Curious Tales From The Desert
by Shaguna Gahilote & Prarthana Gahilote and illustrated by Jit Chowdhury
“Curious Tales From The Desert” by Shaguna Gahilote & Prarthana Gahilote and illustrated by Jit Chowdhury. Published by Penguin. An enchanting collection of folktales from the sands of the Thar and Kutch regions ranging from Sindh and Multan to Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The book has a collection of sixteen tales set around the desert regions. Unlike popular tales centred around the valiant royalty of Rajasthan, these tales are the ones that have been part of common households for a long time often spanning across generations. Many of these tales are ancient and from a time when the desert played an important part in the trade route.
Merchants coming from different regions had to cross the looming desert which came with its own set of challenges. The burning heat, mirages, brigands, risk of getting lost and many other perils had to be braved to cross the desert. Stories of wit and wisdom, magic, mystery, treasures, hard work and harsh living conditions are what we get to savour.
I enjoyed reading this with my eight year old. He was amused by most of the stories and got a glimpse of how people lived around the desert. He also got to know the names of quite a few places around the desert. While the first story of a bargaining pandit from Gujarat was familiar to us (and a favourite in fact!), the rest of the stories were not familiar making it a refreshing read. Every story ended with a footnote about the theme of the story and about different versions found elsewhere along the old trade route. We found this very interesting and informative.
The usage of local words like serai, khambaghani, haat, seth, khat, kheench and so on give the tales that authentic regional touch. Now we are eager to go on a trip to the desert and gaze at the full moon with a bowl of kheench of course! :) Also looking forward to reading the other book in this series about tales from the Himalayas written by the same author duo.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 9/10+ for self reading and can be read aloud to slightly younger children like 7/8+.
Reasons to Read
The book has a lovely collection of lesser known folktales centred around common people from the old trade route through the Thar and Kutch deserts. These tales have been passed down several generations orally.
The stories give a glimpse into the lives of people around the desert in the past.
Where to buy from?
An independent bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Greeshma and Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!