Words that Fly

Thirty-something Rao likes the concept of story-telling in terms of sound. “I made students hear the sounds of Mumbai and asked them to localise these and create stories. What I observed was that many got natural surroundings,spaces and corresponding sounds into their stories,” says the former journalist,who conducts regular workshops in story-telling and theatre with Lovleen Mishra at Prithvi Theatre.

Rao wrote her first novel Amie and the Chawl of Colour,a child’s fantasy,when her first born was 11 months old and views the process of writing as a relief from the pragmatic lifestyle. “It helps get away from places,people and lives,” says Rao,adding that it is a challenge to make fantasy believable.

A mother of two girls,Rao notes that it is pleasurable and challenging to constantly figure out what children enjoy reading. Small things in everyday life,Rao says,sparks off a story. Her work Annie & the Chawl of Colours was a magical tale of bringing colour back into the city. Amie’s city,Doombay,was left sans any colour,making usually friendly people think in black and white,leading to petty differences. The only way to cure Amie’s ill mother is to bring back colour. So Amie embarks on a quest — a magical adventure. “In children’s writing,you have to constantly check not to express it with an adult thought or language. Now children’s writing in India is seeing an upsurge. So much work is being translated into English,” says Rao,who’s novel Meanwhile Upriver is meant for adults. It is a story about two outsiders struggling to find the courage to swim upriver,till an unforeseen connection brings them together.

Rao is now looking forward to the release of Growing Up in Pandupur later this month. The narrative is based in a fictional place Pandupur,located near a hydro-electric power plant,somewhere near Coorg. The town has two schools,one for the elite and the other for normal children. “There are children of all age groups and classes. On the outskirts is a forest,where dam-displaced people live,” says Rao,who has co-authored the book with her sister Aditihi Rao. The story deals with varied issues,from consumerism to separated parents,child abuse,religious tolerance,respect for elders,care of animals,compassion and thoughtfulness. “There is no moralising or preaching — it’s a story that people can enjoy and relate to,” adds Rao.