How to make storybooks in your Mother Tongue?
In recent times, I found myself to be very jealous of people who speak Indian languages like Tamil and Gujarati. The reason: There are these lovely publishers in India, who are bringing out beautiful books in regional languages for children and young adults. But there are none in my language, my mother tongue, Saurashtra.
Belonging to a group of linguistic minorities, I believe when your language has a very limited literature for children, it is an injustice done both to the language and the children who miss out reading books in their mother tongue. And when you read in your mother tongue, you also take pride in your heritage. A sense of belonging, you can’t find elsewhere.
That’s why I started to translate children stories into Saurashtra. And it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Pratham Books (http://www.prathambooks.org/). They graciously added Saurashtra onto their platform called as StoryWeaver (https://storyweaver.org.in/)where you can create and translate stories into various languages.
There is something about a child’s imagination. You can never put a lid on it. It is unparalleled in a way, you and I, can’t imagine. So when I started to translate my first story, it was this fear that took over me. Will I do justice to this pure, boundless imagination of the child reading it?
Also, Saurashtra is a dialect. A language whose script is in disuse. And so, I had to resort to transliterating Saurashtra into English. A language which would be easier to read for the children to read.
I have translated two books, as of now.
And created another one more “rhymes” book in Saurashtra, using illustrations from StoryWeaver, which you can read it here — https://issuu.com/pavisj/docs/aavaavniv or in the embed below:
Well, now that I was able to create online story books in Saurashtra, my next challenge was to spread the word about it. And that’s where I found my next tricky thing about my mother tongue. Saurashtra has several regional variances, that my transliteration couldn’t cover. (The variation of Saurashtra I speak is different from my dad’s. Yes, that’s how it is!) I am in the process of getting inputs from the Saurashtra community, on how best this can be handled.
Also, I am beginning to realize, that I should print them as physical books which can help in engaging with the kids better. You can expect more Saurashtra storybooks from me and if you know of any Saurashtrians or if you are one (Avo, avo!), please do share these books and spread the word.
You love your mother tongue. Let it live! :)
Bonus content: Since you have read the whole blog, here is another interesting story book, I created with my spouse, for our nephew. It is about a certain SpaceBoy who jumps to the moon to dance with a dinosaur!
