It's raining fish on StoryWeaver! Have you read our latest story on friendship?
drenched in a rain of fish.
Here’s an interview with author Ramendra Kumar in which he talks about the joys of writing and narrating children’s stories.
You wrote a story based on Delwyn’s illustrations. What was your experience of weaving a story around these illustrations?
I enjoyed spinning a yarn around Delwyn’s charming illustrations. In fact, after school, this was the first time I was indulging in this kind of hands-on creativity and it was a real fun.
What do you love most about being a children’s author?
I am a writer as well as a storyteller for children. The response of the young to my sessions has been fantastic. In some of my workshops the strength has been nearly 400 while the ideal number for this kind of an event is considered to be around 50. After the sessions the children have often mobbed me with their slam books, class copies and even pieces of paper, asking for autographs. On each of these occasions I have felt like a rock star and prayed that time would stand still. In one school, a ten year old boy came up and told me, “Uncle, this was the happiest day of my life!” On another day, another place a little girl unleashed an affectionate instruction, “Sir, you have to come to our school once every month!”
Spending so much time in the idyllic world of children has taught me that the only way to be happy is to be like them. I believe we adults should strive to adopt the natural, unselfconscious behaviour of the child. That is a far more effective way of seeking happiness than looking for packaged mokshas and branded nirvanas. When I’m in the company of kids I feel much younger and far more vibrant. Even a few minutes with the little hearts and souls are like an injection of elixir. Will it be too immodest to say that I look much younger than my age because I spend so much time in the pure and pristine world of children?!
What do you d??o and where do you go when you desperately need inspiration to write? Yes, we’re asking you to spill your secrets.
I know I cannot have the luxury to choose the time and place, create the right kind of ambience and wait for inspiration to strike. I have cultivated the habit of writing quite comfortably in chaos, shutting out the world to create my own universe of creativity. And in this haven I write as often as I want and as long as I want. I have written in railway compartments, on flights, in boring meetings, in dull conventions…
For a multilingual platform like StoryWeaver, it’s important to have stories in as many languages as possible. We want ‘The Day It Rained Fish’ to available in multiple languages so that more children can read it in languages of their choice. Could you – our generous community – help us make it available in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Assamese, Spanish and much, much more? Here are some tips on translating.
