Bijal Vachharajani’s novel for children, A Cloud Called Bhura , weaves a familiar tale of children turning into ‘climate champions’ to rid their city of a huge brown cloud of pollutants and noxious gases, as community togetherness and friendship are put to the test. Published by Talking Cub and illustrated by Aindri C., the 243-page book that released late last year is both a humorous and thought-provoking read, and a great way to get young ones familiar with what climate change is all about. Vachharajani won the Best Author – Children Award at the Auther Awards 2020.
Weaving a tale
The germ for this story of “Bhura Cloudus,” (as the big brown enemy is termed by the media persons in the book) originated when Vachharajani was studying climate in Costa Rica for a year during her masters, where she learnt about the brown cloud phenomena. “I was fascinated by the fact that we were seeing something so tangible, and yet there was very little political build or media reportage about it,” she explains. Learning about environmental issues made Vachharajani realise that climate change is defined less by the science behind it and more by what people think of it, so she wanted to explore these different perspectives and tie them together in some way.
And so the story of Amni and her three friends, Tammy, Andrew and Mithil came into being, that follows the four mates in their struggle to get help, and political and public attention onto Bhura, trying to find ways to eliminate it from their beloved city of Mumbai. The city – where she grew up – was one of the main inspirations for her book, the other being the children that Vachharajani has met over the years. “I’ve worked at Sanctuary Asia , TimeOut, with Disney Adventures– and even now at Pratham Books, I’m constantly interacting with children. They are amazing in what they do. You talk to kids and they ask questions like ‘How can we change the world?’ and ‘What can we do to help?’” says the Bengaluru-based writer, who is senior editor at Pratham Books.
Cast of characters
Does Vachharajani see herself in Amni, who always stands for what is right no matter what the consequences? “I think Amni is way smarter than I am, any day! She is a little bit me, though. As a child, my head was filled with trivia but like Amni, I could never really say it. When I go to classrooms, I find that there are children like her who are intelligent, but are also awkward and shy. They aren’t always comfortable raising their hands and answering questions. I wanted Amni to be like that. As one of my friends has said, she’s a little too good!”
Featuring other characters that Indian children would be familiar with, from Mota Bhai the cunning politician to Vaatodiyo Bahuche the screaming TV anchor, and even focusing on caste issues and giving readers glimpses of the Ambedkarite movement, A Cloud Called Bhura is equal parts informative and entertaining. Explains the author, “When I first started writing the book, the main protagonist was Amni. But as I read more, and had discussions with my late partner Abhiyan, I realised that for a lot of environmental issues, inequality is perhaps one of our biggest dividers. It’s a big reason for vulnerability. It was through conversations with Abhiyan on the Ambedkarite movement, and by meeting people who are invested in it, that I realised that it’s something that children really should know about and it should be talked about.”
Starting small
Vachharajani, whose next book (co-authored by Radha Rangarajan) is a series of interviews with environmentalists and wildlife activists from India, hopes that Amni and Tammy’s story urges both kids and adults alike to continue the conversation around the topics in her novel and give them some steam.
How can kids become ‘climate champions’ like Amni and her classmates? Vachharajani suggests that they can start in small ways, by changing their habits and attitudes towards the environment and educating their families on the topic too, and then slowly graduate to participating in larger initiatives like Fridays for Future (environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s brainchild that involves skipping school to demonstrate against global warming and climate change). “Knowledge is power. Children of today have so much more access to information than we did growing up. Just learning about the topic, being able to have informed discussions in classrooms, demanding a better environmental education curriculum – just give them a little nudge and children will run with it,” emphasises Vachharajani.
