Narrating Kerala floods to kids through an illustrated book

Chennai: Gayathri Bashi told her 3 year old son about the great deluge in Kerala, sitting thousands of miles away, at her home in Seattle, United States of America. Seeing her son’s curious face, the writer in Gayathri was awake. She thought about writing a children’s book about the floods of Kerala and convey the significance of environmental protection through it.

It was from this unique idea that ‘Big Rain’, a children’s book, was borne from the pen of Gayathri Bashi. The illustrated book, which will be published in nine languages, including Malayalam as ‘Perumazha’, was launched in Chennai recently. The ‘Big Rain’ is published in India by Thoolika Books.

Gayathri is married to Harinarayanan who works in the IT field. The young writer had realized the incredible scope of illustrated books when she was working at Thoolika as an editor. She had published her first book, 'Minu and her Hair', around four years ago. Gayathri had even done the illustrations in that book.

The book was published in many languages including Malayalam and was met with positive reviews. Gayathri is known for her many amazing stories of didactic nature, which excites the imagination of children. 'Minu and her Hair' conveyed the valuable message that one’s own color or other features shouldn’t create a distressing sense of inferiority.

TR Rajesh has done the illustrations of her latest book, which is dedicated to Kerala. The illustrations realistically depict the horrifying floods and its aftermaths and also the great spirit of fraternity that were displayed among the people during the rescue and relief.

The short sentences and phrases too add to the literary quality of the book. The story ends by reminding the human race about various measures that could be taken to prevent such calamities in future. Gayathri noted that illustrated books are the best way to communicate with children.