Freak Out

After the seminar,Chattarji wrote a series of poems for young readers. “However,the majority of the poems in the book were written after Scholastic planned a collection,” she says. She finds a determination to write poems in many youngsters who come for her poetry workshops during Prithvi Summertime in Mumbai. One such talent is 10-year-old Ebrahim,to whom the poem is dedicated. The JRR Tolkien-loving Ameya is another; Chattarji has dedicated “The Crab and the Crane: A Retelling” to him. “Some poems get attached to a specific face,” says the 38-year-old,as she shares the stories behind dedications.

Chattarji also narrates the incident that gave the collection its name. “When we were served palak-puri at a lunch during the Jaipur Literature Festival,the young British poet Matthew Hollis called it ‘fried frog’. I thought that was a nice title for a poem. Eventually,that became the title of the book,” she says. Chattarji,known for translating and retelling children’s stories and poems,admits to “the huge influence” Sukumar Ray has had on her. “Even before I learned to read,lines from Ray’s Abol Tabol had been in my mind as my father used to read them to me,” says Chattarji,whose translation of Abol Tabol and other nonsense verse and prose by Ray was published as Wordygurdyboom.

What adds to The Fried Frog’s charm are funny illustrations by Priya Kuriyan. “They make the book very funky. Though I have never met Priya,she shares my macabre sense of humour,” says Chattarji. They also play a significant role in making the collection interactive. For those who are looking for more,there are poems like :Spooky”,just perfect for performance.

However,some of the poems in the collection are meant of adults,like “Boys Meant Skinny” and “Used to Be”. They are reflective poems on Chattarji’s childhood in Darjeeling. In the coming months,she says she will be more focused on writing for adults. May be this has to do with her debut novel,Rupture,being released and the second,The Land of the Well,slated to arrive in 2010.