Shweta Ganesh Kumar's At Home puts spotlight on children’s experiences in times of lockdowns and social distancing

What do children want? How do they feel? These questions are rarely asked when adults fight among themselves to make decisions about what is worth teaching and learning, and how effectively that can be done. This tendency has been evident throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with government officials, teachers and parents all competing to put forth their opinion on the best course of action. Children’s voices have been sorely missing. It was refreshing to come across author Shweta Ganesh Kumar and illustrator Annada Menon’s book At Home, which puts the spotlight on children’s experiences “in a time of lockdowns and social distancing.” The protagonists are a sister-brother duo named Ammini and Unni. They live with their parents in a comfortable house overlooking a mango tree. They spend their days playing indoor games, attending online school, and missing old times. Ammini attends online classes in her nightclothes. All the classmates wave at each other from “the tiny squares” on their respective laptops. The scene is bizarre and saddening. Ammini misses meeting her best friend, Nina, in person. Nina has an older brother. They have to share a computer, so this means that Nina can attend online classes only twice a week. Published by Pratham Books, this book is meant for “older children who can read with confidence.” The author writes, “Ammini misses Nina but she misses school even more. She misses the bumpy rides to school in Gigi chettan’s rickshaw. She misses splashing in the puddles on the playground with Nina. She misses whispering and exchanging tiffin boxes at lunchtime.” Unni is the younger of the two siblings. When Ammini finishes her online classes at lunchtime, Unni asks her if they can go to the playground. Their mother does not like the idea. They decide to play “the volcano lava game” that their mother has taught them. For the unaware, Kumar explains, “The lava game is basically pretending that the floor is lava. You get cushions and blankets and put them all over your house. Then you grab toys and place them all around. The mission is to rescue the toys without setting foot on the floor.” With their words and their images, Kumar and Menon have depicted the joys of childhood. Ammini dotes on her brother. She pacifies him gently when he is upset, and also ensures that they do not disturb their parents. When Unni talks about missing slides, swings and grass, Ammini tells him that she misses the beach, cotton candy, balloons and visiting grandparents. They wonder if they will be able to visit their neighbour’s house for Eid this year. Their father makes coffee and idlis in the morning before online classes. All four family members sit together on the sofa, enjoy each other’s company, and listen to the music. They do not know when they might be able to go for walks or runs but they are happy and safe. Shinibali Mitra Saigal, who edited this sweet little book, says that Pratham Books approached Kumar to write the book because they have worked together earlier and knew that “she would be able to do a stellar job.” Saigal adds, “We wanted a book around the pandemic that just spoke normally about what children were going through and what they missed the most.”

What was her brief for Menon, who has illustrated the book? Saigal says, “We wanted the book to look happy and light even if it spoke about something that had made a tremendous impact on children’s lives. We also wanted the local nuances to be brought alive.” Kumar, who lives in New York City, with her husband, children and dog, wrote the first draft of the book in August 2020. Much of it is based on what her family experienced. Her children were eight and four years old respectively in 2020. She recalls that they used to “sit by the window for hours looking at the playground that was just out of reach.” As soon as she sat down to write, “the words came out in a rush because we were all still in the thick of it.” Kumar says, “When our friends started walking, they would come and stand downstairs calling out to us, and we would talk to them through the window, behind bars in a sense. We still haven’t been able to travel back to India, and by summer, it will be more than two years since they’ve met their grandparents in person.” This is the story of many families in the US and other countries that have not been able to visit India since the onset of the pandemic. The book does not mention whether the story is set in India or the United States. This is helpful because readers across geographical contexts can easily slide into the story. Kumar says, “New York City shut down in March 2020 and what was initially said to be a two-week lockdown ended up becoming a 90-day one. Initially, I was numb, and the only way forward was to focus on my children to make sure I could keep them safe – physically and mentally. It was mainly about putting one step ahead of the next just to keep going.” The process of writing this book was cathartic for her. It gave her a chance to look at the whole experience of living through the pandemic from the viewpoint of a narrator. She says, “It helped me process what we had been through as a unit while focusing on the children’s perspective. Just because they were resilient and not complaining did not mean that their world had not been turned upside-down. Writing this book made me see the world through their eyes, and it gave me hope to believe in the future and be appreciative of small joys.” The lava game played by Ammini and Unni has been a big hit among the children who have read this book. Readers who have reached out to Kumar have told her that they too played it when they were stuck inside their homes. They could relate to what Ammini and Unni were going through – being unable to meet extended family, and seeing friends on laptop screens. Pune-based Menon jumped at the offer to illustrate this story as she wanted to work with Pratham Books. She says, “It was brought to me at the peak of the pandemic. We all know how children had to attend online classes or a few who were not fortunate to attend them. Their energy had to be enclosed in the four walls of their homes. The story depicted the same in a sweet and simple way.” She worked with art director Canato Jimo on the illustrations. Jimo gave Menon a lot of “creative freedom” and “brushed up the pages” wherever a better composition was needed. The character designs were based on references from Kumar’s family. Menon adds, “Apart from their direction I went for a subtle, a slightly pastel colour palette. Also, I guess the family being Malayali helped me put myself in Ammini’s shoes, rather home chappals. I started imagining how my day would have been if I was a child.” She used Procreate and Adobe Photoshop to create digital illustrations for this book. In addition, Menon drew on stories that other adults told her about their children. In her own building compound, she saw that swings and slides were empty because children were not using them. No school buses or autorickshaws were stopping by to pick up and drop them. She says, “My depiction of how a family is spending time together despite the highs and lows was based on the bond that I had in my own home to take inspiration from and illustrate.” Chintan Girish Modi is a freelance writer, journalist and book reviewer.