Ju's Story

Remember Ju? The girl who just wished that someone would write a letter to her? Here's Asma Menon's earlier post about the process of illustrating her story. Here's Radhika Menon's post about why and how Tulika came to publish Ju's story and why such stories are important. And now over to Asma, as she tells us about a unique workshop around Ju's story in Kochi.

Five artists from Chennai took a journey to Kochi via their works. The Vernissage Art Gallery was the venue. We artists and the gallery felt we needed to do more than just showcase our works.

I informed the gallery that my forte was working with children from ages 8 to 13. Then it occurred to me that this is exactly Ju's age group. Thus Ju was invited to have her story narrated.

The workshop was a series of activities, mostly centered around storytelling. After warming up and introductions, the children and I sat in a circle. I explained to them that the bases of a story was a beginning, a middle and an end. I started a simple story...Once upon a time, a girl lived with an elephant in the forest. One day, they went for a walk...The next child took up the story and the circle was complete.

Ju was brought to meet the children and her story was narrated by me, whilst holding the book and showing the children the pictures relating to the narration. I requested the children to write their response to Ju and to also write a letter to her. This way, her one simple wish would be granted. The children were enthusiastic and one young child of four and a half was very keen to tell Ju that she was not 4 or 5 but four and a half. Other children empathised with Ju and told her not to worry, life had plenty in store for her. Their immediate reactions were a revelation - the innocence of going into the world of Ju and making a connection with her as a person and not a fictional character.

- Asma Menon, artist and illustrator

Here are the letters the children wrote:

Letters to Ju

View more presentations from Tulika Books.

Ju's Story: A different tale

Ju’s Story is one of the stories that came out ‘Different Tales', a project begun in November 2005 by the Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies in Hyderabad. The project was a response to their growing realisation that mainstream children’s literature in India is written within a framework that takes the upper caste and middle class child as the norm. A survey they conducted of widely-distributed children’s books showed that the majority of the books reflected conventional ideas of childhood, family and community. The world of the majority of children in India, the world of children from dalit, tribal or other marginalized communities, was excluded.

For me, being part of the discussions of the advisory committee was an illuminating experience. At Tulika we have always made a conscious effort to move away from a  middle and upper class sensibility and have tried to make sure that  all children can relate comfortably to the stories and pictures. If our publishing had been restricted to English, it would almost certainly have had an urban middle class bias. But we publish in eight Indian languages and often the bulk of our books in regional languages reach the less privileged children. This strongly influences the choice of the stories and illustrations in our books. Publishing in so many languages and making the books accessible to all children has brought up many challenges, right through from the conceptual stage of books to the translation and the printing stages. We continue to learn.

It became clear from the discussions with the Anveshi group that though there were a few books about children from marginalized communities which addressed issues of community and gender, they still reflected an outsider’s view. This would change if the stories were woven around non-normative families or communities and if their everyday experiences and activities were seen as the context in which questions of marginalization and discrimination were addressed. In the Anveshi stories the strong narrative voices of the writers shift the centre of consciousness and alter the normative assumptions about childhood.

 Ju’s Story by the well-known writer, Paul Zachariah,  does just that with great sensitivity. “For Ju, old was new”- the opening phrase jolts the reader into an awareness of Ju’s reality. If a child can’t afford new things, new clothes, new books, new shoes  then, of course, for her old things are new things.  The story is about the young girl, Ju, finding a letter without an address on it and what she does with it. But it’s the descriptions of Ju getting ready for the new school year,  of her excitement at being given hand-me-down books and clothes, and of her emotions when she holds a letter in her hand for the first time in her life, that open up a world in which children have to make do with so little. And yet, there is no sense of ‘victimhood’. The reader does not feel sorry for Ju, the reader identifies with her, whatever the reader’s own experience.

We have adapted Paul’s original story, which was much longer, and made it into a picture book  in eight languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati and Bangla. The visuals in a picture book add to and comment on the narrative. Illustrator Asma Menon’s Ju is not a cute picture book girl; she’s a strong-minded, high-spirited girl. And yet, the expression of stoicism on her face is very telling. So much of Ju’s experience is implicit in it.

Jus’s Story is the first in a series of stories from the Anveshi series that Tulika plans to publish as picture books. These stories matter. They empower young readers from marginalized communities by making their experience central. They extend the sensitivity and imagination of other young readers. And they extend the awareness of adults who are, after all, the mediators between children and what they read.

- Radhika Menon, Publisher

Illustrating Ju's Story

I was thrilled when I received a call from Tulika about a project to illustrate a children's book. The last time I had such and opportunity was almost a decade and a half ago. 

I meet with the Tulika people and a brief gist of the story in question was narrated to me. A copy of the story was handed over for detailed reading. The texture of the illustrations, locale /etc were also discussed. With me promising to give them some ideas on how the illustrations would flow I left with excitement and also apprehension as to whether I would "make the grade". 

To cut this long story short, I must say that Tulika approved my scribbles {or most of them} and some minor changes. Next to create Ju. Sitting at my work table, with pen and paper, I asked myself , now what Asma? a little voice in my head said "go with the flow". I did just that . I started reading the story again and every time I read that story, I felt tears in my eyes. This poignant simple tale of a girl who wants to receive a letter by post and no one there to send one to her. It reminds me of a poem "is there anyone there....." In Ju's case there is no one. The landscape is Kerala. Fortunately, having travelled several times to Kerala, the little nuances of small town/village life are quite fixed in my mind. Hence, creating the backdrops to the characters was quite easy.

We from the urban world, take our affluence for granted. This story brings to light the many many things which are a wonder and joy to the less privileged . Clothes/books/staple food/etc. etc.

When Ju's Story reaches the shelves at book stores around the country, I request my readers to take pen and paper in hand and pen a letter to Ju and rediscover the wonder of writing a letter by hand and not electronic mail.

This book made me do just that.

- Asma Menon, Artist and Illustrator