|
|
|
February 19, 2002
CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Homespun tales
This is a book of bedtime stories, related to the subcontinent and its culture, narrated in a simple, captivating and spellbinding style. The odd creatures around whom the tales revolve are interesting and their quaint acts have a touch of humour as the themes of the stories combine some history, moral lessons and flights of fancy to produce thrilling tales. The characters and the settings of the stories ferry the reader into the world of imagination, which is free of our real life turmoil or illogical events.
Seema Naqvi takes pains to recall the stories which have been narrated for the past several generations in our society. She virtually relives those ages, acknowledging that the art of story telling is fast fading as the TV, video and internet have taken over the task of keeping the youngsters amused. The fact is that it is not just the art of telling stories which is dying out. Our children are also losing the patience and stamina of listening to stories. They are now transported into the stream of virtual reality with the touch of a button.
Naqvi has managed to redraft the stories contained in this book which she and her siblings had listened to as children from their grandmother. The readers of her generation rather than the wonder kids of today will find the flavour in her stories which had captivated them in yesteryear.
The fast-paced developments, specifically of the last two decades, have turned the world into a global village and the children who are an integral part of this phenomenon have been most vulnerable to the changes that have occurred. With the passage of time, they have been unable to resist the new culture.
Tales that Dama told are homespun tales from Pakistan — seven short traditional stories about the Djinns, clever maid, young innocent brides, lazy boy, and a canny monkey. Every story ends with a moral for the young reader. But unfortunately, children of the cable/satellite age, and more so those who are proficient in English, are no more fascinated by the stuff the octogenarians loved to tell.
Seema Naqvi’s effort is praiseworthy but will not yield the results, which she might have been anticipating. Instead of redrafting the stories verbatim she should have upgraded their plots to bring them in line with the present-day scenario, without killing the central idea. This might have attracted those youngsters who still enjoy reading. The generation of today is not attracted by figments of imagination, which are woven round fictitious figures. They search for reality, science fiction being the only exception . They visit those sites where their imaginary sketches prop up in a down-to-earth manner.
The narration of the book is loosely knitted and in some places the reader finds the construction of compound sentences a bit intricate.
Tales that Dama told
By Seema Naqvi
Oxford University Press, 5 Bangalore Town, Sharae Faisal, Karachi-75350. Tel: 021-4529025
Email: ouppak@theoffice.net
ISBN 0-19-579082-0
58pp. Rs100
|
|
|
|
