A chat with Shruthi Rao on writing for children

A while ago, I posted an interview with Debasmita Dasgupta about her illustration projects and her adventures illustrating children’s story books. Debasmita’s latest illustration project was the gorgeous little book called ‘Avani and the Pea Plant’. My son loves this books with its simple story and lively illustrations. Since we plant vegetables in our garden and just finished gobbling the last crop of the sweetest peas, this book about how a little girl discovers a pea plant in her garden felt so familiar and endearing.

Today, I’m chatting with Shruthi Rao, the author of this story book. If I could, I’d have loved to talk with her about writing, a mom-writer’s life and children’s books over cups of steaming coffee. But since that’s not possible at this moment, I did the next best thing – invited her over to my blog for a bit of writerly gupshup.

 Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I've lived most of my life in Bangalore, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area less than a year ago. I live with my husband and a story-monster (our 8-year-old daughter). I have a post-graduate degree in Energy Engineering, and worked in the software industry for a few years. And then I changed tracks and started writing. I love books and long walks. You can find out more about me and my published work on http://www.shruthi-rao.com or on my blog http://nychthemeron.blogspot.com

What kind of things do you enjoy writing?

I've experimented with different kinds of writing, but what I love most is to write fiction. To create worlds and to populate them with characters who sometimes take on a life of their own -- it is a beautiful feeling. I also enjoy editing -- to play around with a piece of text, spruce it up and make it all shiny and impressive!

You’ve been writing for children for sometime now, right? Will you please tell us about your other books?

I haven't written for children as much as I have for adults. But yes, I've published a few children's stories here and there, and have written children's content for several NGOs. One of my stories, The Story Lady, won the Unisun-Reliance TimeOut contest in 2011, and it was converted into a picture book by Unisun Publishers.

image credit: Debasmita Dasgupta

Please tell us about your journey from thinking up the idea of Avani and the Pea Plant to getting it published.

Avani and the Pea Plant grew out of one of the stories I told my daughter when she was a toddler. She loved stories, and she was full of questions. Once she asked me how plants and trees grow without anybody planting the seed and watering them. To (partially) answer that question, I made up this story, which she loved, and asked me to narrate to her again and again. A couple of years later, for some reason, I remembered the story again, and thought it might make a good picture book. So I wrote it down and sent it to Pratham. I'm delighted with how it has turned out -- the illustrations by Debasmita Dasgupta are gorgeous.

Are you writing another story book?

A book for children, "The Secret Garden", is about to go into print. I wrote this for Nature Science Initiative. The book has been beautifully laid out, full of the most wonderful illustrations and cartoons and photographs, and I'm looking forward to its release.

What would you say to those who want to write and publish a children’s story book?

I'm a novice myself, so I can't really afford to give advice to others! But I've gathered from the picture books I've liked that it probably helps to retain a child's sense of wonder about the world around you.

Thank you Shruthi!

#storybooks #wednesdayinterview #writing

Re-starting the reading habit with my son

Even before my son was born, I knew I wanted to read to my child. One of the most appealing images of parenthood for me was of a parent and a child snuggled up under a quilt with a dreamy expression on their faces and a brightly illustrated storybook propped up against their knees.

So, of course, I had stock piled a collection of picture books and was determined to read to my son from the day he tumbled out of the womb, all ripe and wrinkly. I finally did start reading to him when he was three weeks old, and he seemed to enjoy listening and looking at stories in the way a newborn could. Solemnly with eyes as round as marbles.

As I made my way across this foreign terrain of motherhood, with its cracked ice ground and egg-shell thin emotions, I clutched to stories. As I fumbled and stumbled in those initial long months, it was stories and books, pictures and a legacy of reading that I held on to. Always hoping that my son would one day love books and that one day, I’d be more of the mother I wanted to be.

Fast forward a year, and my son was loading books onto his pillow, asking for more stories to be read before he was finally ready to go to bed. We’d read anywhere from eight to 10 books in a day. And while, I would get bored of reading his favorites again and again and again, I was secretly happy that he had dived into the land of books with such enthusiasm.

Fast forward another year-and-a-half, right to the present. The box of children’s books beckons us brightly from the corner of the room. The regular pile of children’s books, tucked under the pillow, begs to be shuffled and exchanged for new ones. My son still loves stories just as much, but I lie beside him, tired of reading one book after another. Laziness. That’s what it is on my part. And a need for shaking up the old routine.

So here I am today, renewing my vows to read more to my son, to offer him stories before his afternoon nap and before he nods off at night. I’m crafting this reading goal with a healthy dollop of realism, which means that he not only enjoys listening to the stories, but that I equally enjoy reading/telling them as well. And for this, I’ll choose books and the number of books, depending on how much time and energy we have to offer to this ritual on that particular day. So, rather than choosing between 10 books a day and no books at all, we do books to suit the day. The middle path that makes story reading doable.

And this time, since he is older and very interested in the nuances of language, I want to also introduce him to the world of audio stories. I love the free story apps and I am also considering trying out a subscription to Sparkle Stories with their treasure chest of beautifully told stories about children and animals and gnomes.

So, here’s to reading to children. And here’s to a new promise to sustain and thrive on this journey into the land of stories!

What kind of books do you enjoy reading to your children?

#storybooks #reading

A chat about business and books with Megha Mehta

I’d like you to meet my buddy from my Institute of Integrative Nutrition days. Megha Mehta is a mother, health coach, writer and business woman, and she juggles all these roles with her balance mantra. Here we chat about what she does and how we as mothers can find time to fit in our dreams.

(Psst…Megha also has a offer for 20 of our blog readers. So stay tuned!)

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I am a holistic health coach and energy medicine practitioner and a work from home mother of a 4yr old.

I started coaching 3 years ago and my work has been evolving ever since. I most actively work with women - working and stay at home mothers.

Megha, you’d published a book earlier, right? What was it about? 

My first book was called Find Your Rhythm - feel your way to perfect wellness. It was all about letting go of the stress around being healthy and eating well. It was about understanding the huge role that our bodies' play in guiding us towards eating and living well.

What is your current book about? Have both your books been self-published?

This book is an updated second version and is called Find Your Rhythm - Your Guide To Eating and Living Optimally For Your Body's Specific Needs.

Both my books have been self published.

Will you please share with the process of self-publication?

It's a hugely creative process that gives you full freedom to create your work the way you like it. You can decide the level, scale, and intensity of work and time and money investment that you would like to put in.

I enjoyed the process very much but it was also very draining in parts. I have learned a lot through the process however!

You also run a essential oils biz. Please tell us about the blends you create and the idea behind this biz.

Essential Oils are the most purest and potent part of the plants and I have been fascinated by them for a long time. In fact, I got so hooked to them that I gradually collected a drawer full of essential oils from different countries. I use them for every day mood upliftment, refreshing, relaxing, soothing, and also specific purposes like adrenal support.

When I moved back to India I realised that the range of essential oils here was very limited and also there were barely any blends available. That's when I decided to create some of the most useful blends under my brand name - The Balance Mantra.

The first three in this range are Perk Up - for relaxation, calming and uplifting, DeBuzz for mosquitoes and bugs and De Congest for Sinus congestion, colds and flus.

We are soon launching blends for sleep, meditation and prayers too. They're all available online on Amazon.

How do you think moms like us can take an idea and create it into a tangible product/business ?

I think it's important to start with the message that you want to share with the world. What is the thing that you want to shout from roof tops about - and want the world to take notice and adopt?

Then find ways to get your message out there. Blog, youtube channel or even just your Facebook account are great ways to refine your message and clarify your communication about the idea you're passionate about. As you start interacting with people about the idea, you'd have gotten your market research and will find the confidence to launch!

Will you please tell us more about the offer that you have for our readers?

For the blog readers I'd like to offer 20 spots to get the online training program 'Body Feedback System' for free when they order my book Find Your Rhythm' this 29th of March' 2016 on Amazon.in.

1.Go to Amazon.in - search for Find Your Rhythm.
2. Order for the print or Kindle version online
3. Forward me the email receipt at megha@thebalancemantra.com to get your free access.

The spots are only 20 so make sure to be the first few to order.

#motherhood #wellness

This is what Neerja made me think of

Yesterday, I watched Neerja, a movie starring Sonam Kapoor, featuring the life of Neerja Bhanot. “Neerja, the vivacious and brave senior flight purser of Pan Am, who was felled by the hijacker’s bullets during the Pan Am holdup at Karachi airport on September 5, 1986, barely 25 hours before her 23^rd birthday.”

It’s not your ideal weekend movie, where you want to munch on caramel popcorn and swap a slew of comments with your movie partner. It’s not a movie to saunter in with gleeful excitement and come out feeling light and fresh. It’s not the film version of a chick lit.

‘Neerja’ is hard core reality, the story of that day, when the light went out of the lives of a family, who doted on their youngest daughter, aptly nicknamed ‘Lado’. The movie is raw and dark and poignant, like the incident portrayed. And the story of this young woman, who like a true soldier, put service before self, is inspiring and heart breaking in equal measure.

The part that dug its tentacles deep into my heart, was when her family back home hear of the hijacking and clutch to a splinter of hope. Hope that she will return safe and sound, hope that she will enjoy wearing the yellow outfit that her mother had bought for her birthday, hope that this girl who was an answer to their prayers would again be shielded in an armor of their prayers. 

These kinds of nights are the longest for mothers, for all those mothers across the world whose children are caught between death and a hard place. We’re not sure what the first hours of daylight will bring: a reason to celebrate life or a reason to mourn the twisted turns of fate. And through all of this we clutch on the stray seams of hope, wondering if we’ll ever be able to cope if the latter happens.

Neerja Bhanot

When I came back home, I googled Neerja Bhanot and recognized her face from the print advertisements of the 1980's in magazines that she had modeled for. It’s difficult to believe that this gorgeous girl with luminous eyes and a sunny smile had her life cut shot by hijackers. It’s always difficult to accept such wanton waste of life. The life of this beautiful, brave girl; the lives of those strapping young men in uniform who take the bullet for their country; the lives of all those who do not get to grow old.

In an ideal world, we’d all grow old, wouldn’t we? We’d all get to worry about wrinkles and grey hair. We’d all get to wear our dreams on our sleeves and celebrate the twinkling milestones that decorate our youth. We’d all get to find our soulmates and see our children grow up. We’d even get to play with our grandchildren and embark on our second careers and globe trotting plans.

But in a not-your-ideal-world, under the harsh spotlight of reality, all we have is now and a bright, shiny chance wrapped in the gift of each day, to start afresh and spin happiness from what’s at hand. And it’s this, this offer of contentment and joy amidst the daily and mundane, that we so often overlook.

In a haze of ambition and animosity, judgments and jealousy, the daily and the deadlines, we forget that today is a gift not meant to be squandered.

That we’re here on this earth for as long as we’re meant to be and not a minute more.

That what we can really nourish ourselves with is love and joy, and not power and wealth that we so often prefer over the former.

Like Neerja used to say (in the movie and I’m guessing in her life too), “Zindagi lambi nahin, badi honi chahiye (a good is measured by how you live it and not by its length).

What are you doing today to lead a ‘badi’ life ? 

Carry on this conversation at our Facebook Page.


#neerja #neerjabhanot