An ‘Anaconda’ snaking through a housing settlement teaches children how important it is to dispose off garbage without injuring the environment; a child labourer provides glimpses of a life that is spent away from classrooms and comfortable homes, a bored teenager gets out of the rut by teaching children of construction workers, while a trip to a sacred grove turns out to be an eye-opener for a city-bred kid who is mesmerised by the flora and fauna there.
Seventeen short stories about children have been written for children by Elizabeth Thomas Tharakan (under the pseudonym Bina Thomas). Each story has certain values neatly woven into it.
An archaeologist by training, Bina’s first book is a collection of stories that were printed in Sakal , a Pune-based English daily. With a preface by author Paul Zacharia, Anaconda In My Backyard and Other Stories comprises tales that tries to sensitive children to the environment, child labour, inequality and civic and social issues.
“The stories move through a spectrum of value-based models of good citizenship, ranging from concern for the environment and nature to confronting issues such as child labour and sound pollution and the spreading of joy and goodwill through spontaneous acts of mercy, honesty and generosity,” writes Zacharia in his foreword to the book.
Instead of an adult teaching or hectoring the children, the protagonists in her tales imbibe the social message the author tries to convey and become the change themselves. They discover new insights and open their eyes to the realities around them. Parents, grandparents and teachers appear as facilitators to help the children find a solution and, at times, to guide them in the right direction or seek the help of other adults.
“I used to work with a Pune-based non-governmental organisation that helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds. That familiarised me with the difficulties and problems of such children and also the immense potential they have. In those days, I had a column in the daily and that was when I wrote these stories,” says Bina, who is now special officer in charge of coordinating activities for nominating two monuments of Kerala State into UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Although some of the stories do have a Puneri flavour to it with children celebrating Holi with natural colours, buying gifts for Deepavali and going on jaunts to a devrai (sacred grove), the values conveyed in these stories are universal.
“I have tried to keep it simple and non-preachy and yet include an issue that children can relate to. My son Vineet was about ten when these stories were first written. He had a huge group of friends in our building. Many of the characters in these stories have been given the names of his friends. Every week, they used to eagerly wait for the stories to appear in print and would be delighted to see their names in print,” recalls Bina.
Since she became an aunt when she was a school student herself, thanks to her siblings who were much older to her, Bina says she enjoys being around with children. And when she became a mother herself, she enjoyed telling and reading stories for her children. Aware of her ability to engage with children, her brother Nicky Thomas, an artist in Goa, always encouraged her to write and get her works published.
The stories and the cover have been beautifully illustrated by Rakesh P. Nair. Published by Folio, Anaconda … is their first book for children.
And the Anaconda in the story is not of the reptile family but a rivulet that turns into a slimy open drain that flows behind a housing colony. The story tells you how the Anaconda was cleaned.
Bina hopes that she will be able to come up with a new book for children.
