The Why-Why Girl
by Mahasweta Devi and illustrated by Kanyika Kini
“The Why-Why Girl” by Mahasweta Devi and illustrated by Kanyika Kini. Published by Tulika. A story of an inquisitive girl Moyna from the Shabar tribe who will never accept things as they are and wants to know the rationale behind everything.
The story is narrated by the author who has worked very closely with tribals from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Gujarat. Schools are scarce in the tribal belts and generally far away in the hilly areas. Sometimes there are no roads and it is difficult for either the teachers to reach or the students to reach.
Moyna was about ten years old and asked a lot of whys. She became quite familiar with the author who worked with her tribe at the Samiti. The samiti was a place where people could come to learn reading and writing or singing and dancing. Moyna would question her mother as to why she had to do every task she was asked to. She couldn’t understand why she had to thank the village landlords for sending them rice as they were giving it in return for the work that she did for them.
Moyna stayed with the author for a month and bombarded her with all her questions. How did the author handle this situation? Did this period affect Moyna’s life? Did she find answers? What role did books play towards that? Read the book to know the answers to all of these. The author feels that it is easy to explain things in a scientific manner to tribal children since they are very close to nature. They have a true love for nature.
My seven year old has loved this book from the time he was six. The illustrations are wonderful and complement the story beautifully. This is part of the “wordbird”series by Tulika in which some of the regional words are used and explained with the help of birds giving a local flavour to the story being narrated. The book gives an insight into the lives of the Shabar tribals and sets an example of how their lives can be changed for the better. Thank you for recommending this gem of a book Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow! The book is apt for children aged 6+.
A performance of this story using mudras and body positions by Preeti Vasudevan who is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer can be seen below.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Tulika books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.