Thatha’s Pumpkin
by Lalita Iyer and illustrated by Proiti Roy
“Thatha’s Pumpkin” by Lalita Iyer and illustrated by Proiti Roy. Published by Karadi Tales. A heartwarming story of little Tia and her grandparents centred around a giant pumpkin harvested by her grandpa.
Tia’s Thatha returns from his farm with a sack full of vegetables. His prized harvest this time is a big pumpkin weighing a whopping 10 kilograms. He is proud to have grown it himself. Tia feels that he is a magician to have got a pumpkin bigger than her head. However she and her Paati (grandmother) are annoyed as the pumpkin occupies too much space and what would they do with it.
Thatha wanted to try making halwa using the pumpkin for Tia’s birthday party. Tia wanted to share the pumpkin with their friends. The pumpkin is sliced by Paati and distributed by Tia to people in their community. The journey of these slices and how they get used by different people is what the story is about.
The joy of growing vegetables and sharing them is shown so well. Proiti Roy’s charming illustrations as usual bring the story to life. And, yes, the end paper is just gorgeous with the humble pumpkin leaves (My mother makes delicious fritters using these leaves and I just love them). Overall a lovely story of bonding with grandparents, growing vegetables, sharing, community life and culinary diversity.
My seven year old enjoyed reading the story. He was keen to know what each person cooked using the pumpkin and how they all got together to share whatever they prepared. Thank you Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow for recommending this book! The book is apt for children aged 5+.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Karadi Tales here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.