She talks about drawing children away from the world of Peppa Pig and i-Pads and introducing them to the joys of Indian peacocks, folk art and raga Malhar.There is a lot of excellent Indian writing for pre- and early-teens, but not enough for the pre- and primary-school stage for which children have literally torrents of Western material.I feared that my children would be so immersed in the world of Peppa Pig and Lightning McQueen that waiting till they were 10 or 11 to introduce the Indian material was too late.So that is how I got the idea of starting a line of childrens books with stories that revolved around all things Indian, from our iconic birds, trees and animals to our festivals and legends and our very Indian likes and dislikes, like how we suffer in the summer heat and our love of mangoes.
![]() I was sitting at the table on a hot, hot day and thinking longingly about the rains, as we all do in Delhi. And then I started humming a song in Miyan ki Malhar that my Ustad had taught me. Legend has it that Mian Tansen could bring the rains with his Malhar. So then I got the idea for writing about just that, the joy of the monsoon and what is more symbolic of it for us in north India than peacocks dancing in the rain So that is how the story of the Peacock Who Wanted to Fly Like an Eagle came about. It was almost as if they flew in by themselves to join their friend the peacock The story is set in a gardenMadhuvanand while drawing for the story I got the idea of showing as a backdrop all the iconic trees of India. And so, one by one, all the trees sprang up as if by themselves under my fingers the banyan, gulmohar, champa, mango, peepal. All my old wise friends from around DelhiI think it was they who wanted to say something to children and I was only the instrument for it. For instance, parrots and peacocks are a favorite subject in dance and when I go for storytelling in schools, I invite the dance teacher to show the children a few movements to depict the birds. ![]() Then when I made this story into an animated video, I was able to use music. Ustad Arif Ali Khan, sarangi maestro of the famous Kairana Gharana composed a wonderful score using the Malhar bandish that was made famous in the film song Bole Re Papihara, with Jaya Bahaduri (as she then was). I even worked with master puppeteer Santosh Bhatt to make this story into a puppet show with all the different birds. One of my dreams is to make my storyThe Battle of Northwayinto a dance drama. It is about a war between the good rakshasas of Ambavan and the evil magician King Hamlin of Northway. I can see it as a fusion between Kathakali and western ballet dancers. The themes are often drawn from naturetrees, birds and animals. ![]() Another set of themes in folk art are scenes from mythology and the great epics of the Ramayana and Mahabharata that children are well familiar with. Then there are depictions in folk art of their favorite festivals like Diwali and Holi.
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