If you’re a children’s book writer, you may want to prepare yourself to be a good storyteller as well. Considering the number of readings the city has been witnessing of late, these days it’s all in the game. When author Sandhya Rao read out her In Bon Bibi’s Forest, a book from Tulika Books’ Our Myths’series at Just Books, Adyar on Sunday, she had the kids in rapt attention. It was one of those sessions where the number of snack and bathroom breaks was almost nil. Over 15 kids who had enthusiastically assembled, loved every minute of Sandhya’s story. The tale revolves around the myth of Bon Bibi, who is believed to the protector of the Sunderbans in West Bengal.
Weaving through the legend of Bon Bibi, the kids quivered in mock fright as Sandhya described the monster with wild eyes, sharp teeth, striped skin and pointed nails — Dokkhin Rai, the tiger who terrorises the forest.
The book, illustrated by Proiti Roy, had a number of colourful pictures and she did her best to make them part of the storytelling as well. As she held up the pictures to support her narration (not that her wonderfully animated narration needed any help), the kids craned their necks and nudged each other out of their way to get a better look. Even today, those who want to go into the Sunderbans, bowed down before a Bon Didi shrine within the jungle, to get her permission first, she ended her dramatic tale. The children though, didn’t seem to take the possibility of the story in their bedtime book to be real. That is, up until Sandhya produced a photograph of the shrine. This had them clearly impressed.
Author Chitra Krishnan had a tough time following Sandhya’s theatrical act with her Vyasa’s Mahabharatha, but as she read out the well-known story of how Vyasa uses the help of Ganesha in writing down the Mahabharata, she managed to hold most kids in their places. She didn’t have the sound effects or the dramatics that Sandhya had, but Chitra’s use of subtle charm and humour worked wonders for her.
If the kids had complained about having to give up their precious Sunday TV time for this outing, this was no doubt long forgotten by the end of the afternoon.
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