The Emperors new storyboard

The story and historyThe challenge This is my first book for children and as I wrote it I kept trying to remember what it was like to read as a kid As we get older we all become more tolerant in a polite kind of way of mediocrity We start secondguessing ourselves Everyone likes it so how can I not As a kid you either love a book or you dont read it And those are the best books at any age the ones that grab you by the collar and dont let go until youre doneA panel depicting Mughal emperor Babur seated in his garden BagheWafa on a little hill surrounded by flowers and a stream where he encountered a large bird that they called Tragopan Illustration CourtesyThe story of babur Goodearth publication and Puffin BooksAs I was writing drafts of Babur Simran Lal was reading them to her children which was a great help to me because shed tell me what they liked what they wanted more of And now that the book is out Im hoping for more reactions from kids and their parents I am keeping my fingers crossedParvati Sharma writerMaking the book happen Before this as I said I knew very little about Babur Raiders from the North is pretty much all Id read about him but that was a bit too battleheavy for me so I hadnt really thought of Baburs life as one Id want to write about Then while we were discussing Goodearths line of childrens books Swati Mitra executive publisher at Goodearth Publications gave me her copy of the Babur NamaAnd I was very taken with it mdash its Baburs memoir but he writes them like a private diary with no selfconsciousness selfaggrandisement He writes about his father having to hold his stomach in or when his tunic ties would break about a teenage crush he had he gets really excited about planning his gardens in Kabul and about allnight drinking parties he describes every building and plant he sees the taste of everything and he loves to describe raids and battles and weapons Its a real joy as a source the Babur Nama because its just chockfull of detail mdash I mean a king whose tunic ties burst open You cant make that upThe Story of Babur Parvati Sharma and Urmimala Nag Rs 695 Goodearth Publication amp Puffin Books at bookstores and estoresYou cant read the Babur Nama at a go Theres too much information So I also read a few other books and articles about Babur to get a larger picture of his life and times The Great Moghuls by Bamber Gascoigne was a particularly good read The Emperors Writings a fictionalised autobiography of Akbar by Dirk Collier was another book I enjoyed and from which I learnt a lot about Mughal battle strategy This is the story of Babur not the history mdash Ive taken incidents details legend and extrapolatedfictionalised them to make a story The prank the kids of Osh would play on travellers mdash Babur describes that but he didnt do it himself The story of his death is pure legendmdash Parvati Sharma writerBringing the book to lifeThe story of Babur was a very different experience altogether as it spanned the protagonists lifetime From visualising Baburs childhood to that of a parent required developing and identifying with the character through various stages of his life Not to forget the vast and diverse geographical expanse of his empireReady for the battle of Samarkand at nightfallOurs is a culture wonderfully rich in its visual history We decided to create a more contemporary style of illustration drawing from the Mughal miniatures as Simran Lal and Swati Mitra suggested with its attention to detail flora and flavourA map showing Baburs conquestsKids are flexible visual readers they can linger over images with a time defying immersion that grownups tend to loseBabur as King of Samarkand Illustration CourtesyGoodearth Publication and Puffin BooksYoung Babur as a warriorThe challenge hence has been to keep up with being able to keep them riveted though Parvatis words have already achieved that and moreUrmimala Nagmdash Urmimala Nag illustratorDesign and inspirationDesign meets storytelling Design and stories are interrelated Designs give form to ideas and become vehicles to communicate stories through colours and imagery mdash engaging everyone in a dialogue that motivates and inspires When words and design are effortlessly combined together the story will travel from person to person packed with emotions and will create powerful memoriesBabur was referred to as Little TigerHow different is this book Many of us have grown up on imported childrens books from the West with some exceptions of Indian childrens books Though the space is filled with illustrated books there is still a gap and lack of crossover Indian books with an Indian style and sensibility I wanted to create books that ignite their curiosity about where we come from and who came before us to excite them about our own culture and country to give our little readers joy through enchanting storytelling and to create a series of the highest quality books written from an Indian point of view I thought that was important What also makes this book unique is that it is fun and engaging not only for kids but their elders too mdash Simran Lal Good Earth