The whys and hows

Jataka Tales meets Aesoprsquos Fables Readers of a certain vintage who were exposed to these two streams of classical childrenrsquos literature might find a connection with the world that comes to life in L Somi Royrsquos And That is Why Penguin Wise owls scheming jackals jabbering monkeys and marauding cats formed part of the literary landscape that imparted simple relatable life lessons which remain relevant till date Birds and animals are the key protagonists in the 12 magical stories that salute Manipurrsquos rich legacy of storytelling Roy sought oral sources gathered from scholars balladeers and archivists from his home state to showcase it to the rest of the worldExtracts from an interview with RoyCould you tell us how you went about your research where oral traditions played a huge roleI had written up the story of the famous heirloom black rice of Manipur as found in the manuscript called Poireiton Khunthokpa or the Travels of Prince Poireiton before the current book That led me to the discovery of oral traditions that complement the text So I consulted my friend and Pena traditional Manipuri mono string instrument balladeer Mayanglambam Mangangsana about the oral versions of the stories Like for instance in the story of the deer divine intervention comes to the rescue of the goddess whereas in Mangangsanarsquos ballad a pretty little fish saves her Guess which one I adopted for my retellingIllustration from the story And that is why Manipur is the birthplace of poloHow long did the process take from idea to final bookLooking back at earlier versions for my manuscript digitisation and pony preservation projects I would say the process goes back to around 2005 As a childrenrsquos book I started writing this in 2019As a writer what was your primary task after you gained access to these beautiful storiesI am not a writer I mean not in the literal sense I approached childrenrsquos literature in much the same way I use polo for the Manipuri pony preservation project as a strategy a tool for cultural reframing and repurposing True my interest in manuscripts began with international scholarly research but once I tucked into these stories for children my singular interest was what would appeal to the child reader What would amuse her What would not bore him The challenge was to weave the archival ritualistic textual and oral variations into one single narrative For there are many many versions as you might imagine of mythology expressed in word and song over centuriesL Somi Roy is actively involved in the conservation of the Manipuri pony Pic courtesyNan MelvilleWhat has been the initial reaction especially from children so farI sent early drafts to my friendsrsquo kids aged between nine and 13 years One girl was drawn to the poop story Yes she was at that age Tenyearold Jessica had serious questions and comments about the mother pied cuckoo I loved it so much that I requested my publisher to use it as the book cover blurb In Manipur the book generated interest across the board We are not a material culture and the manuscript tradition is our supreme patrimony Seeing Manipuri mythology cast as onceuponatime to happilyeverafter tales to be exported to the outside world seems to have struck a chord for the community as a wholeTell us more about the striking illustrations by Sapha Yumnam How did both of you work to arrive at the artworkDiscovering Sapharsquos work has been amazing I had quietly despaired of finding the right art for the book He is a young modern artist the only one working with the old Subika style of the manuscripts I fell in love with his artwork instantly and so did my publisher I left it to him to create one major painting per story that collaged elements from them But I got him to do the smaller ones in the style of a manuscript leaf with Meitei Mayek inscriptions of nursery rhymes We argued about one bird and that is all I will sayAs a Manipuri author do you feel that childrenrsquos literature from the Northeast is underrepresentedAbsolutely This is the publisherrsquos first childrenrsquos book from the Northeast And there are so many wonderful stories here not just mythology but also folk tales They express a unique worldview I chose myths with birds and animals because well itrsquos birds and animals