (Illustrated by Manasi Parikh)

Publishers: Natraj 

Rs: 191

Manasi Parikh was six when she landed a copy of The Adventures of Rusty. It was her initiation into the world of Ruskin Bond. Little did she know then that she would bring his writings to life with her drawings in the future.
Indian Folktales Retold is a compilation of forgotten short stories — tales of maharajahs and rakshasas rewoven for today's generation with Bond's storytelling magic and Parikh's illustrations.

Andheri-based Parikh's collaboration with the veteran writer began when a friend introduced her work to Natraj Publishers. "It was a little overwhelming… the fact that he had a vast body of work already, and I was just starting out. The idea was to keep the old world charm of his writings intact, while using a contemporary illustration style," she says.

A student of Animation Film Design from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, Parikh had just quit her job at the time and was taking freelance projects. Once she read the book and got a brief from the publisher, she doodled a few drawings before finalising on one. "I didn't want to use a clean and photoshopped style as it would take away from the charm of his writing. I wanted to keep the illustrations impulsive and raw. So, once I finalised a style, I practised some characters and scenarios to make sure I was comfortable with it, and also to test if they lent themselves well to the stories," explains the 27-year-old.

The project took a year to complete. Parikh and Bond took to communicating in modes they were most comfortable with, and the publishers played the missing link. While Parikh wrote emails to the publisher, Bond chose to correspond by letters.

"Once I emailed the publishers, I'd have to wait for a long time to hear back from him. And experiencing that wait in its own way was charming. In this day and age when communication happens in seconds and minutes, just being able to feel that anticipation of a reply for days and weeks..." she says, remembering her childhood days with nostalgia.

The generation gap meant that it wasn't all smooth sailing for the duo. The initial attempt of speech bubbles for the characters, similar to comic books, didn't go down well with Bond. But, in a few weeks, he agreed on the illustrations, though the speech bubbles had to go.

"I come from an animation background and I love comics. I thought it would be fun to add a comic book-style narrative to the stories. However, it was too casual and cartoon-y for his taste, and very different from the way his books have been done all these years," she says.

Parikh read through each story, scribbled down the visuals that stood out the most, and re-read the story to see if she had missed out on anything important, or if she could do something better. "When I start sketching, I always build up the emotion that the character is supposed to be feeling within myself first. Learning how to make the characters emote something I wasn't necessarily feeling was the most difficult part, but I did manage eventually," she says.

A feeling of achievement came when people started reacting to the book, which is a wonderful blend of Bond's inimitable narrative and Parikh's engaging artwork. "It's not just about the art, but also how the art interacts with its audience. I've always enjoyed that bit the most, sharing a piece of love and labour with the world," she says.

Though the project is now complete, there's one thing remaining on Parikh's wishlist — to have a chat with Bond over a cup of hot tea at his home in Landour, Mussoorie, with the snow-kissed peaks playing hide and seek amidst the clouds in the distance.