/>

Igniting imagination

Suniti Namjoshi says her latest book was inspired by a birthday card

Updated - February 18, 2016 04:16 pm IST - Bengaluru

Creating tales in realistic settings Is Suniti’s style Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Creating tales in realistic settings Is Suniti’s style Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Renowned fabulist and poet Suniti Namjoshi’s latest offering The Boy and Dragon Stories and Other Tales is typical of the author’s style —nuanced and layered. Marking a departure from good men killing evil monsters, The Boy and Dragon Stories… is the story abouta boy who is supposed to punish a dragon. Since neither knows how to go about it, the boy and dragon become friends instead. “It is true that I write fables,” writes Namjoshi in an email interview, “My intentions aren’t didactic. I don’t want to tell children or adults what to think, I merely want them to think, and sometimes I just want them to enjoy the story and the writing.”

The book falls under the category of magic realism. “I suppose what people mean when they use the term is that the work contains unlikely events and fabulous creatures in convincing and realistic settings. It seems to me that as the events and the creatures are all inside a story, they are all literary; so that inside a story a tiger is as real or unreal as a dragon,” explains Namjoshi, who has written path-breaking children’s books such as Aditi Adventures , Blue and other stories and Little i .

Namjoshi writes the boy and dragon stories began with a birthday card a friend sent her. “It had a picture of a dragon being towed by a boy.” She adds sometimes an image or a phrase ignites one’s imagination. “Then one just has to follow the logic of the imagery. In a sense the story writes itself.” How important is imagination for reading and learning? “Stories and poems are made out of other stories and poems and one’s own experience. They should and do ignite the imagination. And of course, the imagination matters – it is one way of thinking. Imagery, metaphor, similes – these are all ways in which we can try to make sense of our experience or at least express it.” The book trailer gives a glimpse into the stunning illustrations by Bengaluru-based Krishna Bala Shenoi. “I was so pleased when Krishna Bala Shenoi, who illustrated these stories did exactly what I had hoped he would do – he allowed them to speak to his own imagination,” writes Namjoshi.

A symbiotic approach Krishna, a multi-talented artist, who illustrates, makes short films and animations, speaks of how he went about illustrating the book. “Tulika Books would send me the text of the book, I’d read and re-read it and try to internalise the stories to develop a sense of tone and style, and then I start sketching. We go back and forth until we decide on what the images look and feel like, what our characters look like, and what each illustrations will show. After that I do each illustration.”

The 21-year-old adds that he illustrated the images digitally using a graphics tablet, “But I employed a classical sensibility because the stories felt classical yet timeless.”

Krishna says the stories in The Boy and Dragon Stories and Other Tales are evocative. “Suniti’s stories are at once dynamic and delicate, and so my images had to exist in a comfortable space between those two qualities. The illustrations also had to have the thoughtfulness of the stories —underneath the incredible sense of adventure, there is a quieter, more contemplative sensibility to most of Suniti’s stories in this collection.”

Krishna ensured the illustrations added to the story. “I have learnt that part of my job as an illustrator is to not only visually depict the stories but also to add to them. My designs of the boy and the dragon are most likely what children will visualize as they read the book, obviously, but beyond that, the way I light a scene or my choice of what to show could also inform how a person understands the story. It is a very delicate, hard-to-explain thing, but it happens. What you want in an illustrated storybook is for the text to enrich the illustrations and the illustrations to enrich the text,” concludes Krishna, who even received a letter of praise for his talent from Steven Spielberg, an extract of which is published in Krishna’s website.

The Boy and Dragon Stories and Other Tales is a Tulika Books publication.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.