Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | October 23
Bookaroo- the first, largest and only multi-city children’s literature festival in India is making its foray into North East in Kohima for the first time from October 25-27, 2018 where 21 distinguished speakers from different parts of the country will be conducting 57 sessions.
Among these speakers is Savio Mascaranhas, the creative mind behind the super avatar of Suppandi and also the artist for Little Shambu, based on the childhood adventure of Shikari Shambu. Most people in Nagaland including parents, uncles, and children born in the 1980s and 1990s literally grew up reading Tinkle comic. The Speaker would testify to this fact when he says, “North East has one of the greatest following of Tinkle” even as he goes on to commend the huge readership from the North East where Nagaland also definitely plays a part.
Speaking to The Morung Express, Savio Mascaranhas puts across that “it’s really special for me to be there to meet a lot of my tinkle fans.” He has been associated with Bookaroo for many of its editions held in different cities across the country, and is excited to be making his first visit to Nagaland. Getting to meet a lot of children with fantastic ideas during these workshops, he says, helps develop content for Tinkle and also helps him as an artist. “Events like these give a platform to meet a lot of children. Their thoughts are very straightforward. They don’t mince their words. They’re very open with criticism”, he expresses about working with children.
On visiting Nagaland, he states, “I am going with a completely open mind. This is going to be my very first interaction with kids from the North East, and I know the purity of their thoughts and ideas are going to be very different from the mainstream. I am sure the thoughts and ideas and stories coming from the children will be pure, fantastic ideas. I think I’ll be really surprised.”
Tinkle has also had feedbacks on why not a superhero from the North east and they now have a superhero from Mizoram called “Adventures of Mapui.” After the Kohima Bookaroo Edition, he is also likely to illustrate something out of the Naga culture.
Drawing, which started as a hobby for him grew into a passion and he recalls drawing for a column in Tinkle for Rs. 50. A commerce graduate and one who further graduated in advertising, Savio Mascarenhas developed as a comic artist over the years and has been working with Tinkle for about 24 years now. Having worked with the founder editor- Uncle Pai, as he fondly calls him, he has seen phases of Tinkle changing over the years to what it was and what it is now both in terms of art and stories. Interestingly, his very first pen friend was a girl called Lima Jamir from Mokokchung through whom, he was also first introduced to Nagaland.
Canato Yevito Jimo, who works as an Art Director for Pratham Books is one of the speakers for the event and is really excited that Bookaroo is coming to Nagaland. A self-taught artist, he has always loved drawing and also done greeting cards in the past. Currently working on a picture book, he is looking forward to sharing that with the children in Nagaland.
As an art director, he says, “we look forward to people from the North East and make them part of our projects.” Speaking in the context of Nagaland, he feels that there’s talent for illustration, but we are just stuck there. One of the challenges, he puts across is most people are doing what is popular and is in demand and very rarely sets out to pursue something new and fresh. Maybe it’s also because, even for me, he recalls, “I never grew up with bedtime stories or parents reading to me.” However, stating that maybe things have changed while referring to parents of the day who are more keen on introducing books to children, he says, “we still have a long way to go but people are opening up to it and that’s a good thing.”
Other speakers include award winning writers like Roopa Pai and Nagaland’s very own Easterine Kire, Debashish Majumdar, Deeptha Vivekanand, Janaki Sabesh, Kavitha Mandana, Meghaa Aggarwal, Nandini Nayar, Parnab Mukherjee, Praba Ram, Priya Kuriyan, Padma Damodaran, Saattvic, Danish Husain, Richa Jha, Rituparna Ghosh, Saswata Mukherjee and Susruta Mukherjee, Stuti Agarwal and Valentina Trivedi.
