The History of Muttaji
( This piece was created exclusively for the October 2016 issue of Kahani Takbak, a newsletter by authors for children authors.www.kahanitakbak.com)
Roopa Pai's children's pictorial book , How old is Muttaji (Pratham Books) is a unique Indian book which
blends mathematics, local history with national history.
1. Is the book based on a real
person? Do you know anyone who is as old as Muttaji?
The book is not based on a real person but my
children's Muttajji certainly provided a lot of the inspiration. She is my
husband's grandmother, and she turned 100 years old in June this year. Her
memory is not like Muttajji's - she remembers EVERYTHING from her childhood and
younger days!
2. How
long did Muttaji take to write?
A couple of days
at most... This story was conceived as a STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Math) book for Storyweaver, part of the math series that I was
editing (I edited three math stories and wrote the Muttajji one to make it four
math books), I had a vague idea of the plot before I started - that it would be
about two kids trying to calculate their great-grandmother's age using real
historical events - and the story flowed quite seamlessly when I started to write
it.
3. There is a lot of research
behind writing the book.
Did you stumble upon some
information first and then decided to write the story or it something else?
I have always been
a history buff. My other job, apart from being a children's writer, is being a
tour guide with the history and heritage walks and tours company, Bangalore
Walks. Over the last ten years, I have taken thousands of school and college
students - both local and international - around Bangalore and Karnataka,
introducing their history to them. So, most of the facts in the book were
already in my head when I started.
The other thing is
that I like to write stories that combine information with entertainment and
human interest. I think children, particularly Indian children, not only have
the ability to absorb complex, multilayered, multidimensional, multi-strand
stories, but thrive on them. Perhaps this is the result of being born in a
wonderfully diverse and chaotic land where daily life is a carnival and even
our epics have no straight-forward linearity in stories and involve complex
characters who cannot be classified as white or black. So it came naturally to
me to bring history into a story that already had math in it. :)
4. Did you visit libraries or
newspaper offices to gather information for the book?
All that research
had been done when I was researching many years ago for the history walks. For
this story, I just verified the facts off the Internet and my own collection of
history books.
5. Can you name any good
libraries in Bangalore which has a good collection of history books?
Hippocampus in
Koramangala has a great collection of all kinds of children's books including
history books. So does Kutoohala in Basavanagudi.
6 Do you love Vermicelli Payasa and
pink spongy cakes with pink icing?
I do still love
Vermicelli Payasa but pink icing is no longer something I enjoy. I prefer cakes
without icing now. But it was a favourite when I was a child. :)
7. You have written children books in
different topics-fantasy, science, spirituality and history. What genre have
you chosen next?
A book on
Economics for children is due out in December. I really enjoyed writing that
because I knew nothing about economics when I began.
8. Do you have fond memories of visiting the
KRS dam and Brindavan gardens in your childhood? These two places are a
part of school excursions for a kid growing up in and around Bangalore and
Mysore.
Most definitely! I
have the loveliest memories of Mysore from childhood, which I have had the
opportunity to keep alive with the history walks I lead to the same places
these days. KRS sadly has fallen off the itinerary (it's too far out), but
Srirangapatna and Mysore - including walking the 1000 steps up Chamundi hill, a
visit to the Mysore Palace, and so on - are still a big part of our tours.
9. How can readers get in touch with you?
Yes, I have let
the website lapse - too busy writing. :) But the plan for 2017 is to get a
proper website up once again, with links to all my books and a contact address
for me.
How old is Muttaji? is available online at Storyweaver.org. It should become available in print by the end
of the year. To read the free online version of the book,click here.
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