By the Book: This week, two books on compassion towards strays and coming to terms with loss

Haru – Manjari Chakravarti (Appropriate for 5+ years.) (Source: Storyweaver)

Haru is a kid who roves the Bengal countryside, nurtured, as is the lot of stray animals, by the kindness of strangers. The local tea stall is his favourite haunt for a round of his favourite breakfast; afternoons find him gambolling in the shade of trees. But, life isn’t always easy for animals with no place to call home. Wandering along a busy road, Haru gets hurt. But, luckily for him, his accident turns out to be fortuitous — it fetches him a
benefactress and a happy home.

Artist and illustrator Manjari Chakravarti’s books for young children are always imbued with a sensitivity to the natural world. This is Where We Live, her earlier wordless book, looked at nature through the eyes of two felines in West Bengal’s university town of Santiniketan.

In Haru, too, the regenerative potential of the slow life and the possible harmonious co-existence between humans and animals come alive through her rich illustrations and minimal text. Chakravarti’s illustrations in water colour and mixed media offer stories of their own — the opening double-spread, in particular, is strongly reminiscent of the iconic opening sequence of Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955).

Part of a collaborative initiative with Humane Society International’s India chapter to sensitise children towards farm animals, Haru is also based on a true story, says Chakravarti in a post-script. After his accident, Haru is fostered by Dida Ituko, the daughter of Kimtaro Kasahara, the Japanese artisan who had arrived in India at the end of the 19th century as a delegation to restore the Bodh Gaya temples and made a home in Santiniketan after he found patronage with the Tagore family.

Ituko spent her life in Santiniketan, keeping a menagerie full of stray dogs, cows, ducks and other birds, whom she rescued and rehabilitated.

Dadaji’s Paintbrush – Rashmi Sirdeshpande with illustrations by Ruchi Mhasane Andersen. (Source: Amazon)

In a nameless Indian village, a little boy and his grandfather are inseparable companions. Dadaji is an artist and in their old house full of paintings, the child takes his first step towards learning how to paint with flowers, leaves and coconut shells, and with DIY brushes made of sticks and cloth and reeds and flowers. Together, they sowed all kinds of vegetables and fruits and sold them in the local market. Grandfather would help the boy and his friends make paper boats when it rained or join them when they savoured juicy mangoes they had harvested. All that the little boy ever wanted was for his grandfather to never leave him. Yet, one day, he does. In a house full of memories, the boy is now left behind with Grandfather’s larger-than-life absence and his gift for him — his best paintbrush. But it hurts him too much to even look at it, let alone use it, and so, the boy mourns his loss in silence and sorrow, till an unexpected visitor comes knocking and slowly pulls him out from his grief and towards solace.

In the last decade, with the opening up of children’s-book publishing in India, a spate of books, including the beautifully told Boo! When My Sister Died by Richa Jha, and Sharanya Manivannan’s The Ammuchi Puchi, have come out for children that deal with important themes such as coming to terms with death and bereavement. Even though it is not an Indian publication, and the price is steep given that it is an import, lawyer-turned- writer Rashmi Sirdeshpande’s story is an important addition to the genre as it tenderly explores the bond between the grandparent and grandson and the latter’s emotional struggle to find an explanation for his trusted companion’s sudden absence. Mhasane, an accomplished illustrator and picture bookmaker herself, moulds the colour palette to reflect the emotional spectrum of the child — from the airy, warm pastel shades, the illustrations take on a darker overtone, before back to light as the child slowly comes to terms with his loss, finding comfort in memories and carrying on Grandfather’s legacy instead.

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