How is a Fish different from a dog? ?It has no legs. It is silent. A fish can't bark and it won't lick you all over the face. You can't cuddle it. And the biggest difference is that a fish lives in water?, read out Anushka Ravishankar to an excited audience; cheering and clapping as the daily-life adventures of Zain and Ana, unfolded before them.
The author did a dramatised reading of a few chapters from the book which was accompanied by a brief stage-play. The special guests at the launch of the book At least a Fish , were children from various schools in the city.
The event held recently at the Landmark Book store, Citicentre was humming with activity, with the excited shoutings and loud laughs of the audience. To the surprise of the organisers of the event, the seats were all packed well before time and they had to make extra seating arrangements for school children gathered in large groups to see their favourite author.
Anushka handed over the first copies of the book to Shreya Thomas and Tarun Lakshman. As she read out the story, Shreya Thomas and Tarun Lakshman enacted the scenes, playing the roles of Ana and Zain. The roles of Dr.Nirmala, Ana's mother Mrs Bopanna and Zain's sister Sameera were performed by Susane Thomas, Geetha Lakshman and Diya.
At the end was a brief interactive session. Children came out with questions like ?what she liked most about India' and ?which is her favourite pet animal'; while some were very curious to know more about Ana and Zain. After the event, they flocked around the author with copies of the book to get her autograph.
Anushka spoke to the young readers saying, ?Don't read a book just because you have to learn something from it. Read it because it is fun to do so.?
To a question, Anushka answered that her daughter was her inspiration to write this book. ?She had a fish when she was small and when it died, she had held a burial.?
Sayoni Basu, Director Publishing - Scholastic India, gave the welcome speech.
