Advay Nathany’s eyes lit up when he heard that there was going to be a second book featuring Mambi the monkey. The Class II boy of Calcutta International School who dreams of becoming a cricketer-cum-professor is all excited about joining the shy little monkey on her capers with Koko the crow and Tonga the turtle again. 

Advay’s friend and classmate Deepro Roy, of course, has a special connection with Mambi. He was picked as the leader of Team Mambi in school! “I love Mambi. I love reading books,” said the boy who wants to become a detective when he grows up. For now he’s busy reading Enid Blyton and Amar Chitra Katha. 

t2 was chatting with these two fine young gentlemen on the sidelines of a workshop by actress-writer-child rights activist Nandana Sen at their school. Nandana’s book, Mambi and the Forest Fire, was published by Puffin this January and she has been visiting numerous gatherings to conduct interactive sessions with kids centred around the themes of courage, friendship and self-worth. 

“It was amazing to hear the comments today, because each kid had a different takeaway from the book, all bang on! One said, it’s important to help others. Another noted, we must be brave even if we are scared. And there was that little girl who presented a long, articulate argument about how it didn’t matter that Mambi couldn’t swim or fly, because she could jump! I was thrilled that they instinctively got what the book is about — that kids shouldn’t feel pressured to be just like their peers, because every child has a very special gift,” Nandana told t2 after the session on Wednesday. 

While there were 80 students from classes I and II at the CIS workshop, a day earlier Nandana did a similar exercise at The Heritage School with nearly 500 kids.

According to CIS junior school principal Pratima Nayar, an author’s visit to the school sparks curiosity among students, especially the little ones. “They want to know what an author is all about, what does he or she do.... May be it will inspire some of them to want to become an author in future,” she smiled.

“Children are full of wonder, so eager to let their imaginations fly, but in a world dominated by moving images and short attention spans, we do need to consciously encourage them to read,” feels Nandana, who is off to Delhi soon for similar sessions in schools. 

And she’s clearly enjoying her time with the children and children’s writing.

“What’s especially fun about writing for children is that you can use fantasy to make reality more vivid for kids — the larger reality they live in, a reality from which privileged children are at times quite disconnected. Many of the stories I’d like to tell grew, in some way or the other, out of my work in child protection....,” said Nandana. 

“In the last few weeks I’ve held 15-odd raucous sessions in multiple cities with hundreds of excited kids, whether in schools, bookstores, lit fests, national parks, or community centres. For me, this kind of interactive storytelling is the most fun part about being a children’s author,” she added. 

Samhita Chakraborty