CST's very own children's book

Treasure at the Train Station is the latest offering from Goodearth publications.  The book contains a simple sweet story which blends the present and past of Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj Train Terminus, one of the oldest landmarks in Mumbai. A brief history of the train station and other interesting tidbits about Mumbai and its other landmarks are added bonus. The illustrations complement the story adequately and bring the tiny, unique Mumbai moments to life. 

Not every book on Mumbai gets me excited. This one did. A must for every Mumbai loving kid and adult!

The book has been written by Joeanna Rebello Fernandes  and illustrated by Hitesh Sonar and Rituparna Sarkar. Kahani Takbak interacted with Joeanna Rebello Fernandes and Rituparna Sarkar to know more.

Joeanna Rebello Fernandes calls Bombay home even though she lives in Gurgaon. For a decade she has written news features for a leading newspaper. She loves old buildings; They’re the quickest way to time-travel.

1.Was it easy to write fiction after writing news features for so many years?

It was more challenging than trying to enter the evening Thane Fast with my hair intact! When at first I started to research Victoria Terminus, I gathered a mountain of facts and tried to squeeze them into this dune of a story. It was the reining hand of my publisher and editor, Swati Mitra, that helped me decide which facts to weave into the story -- making the UNESCO World Heritage award for example, part of the plot -- and what to save for the fact section at the back of the book, like the story of the first passenger train ride from Bori Bunder station to Thana. I also inadvertently kept asking Swati what 'wordcount' she expected, another habit from the newsroom! 

Joeanna Rebello

2. Did the story lodge itself organically into your head? Or were you commissioned to write this book?

It was again Swati who suggested I write a children's book for Goodearth, a company for which I work as consultant editor. It was she too who suggested I locate the story in Bombay. Once we settled on VT, the building itself supplied part of the cast, in the form of its animal sculptures. And with a nepotistic upper hand I brought my own twins into the book, names and all! I modelled Neelkamal, their grandfather, after my own father-in-law, who shares a fabulous relationship with my kids. In fact, I mirror some of their conversations and phrases in the book (they call him 'Popsicle'!). The story came to me piece by piece, but Swati weighed in now and then with helpful insights and direction.   

3. What is your relationship with Mumbai? Were you born and brought up in Mumbai? 

Bombay is home. My parents and in-laws continue to live in Mazagon, one of the original seven islands. I'd lived there most of my life, until a couple of years ago when I left for Chennai and later, Gurgaon, where I now live (temporarily). 

4. How long did it take to write this book?

It took about 6-8 months I think, but we revisited the story a couple of times to refine it. 

5. The book has a simple, short storyline. Did the word count hamper the further  development of the story? 

I think not. I felt I've managed to move the story along at a decent clip and bring it back to stable in good time, without making the ride seem pointlessly protracted.   

  

6. Among all the landmarks in Mumbai, why did you choose Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus ( CST) as the setting?

We want to start a series on Great Indian Buildings, drawing children to appreciate built heritage and architecture; we are after all surrounded by dozens of architectural gems. Once we settled on Bombay, Victoria Terminus became an obvious choice. 

Why?  For one, the animals sculptures. They're everywhere, hidden in plain sight. As i'd wait for a bus outside the station, I'd try to spot them in the decayed stone, beaks bent or wings snapped. You only have to stare hard at them to realise they're the perfect cast for a children's story on Bombay. They're just waiting to spring out! VT's great beauty, its place in the history of the railways in India, and as a defining symbol of the Steam Age in Bombay, all combined to make this our first and last stop.   

  
Know more about the illustrations in Treasure at the Train Station :

Rituparna Sarkar is the founder-director of the visual communication studio Bombay Design House. A graduate from the National Institute of design, she likes to sketch and paint the classical way-pencil to paper, finishing it off digitally.

Hitesh Sonar is a graphic artist and illustrator with Bombay Design House. Sketching is his first love.

Rituparna Sarkar

1. What is your association with this city? 

I've lived in this city ever since I graduated from college (the National Institute of Design) since 2007. So now its been more than 11 years here - which I realised is the longest I've ever lived in any city since I was born. (I was born in Kolkata but spent my school life in Delhi and college years in Ahmedabad)

The city gave me my first 'grown up' home, job and life - along with everything else that is so special about Bombay - the exposure, the energy, the vibrance and culture amongst its people, the rains and of course, the Sea! Why, I even run a design film called Bombay Design House. 

2. Is this your first book for children?

No its not. Hitesh and I have worked on a bunch of books for Penguin before - the Ruskin Bond series, the Feluda series etc.

Our recent book with Penguin is called 'MyFirst Book of Money' (by Ravi Subramaniam)

However the above are not fully illustrated books like the Good earth books.

A few years ago we did design another fully illustrated book called 'Lost in the Woods' (written by Kashvee Barjatya)

                                                                                                                               

3.How did Hitesh and you approach this project? How many trips did you make to CST? Or did you rely on the internet and books to capture the beauty?

From the very beginning, Hitesh and I decided to approach the book in two distinct styles - one for the 'real' bits of the story and one for the magical and fantastical bits (the night scenes when all the animals come alive!)

We visited CSMT at the beginning and observed and documented by clicking a lot of photos. We also researched on it on the net, read up on the historical bits.

Even though I've been to CSMT in the past, it wasn't till I read Joeanna's lovely story that I actually focused on spotting each and every little sculpture and animals in the carvings.

4. Any challenging moments while executing this project?

The project was a lot of fun to work on, to be honest - and Swati (she is the publisher for Goodearth Books) and Joeanna (the author) turned out to be a very involved and supportive throughout the process.

The challenge was probably in dealing with all the details (it was important to be more or less true to the architecture of the place) which took time and patience, but it was worth it.

5.Tell us a bit about the art styles used in this book.

For the day (real) scenes are painted by hand using water colours, which I love working with. Then those were scanned in and enhanced on Photoshop. The protagonists were painted digitally and added in. 

The night scenes were created completely digitally using a very stylised and bold colour palette - and the original sculpture forms were enhanced to make them into an array of interesting animal characters.

We wanted both styles to be distinct - both in terms of style and colour palette.

6. Any more future book projects for children in the near future?

Hopefully some more with Goodearth again! They do come out with some really lovely and indulgent books for children.

Also, I'm currently working with Puffin on my own book - an anthology of interesting words for children that I’m both writing and illustrating.

 Opening paragraph of Treasure at the Train Station:

 It was a stickily hot and a hot stickliy morning in the summer of 1967, when a red-rust –and corn- yellow passenger train came down the tracks of Bombay, its passengers swaying with it like pendulums : tick, tock, tick, tock. Scrubbed school children with square school bags, women with large red bindis and cotton sarees, men in sharply ironed trousers…A long plait here, a bald head there, a brief case there, a bazaar bag there.  Most held something in their hands. But not Neelkamal. He had something on his head. But he couldn’t see it.

 To buy a copy of Treasure at the Train Station, click here.