बुमोनी के केले के पेड़ (Bumoni’s Banana Trees)
by Mita Bordoloi and illustrated by Tarique Aziz
“बुमोनी के केले के पेड़ (Bumoni’s Banana Trees)” by Mita Bordoloi and illustrated by Tarique Aziz. Originally in Assamese and translated to Hindi by Veena Shivpuri. Published by Tulika Books. An endearing book about how a story with a sustainable solution for minimising human-animal conflict came true in Assam.
Bumoni lives with her parents and brother close to Kaziranga National Park. They have a huge garden of banana trees behind their house. Their family makes use of every bit of the banana trees from the fruit, flowers, leaves to the stem. They get to hear the sounds of the forest from across the river and manage to sight the animals too on some occasions when they go near the river.
One night, a herd of wild elephants make their way to her backyard after crossing the river. They gorge through the banana leaves as well as the bananas. They started coming every night after that for the bananas. The family is extremely upset and at a loss as to what to do next. How can they keep the elephants away without harming them? How can they protect their banana trees? Can Bumoni come up with a sustainable solution? What will it take for the elephants to stop coming to their backyard? Read the delightful story to find out.
My eight year old loved reading the book with me. I got the Hindi version for him to help him learn to read in Hindi. He loves reading books based on true life incidents. He was amazed to know that this story came true five years after it was written. People in a cluster of villages in Assam’s Nagaon district adopted a method similar to the one in the story to keep crop raiding wild elephants away from their fields. The illustrations are charming and lend their life to the story. This was our second book by the author, the first being the equally delightful “Bulbuli’s Bamboo”. Both these books portray the lush green landscape of Assam. Like most Tulika books, this one is available in multiple languages including English.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 4 and above.
Reasons to Read
The story is a treat for all the banana and elephant lovers with a strong message of how humans can live in harmony with wildlife through some thoughtful and sustainable methods.
For some armchair travel to Assam and Kaziranga National Park.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Tulika Books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.