New Delhi: Celebrated children’s author and poet Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan and her 13-year-old granddaughter imagined a story about a bird and a dog two years ago. Now it has taken the shape of a book.
“We first started thinking about the book. We wrote a skeleton on a piece of paper. And that’s when the original idea came of bringing in parallel perspectives,” said Mrinalini Levin-Srinivasan, as she spoke about her debut book. “We settled on a bird and a dog – two symbols of freedom and companionship. The idea was to switch between these two realities.”
Titled Bird/Dog, the book was launched on Thursday at Sundar Nursery before a full house of children and parents. Under a white canopy beside Book Nest, the nursery’s newly opened children’s library, birds chirped, peacocks danced and trees swayed as the authors read aloud. Joining them as the special guest was Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, the brother of one author and grand-uncle of the other. Tharoor was also joined by his two sons, their wives, and children. His 90-year-old mother was also sitting in the front row.
The launch kept the audience hooked. The authors took turns reading a chapter and quizzing children afterward.
The book plays on the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side. The bird longs for the comfort of home and love. And the dog dreams of freedom like the bird. Each envies the life of the other. Their journey brings them together, leading them to an unexpected friendship.
“Bird/Dog offers lessons worth learning at any age. At the core, it is a book about freedom and friendship. Think about your closest friend for a moment. Think about how different you might be from each other. You probably see the world differently, you annoy each other and yet it somehow works,” said Shashi Tharoor.
Through the bird and the dog, the book explores freedom, desire and belonging.
Also read: When Asha Bhosle’s driver got worried about her health. She was practising an RD Burman song
Celebrating the young writer
The much-awaited moment came when Tharoor took the mic. Here, he wasn’t a politician or a writer but an uncle and a brother. He made his pitch for the book with his trademark eloquence.
“This is Mrinalini’s first book, which makes it a doubly special delight for our family, well represented in the first row here. There’s a unique joy in witnessing a young writer develop and discover their own voice. And I am delighted to be here to celebrate,” said Tharoor.
Tharoor drew from a scene where Dog looks up at a tall tree and asks, “You’ll take care of this seed, right?” The answer comes back through the wind: “Yes.”
He then moved on to a personal memory. His 90-year-old mother, he pointed out, had planted a mango tree at his government bungalow in Delhi years ago. One day, he said, when he leaves the house, the tree will bear fruit for someone they do not know today.
For Tharoor, this is what reading does: plants something that may bear fruit in unexpected ways and places.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)