Devashish Makhija is driven to maniac curiosity about little things like why the ‘butter-fly’ is not called the more befitting ‘flutter-by’. To distract himself, he makes films, does graphic –art, writes poetry, stands on his head each morning, and sings songs to the Bombay pigeons each night.
translation Devashish Makhija design Nina Sabnani We are tall tumbling treesWe are berries in the breezeWe are tigers, we are haresWe are rumbling rolling bears… The rhythm of the verse draws us beat by beat into a forest, lush and alive. But who are the ‘we’, so steeped in every part of it? Words and pictures sing together in this light and...
Paploo is a curious little fellow, full of questions and not afraid of asking – why this, why that, why not, why now. And that's how children should be, says the author, full of questions and free to come to their own conclusions. Pictures and words in verse are delightfully stood on their heads in this story that amuses even as it sets the reader...
Mr Moochvaala and his mechanical monsters are going to cut down Bargad chawl, and its residents are worried. They are in danger of losing their homes – their nooks and crannies, shelters and perches in the big banyan tree. It is left to Ali the monkey to find a way out. He swings, jumps and leaps into action, and comes up with a monkey trick that gives a...
This powerful film-to-novel sits deep in the clash between adivasis, naxalites, the CRPF and a rapacious mining company. But at the heart is little Oonga. Desperate to see a performance of ‘Sitaharan’, he goes on an epic journey to the big city – to return as the blue adivasi prince of the forest, Rama himself! And, Rama-like, he takes on the gun-wielding...
