Book: ‘We, The Children Of India’; Author: Leila Seth; Publisher: Puffin; Price INR.150
What’s the most important book of India? It’s the Constitution, silly, and its goals are contained in the first long sentence, the Preamble. Any child who has gone through super grandmom and former chief justice Leila Seth’s latest offering can tell you that.
Seth, the first woman to be chief justice in an Indian state, who has also penned her autobiography, acknowledges that she has written this time with the help of her five- and eight-year-old granddaughters. And it shows.
Not only does she break down every single big word – Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic – to its simplest meaning but also, through trivia, photographs and drawings, turns the Preamble into a storybook.
‘On 9 December 1946, about eight months before India became independent, a group of men and women met in a beautifully decorated hall in New Delhi, which is now known as the central hall of Parliament House. They were to discuss their ideas and write the Constitution…’
And thus the golden book came to be written.
In ‘We, The Children Of India’, the words as well as pictures do the talking. Starting with B&W photos of Gandhi and Nehru in action and on to pages from the Constitution, the book is a feast for the eyes.
The drawings by Bindia Thapar will hook children from the start. Depicting the word Secular, one child is shown turning prayer beads, another kneeling with palms upturned, and yet another sitting cross-legged in meditation. You can’t miss the point!
The book gives a spin to many terms. Pages on Justice and Liberty tell children they have the right to live without fear, the right to happiness…. A disabled child speaks of living with dignity and a boy up on a tree speaks of the right to dream.
The trivia is great, even for grownups. How many of us know that there are three original copies of the Constitution and one of these was handwritten in English and illustrated by artists, led by Nandlal Bose?
In times of intolerance, how many really remember that Christianity came to India nearly 2,000 years ago and Islam has been followed in the country for over 1,000 years? Or that B.R. Ambedkar was the youngest of 13 brothers and sisters?
The back cover simply says the book is for seven-plus readers. But this tome should make it to junior school curriculum and to bookshelves at home, for adults to refresh long forgotten pledges.
