When a child is asked to write an essay on his grandmother, a line or two is always dedicated to her amazing storytelling skills, to how she conjures up those dramatic images from mythology whilst illustrating lessons from the ancient books.
Rajiv. G. Menon’s introduction to mythology was no different. Dedicated to his grandmother Sowdamini Menon, Thundergod , the first book of the author’s Vedic trilogy traces Lord Indra’s journey from a mere mortal to the Emperor of Gods.
Menon says, “What I wrote is actually a precursor to Indian mythology, where Indra is already an established God. Thundergod is about how he became the king of Gods…My story has only a few instances from mythology, a deliberate attempt not to play on that but more on the fictional aspect of storytelling.”
For young readers to start their mythological journey Menon recommends the Amar Chitra Katha series which he grew up on. The author’s interest in mythology goes beyond Indian myths to encompass Greek, Mesopotamian and Norse legends.
With a background in screenplay writing, Menon initially envisioned Thundergod as a film. But during the research process, the very idea of squeezing it all into a two-hour film seemed unjust. “Then I thought, why not a book?”
Considering the market at present is flooded with books on mythology, will having another one make a difference?
“Different authors have different approaches and the period Thundergod has been set in, is an era prior to the ones mentioned in the books available currently,” he says.
