The Snow King’s Daughter
by Sowmya Rajendran and illustrated by Proiti Roy
“The Snow King’s Daughter” by Sowmya Rajendran and illustrated by Proiti Roy. Published by Tulika. The story of nine year old Keshav whose favourite pastime was looking at the atlas and imagining all the places that he could go to and how he learns about Tibet and it’s story.
Keshav would lie down on an old straw mat and put a cross over the names of places that he liked in the atlas with his pencil. He would roll himself into the mat and pretend to be a grand old man who knew stories about people from these lands. He would make up languages and speak in whispers so that nobody could hear and make fun of him.
On a hot day, Keshav starts thinking about a place which gets lot of snow. Tibet, the roof of the world is the place that he comes up with. His mother tells him that their neighbour Lobsang who lives across the street is from Tibet. Keshav was very excited by this fact. He had always imagined meeting people from different places that he marked on his atlas but this was the first time that he actually knew someone who was from one of these places. His mind was abuzz with lots of questions.
Why does Lobsang stay with her sister and aunt? Where are her parents? Why did they not come with her? Why was she sent to India? How did she come here? So on and so forth. The topic of exile and the longing for home and freedom is explained sensitively in this charming tale.
The book has been inspired by the Tibetan classmates of the author from her college who sang Tamil songs and fed her momos. The Tibetans have wholeheartedly accepted refuge in India and live in harmony with the locals. At the same time they have continued to retain their culture and traditions hoping that they will be able to return to their homeland someday and live freely like before.
While we have ourselves travelled to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh where the Dalai Lama lives and Bylakuppe in Karnataka, our seven year old was too young then to understand what we told him about Tibet. This story made a deep impact and now he hopes that Tibet will get freedom by the time he grows up.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Tulika books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.