Kalo and the Koel

Kalo is a young village lad, who loves the world of nature around him. One day he captures a bird but then, sympathizing with her longing for freedom sets her free and befriends her. The close friendship between the boy and the koel is tested by a long enforced separation but finally the friends are reunited. In ‘Drawing Pictures’ a group of poor children take up colours and paper left lying around after a sit-and-draw competition for privileged children and find that the experience of creativity allows them to soar free. Meera Mukherjee was one of India’s leading sculptors, whose bronzes, inspired by wax-technique of the tribal dhokra craftsmen, have made her a major name in contemporary Indian art. A multi-faceted personality, she has worked as a cultural anthropologist, studied and practised music, written, sketched and drawn. Her involvement with the life of the village where she did her bronze casting led her to evolving creative and income-generation projects with the women and children. Whimsical, impulsive and deeply sensitive, her art moves easily from the physical to the spiritual, from nuanced detail to symbolic abstraction. It is this quality of simultaneously inhabiting both the everyday life and fantasy co-exist as in a child’s imagination, that comes to life in this collection of delightful stories, written and charmingly illustrated by her. Simple, tender stories, peopled with children off our streets and from our villages, stories full of wonder and whimsy in which the magical often transforms drab reality and becomes another way of seeing it. Her lively sketches and drawings enliven the text, and the result is a set of tales rich in unusual characters lovingly drawn by Meera Mukherjee in this set of unique artist’s books marked with her unmistakable personality and style. Anjum Katyal is an editor based in Calcutta. She has several translations to her credit.