Set inside Mumbai's CST railway station, a new book hopes to engage kids with the city's past by combining storytelling with art
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus
You can call life in the city fast-paced. Although, even in this hustle, one cannot help but notice the many silent observers — imposing edifices or the brooding and neglected remains of concrete — which are here to tell a story and one day, it so happened that they found a listener in writer, Joeanna Rebello Fernandes, who drew from fact to create fiction.
Sir JJ School of Art
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In her new book, Treasure at the Train Station (Good Earth Publications), Fernandes along with illustrators Rituparna Sarkar and Hitesh Sonar, brings the city to life, quite literally. The story is set in the gothic masterpiece at the heart of Mumbai — Victoria Terminus or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus as it is now known. Like platform 9 ¾ in the Harry Potter series, this one is magical, too.
The intricately carved sculptures of animals, birds and foilage that dominate the structure caught Fernandes' attention. So paging through the book, you're transported into a world where Neelkamal and his grandchildren, Araya and Nirvan, lead an adventurous life. Where animals chat every night. And an emerald goes missing.
Interiors of CSMT
For Fernandes, the idea was easy — with her twins as inspiration. "It looked to me as if it were a forest on a building. Now, what story could I weave around this? So I took my twins around the terminus and made them spot the animals as a fun game," she says. Train stations are always special. They offer an intimate view of the city. Apart from being a public space, it comes with the drama of the speeding train.
The aim was to draw children to the city's historical significance and painting the mystery behind it was the cherry on the cake. "They seem to be nothing beyond stone sculptures, but they do have a life of their own. Even though the story is rooted in history, for children, this is a world waiting to be explored," Sarkar says.
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