Bumboo...The Donkey who would not Budge
by Sujatha Padmanabhan and illustrated by Madhuvanti Anantharajan
“Bumboo...The Donkey who would not Budge” by Sujatha Padmanabhan and illustrated by Madhuvanti Anantharajan. Published by Eklavya. An adorable story of a special bond between a little girl and her donkey.
Bumboo is a playful, cute and innocent looking donkey living in Ladakh. Padma is a little girl and Bumboo’s favourite. He helps Padma’s family in many ways such as carrying manure to fields, threshing barley and wheat as well as carrying stuff during the trekking season.
As Bumboo grew up, he proved to be different from other animals. He behaved strangely once the sun went down. He would just fall down on his knees wherever he was as soon as it became dark. He would sit absolutely still like a lifeless statue and be in the same spot till the early hours of the next morning! Once Padma’s father realises this fact, he consults the local amchi ( traditional doctor of the Ladakhi-Tibetan holistic medicine).
What do Padma’s family discover about Bumboo? Why does he behave strangely during the night? Why does he not move at all and become like a statue? Is there a medical issue? Will Padma’s father decide to sell him off? These are the things we can find out when we read the story.
The story is inspired by a true incident. It describes how the care of a loving Ladakhi girl and the resourcefulness of an ingenious Ladakhi boy help Bumboo deal with this unusual ailment.
Me and my (then) six year old loved the story. Given our love for Ladakhi stories such as “Thukpa for all” and “Chuskit goes to school”, we were already familiar with the landscape and some of the commonly used terms in the Ladakhi language. So we found this book to be an extension of the same theme as the above mentioned books. The illustrations also lend a magical touch to the story. All in all a must read for children aged 6/7 or even older depending on the reading level as it is quite heavy on text. Thank you Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow for recommending this gem of a book!
Where to buy from?
The publishers Eklavya here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.