Savita Rao

Sandhya Rao remembers Savita. 




When we sent an advance copy of Postcards from Ura to author, Savita Rao, in Bengaluru in January, she responded right away:

postcards from ura arrived on sat evening.
a very nice sankranti surprise. (i didn't think it would be that quick)
cool! i'm  on the website too, what do you know?!

thanks much. i do hope i see you soon.

Her manuscript about a visit to Ura in Bhutan landed in Tulika way back in 2008, along with photographs. All of us on the editorial team were thrilled, it was just the sort of book we wanted to do, in just the way the author had suggested. And it fitted the bill for our Where I Live Series, after Suresh and the Sea, Hina in the Old City, and Aiyappan and the Magic Horse. But picture books and bilingual picture books are easier to do, so it took a while to schedule Postcards. Finally, its time came and I wrote to Savita:

I hope you will be happy to hear that at last we are ready to take
up work on your book (Do I hear the screams of joy???!!!)
….Yes… Am just going to start looking at it so you can expect to
hear from me very soon with questions and so on.

Warmly

Back came the reply:

this was seriously spooky :) just the evening before i got this mail i was pacing on my terrace and composing a mail to you. that would say "i can't wait, i'll return the money, blah blah"

:)

thank you! it's perfect timing. look fwd to hearing from you.

I wrote back:

What can I say????!!!!

To which Savita responded:

all's well that ends well.

From that point on, work on the book progressed amazingly quickly. Questions raised would be resolved with due discussion and no trouble. When pushed for more pictures, Savita got friends to pitch in: Natasha with her photograph of Bangalore for the cover, young Kavya and Kaushik with pictures of Bhutanese children wear the gho and kira. A young intern from Pune worked on the cover design and map. Savita kept pace with all the last-minute doubts and queries with cheer and equanimity. If there was a question about identifying a particular bird, she checked up with her sources and got back. If she was not entirely happy with the sharpness of a particular photograph, she sent several alternatives to choose from. At every stage, she was on the ball and it was an invigorating experience, working with her. She did not ever speak about her health.

We were planning an event around the book in Bangalore, perhaps in April, and she had promised to be well by then. She had warned that she couldn’t sing or dance but that she’d do her bit. Savita passed away in Bengaluru on March 27 before we could meet. Savita’s friend, Natasha, whom I spoke with on the phone, said Savita was very happy with Postcards. You feel that joy in the book. As she wrote in one email:

Yeah, Bhutan is ranked the happiest place.

I certainly felt like it…

- Sandhya Rao

Reading and illustrating with Tulika authors

Tulika fan Chandrima Pal helped put together an informal reading and illustration workshop with Tulika authors Sowmya Rajendran and Niveditha Subramanian. And wrote in to tell us all about it...

I have been following Tulika website almost for 4 years now, in search of contemporary India-centric childrens books. First, to showcase India for my daughter who was living outside India then, and now I keep buying Tulika books to help my daughter to learn Hindi (second language at school) and Bengali (her mother tongue). Tulika has come up as a fresh breeze in the world of Indian children literature where mythological stories and stories with moral were the norm. They are nice, but why not give the small kids little more real world to dwell in, specially when they do have so many stories hidden in their daily lives. 

So it was almost a dream come true, when Sowmya (Writes for Tulika and is luckily our neighbour too) told me that Tulika would be happy to have a book reading and illustration session (by Niveditha) at our place. 

  

Our neighbourhood consists of almost 15 kids and almost all are vivid readers and interested in drawing, also the session was planned for a Sunday morning so we were expecting that all of the kids and some parents would come for the session. My daughter did lots of advertisement by repeatedly telling her friends about the session. I did my bit by inviting some relatives and friends outside from our neighbourhood.  

We woke up early in the Sunday morning; we got ready for the day. Sowmya and Niveditha came with lots of Tulika books to showcase. The children and their parents were also arriving one by one. Around 11 o’clock the session started.

In the beginning each of the children introduced the child sitting near to them. It was a good start. 

First storybook was School is Cool. Sowmya did a great job. I was observing the patience and spontaneity with which both authors were managing the active kids. The children were asked whether they like or not like to go to school. Children (actually all of us) were asked to draw anything that comes to our mind when we think of our school. Almost all kids and some parents drew something about the school. A nice variety of pictures came up. 

Next was the famous story of Musical Donkey, this was told by Niveditha. Again Niveditha was a very good storyteller and we loved her expressions. The story developed by Tulika ends in a different way than children have heard them before. So it took a while for them to accept the story. Also they were asked to give a new ending to the story. Children used their fantasy and one child even managed to give a sci-fi end by kicking the donkey into space! 

A small illustration session followed the story. Niveditha showed the kids to draw a monster and kids enjoyed drawing it.  We parents loved to see the kids giggling and enjoying the session. I hope Tulika will keep doing such cosy, informal book reading sessions in future too.

- Chandrima Pal 

Let's plant trees

Just when you thought that the 'Happy Birthday Tulika' cards were done...Vinod Lal Heera Eshwer sent us this beauty...

Who is Vinod, you ask? Creator of this simple, powerful book, that's who.

 

Let's plant trees.

From among the many books that are grown from trees, here, finally, is a book that can grow trees. The pongamia seeds that come along with the book in recycled packaging are a call to action. This wonder tree grows practically everywhere in India. The writer's two-year old son has planted several!

Tulika turns 15..and takes a bow

Concluding the series of blog posts on Tulika's 15-year journey..here is a round-up of books that have won awards and the books that will be coming to a bookshop near you this year...but first a lovely birthday card from Shailja Jain, the talented illustrator of Jhakkad, Sabri's Colours, Rangoli and The Talkative Tortoise.

Water Stories from Around the World
Winner of the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) award for excellence in book production 2010

Just a Train Ride Away by Mini Shrinivasan
Winner of the first Bal Sahitya Puraskar for a children’s book in English 2010

A Silly Story of Bondapalli text Shamim Padamsee pictures Ashok Rajagopalan
Selected by AWIC India as Outstanding Picture Book, Nambook Korea 2010

What Shall I Make? text Nandini Nayar pictures Proiti Roy
Outstanding International Book 2010 selected by the United States Board for Books for Young People (USBBY)

My Mother’s Sari written by Sandhya Rao pictures Nina Sabnani
Outstanding International Book, 2007 selected by the United States Board for Books for Young People (USBBY) and the Children’s Book Council

The Seed text and pictures Deepa Balsavar
Outstanding International Book for children selected for The White Ravens 2007

My Friend, the Sea by Sandhya Rao
Winner of Ambitious Children’s Book Project award at the Berlin Children and Youth Literature Festival 2005

And Land Was Born & Yaar Adutha Ningthou? (Tamil translation of Who Will Be Ningthou?)
Award for Excellence in Publishing from the Federation of Indian Publishers, 2000

AWIC/Indian BBY award in recognition of Tulika’s impressive and significant
contribution as a publisher of children’s books 2007.

Uttam Bal Sahitya award from Tamilnadu Hindi Academy to Tulika in 2007
Certificate of Recognition and Appreciation received from the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2007

Certificate of Appreciation to Tulika Publishers from the Center for South Asia,
University of Wisconsin – Madison for valuable contributions to the Summer 2003

Fulbright Hays Group Project Abroad Curriculum Development Project, 2003

looking ahead . . .
2011 promises to be yet another exciting year, choc-a-bloc with new books
brimming with new ideas and imagination. Kaka is on a creative high!

Aluguti Toluguti
Move over, Contrary Mary, here come ‘Dampadam pappadam’ and ‘Khabadak khabadak ghodoba’. Aluguti Toluguti is a collection of children’s rhymes in different Indian languages, in the original as well as reinvented in a lively, recitable English translation. Our intern from Pune, Kshitiz, has been having a khabadak time doing the pictures.

The Enchanted Saarang by Asha Hanley, illustrated by Proiti Roy
An evocative collection of stories, enchantingly illustrated. Asha brings to every corner of every reader’s heart the deepest, most hidden creatures and feelings from a little represented region in children’s books: Kashmir.

The Mystery of Blue by Muriel Kakani, illustrated by Boski Jain
The Ilkal fabrics shine yellow, red, orange, green.... but blue, ah, the multi-hued blue…now that is elusive. This picture book tells how the mysterious blue was found and recreated on cloth, thanks to an intrepid little girl and her pigeon friend, Chandrakali. In nine languages.

Beyond the Blue River by Vinayan Bhaskaran
A fantasy novel to challenge all: the adventures of an auto with a mind of her own and dreams that she dares to follow in this world, and worlds within and far beyond. A bold, fresh, new voice on the literary scene.

Mayil Will Not Be Quiet by Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran
An engaging, amusing, provocative journey into the mind of a 12 going on 13 year old girl who wants to know why why why... Questions, confusions and reflections of one who wants to become a writer, from two wonderfully talented young authors.

Stone Eggs: The Story of Indian Dinosaurs
by Helen Rundgren, illustrated by Soumya Menon
Shankar thought dinosaurs roamed about only in faraway America... until he and sister stumble upon some beautiful round stone eggs in their grandmother’s village. A unique book with lots of information on Indian dinosaurs for the first time.

Stitching Stories by Nina Sabnani and the artists of Kala Raksha
The Looking at Art series takes a fresh turn by focusing on inherited craft as personalised art. Based on Nina Sabnani’s award-winning film Tanko Bole Chhe (The Stitches Speak), this gorgeously visual book looks at embroidery in Gujarat, particularly the evolution of narrative art through stitches.

In Bon Bibi’s Forest by Sandhya Rao, illustrated by Proiti Roy
The story of Sundarban where the Ganga pours into the sea and where tigers roams alongside humans and honeybees gather on trees and everyone must live together if they are to survive. The story of why someone tells them how. In the series Our Myths, in nine languages.

The Kite Tree by Avanti Mehta, illustrated by Nina Sabnani and Kalyan Joshi
A poetic journey to the top of a hill as the seasons change and a beautiful tree beckons as it grows from being brown and bare to bursting with rainbow colours. The pictures are an experimental collaborative expression between Nina and Kalyan Joshi, a renowned folk painter from Rajasthan. In nine languages.

The World Tour Mystery by Manjula Padmanabhan
Yet another stroke of genius from Manjula! This time she takes children on a trip around the world. She teases them, she pleases them, and then she tells them where they’re going and what they’re seeing. Book complete with game to play. She rules!

India Through Festivals
The much loved Celebrate India - Tulika Diary of Days, Dates and Festivals in a new avatar as a book for keeps for all ages with all you ever wanted to know about how India is such a mish of mash.

Science Concept Books
Air. Water. Soil. And more. Basic science. Basically. Visually. And fun, happily.

Black Panther by Aravind Krish Bala, illustrated by Ashok Rajagopalan
Our very own illustrator is back at his best as he takes us through the Anaimalais with first-time author Aravind, a journalist whose heart beats for wildlife. A moving story about a seldom seen animal, shared with soul and simplicity. In nine languages.

and afar . . .
. . . Inspired and energised as we create that valuable and level cultural space in which every child can read, imagine, learn, question.

In many avatars...

Continuing the story of Tulika's 15-year journey... A list of the many avatars that Tulika's books have taken and the many Tulika books that have delighted children in classrooms across the country...

Although the Tulika kaka’s only magic wand is the quill, different organisations with their special skills and expertise are transforming the books into much, much more
• Ekki Dokki and Runaway Peppercorn ebooks – Fliplog
• Who will Rule? Digital apps – Emantras
• Books+ products – Mother Earth
• Audio Books – Radio Mirchi
• Tactile books – Chetna Trust
• Books in Braille – Third Eye Charitable Trust
• Book-based teaching-learning activities – Hippocampus Reading Foundation
• Storytelling performances connecting books and stories – Vayu Naidu Storytelling Company, UK

Children love kaka’s company in classrooms all over the country.
Senior school
• My Vote Counts

Middle school
• Bhopal Gas Tragedy
• One World
• Suresh and the Sea
• Hina in the Old City

Upper primary
• Sorry, Best Friend!
• Aditi and the One-eyed Monkey
• Forbidden Temple
• Andaman’s Boy
• Read and Colour - Freedom Stories and River Stories
• Ordinary Mr Pai
• All Free
• Mazzoo Mazzoo
• All About Nothing
• Kolaba
• Basava and the Dots of Fire (English), Basava aur Aag ke Bindu (Hindi)
• Pavo and Cavo
• Busy Busy Grand Ant

Lower primary
• Sunu-Sunu Snail – Storm in the Garden
• Look, the Moon
• Grandma’s Eyes
• Who am I?
• Line and Circle

Teacher resource
• The World of Indian Stories: a teaching resource of folktales from every state
• The World of Asian Stories: a teaching resource
• Aajoba 

 Read the rest of the story here...

Through many kinds of books . . .

Continuing with the story of Tulika's 15 year journey..listing the many kinds of Tulika books and the many countries they have travelled. Read the full story here. And find Sandhya Rao reading from Sunu-Sunu at the end of this post....

Tulika's Picture Books and Bilingual Picture Books for 2-8 yr olds come in several delightful series such as:
• Wordbird books
• Imagine Words
• In Verse
• Thumb Thumb books
• Our Myths

Fiction and Non-fiction for 8+ that cover many genres under thought-provoking series heads:
• Classics in Translation
• Fact + Fiction
• Read and Colour books
• Where I Live
• Think About
• In Focus
• Looking at Art
• Green books

And last but certainly not the least the Tulika Teacher Resources.

travelling far and wide. . .

Sometimes, especially in the early years of our ambitious multilingual publishing, it seemed we had to follow Tagore’s dictum of walking alone. But as our readers swelled in numbers, many groups have joined hands with us to co-publish in different languages in India and overseas:

• Kerala State Institute for Children’s Literature, Thiruvananthapuram - Malayalam

• Eklavya, Bhopal - Hindi

• Navdanya, New Delhi - Hindi

• Jyotsna Prakashan, Mumbai - Marathi

• Bharathi Puthakalayam - Tamil

• Soma Books, UK – European, African and Asian languages

• Parrots Books, USA - Hindi

• Raji Publications, Singapore - Tamil

Kaka has also been busy visiting countries far and wide launching our books in new editions as foreign rights were picked up from UK, USA, Korea, Germany, France, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Canada.

Read the rest here. Or watch Sandhya Rao read from Sunu-Sunu...