topics: |  fiction | indian-english | children

Here is the question that I would ask Himanjali Sarkar, if I run into her.

Q. What is it about the number 27 that made it pop into her mind?

27 is the page number that Orange Marmaladies like to read most. The Orange Marmaladies are creatures from the Black Hole of Time, who like to socialize with humans, but unfortunately, humans can't feel their presence and completely ignore them.

	The Marmaladies [are] very sad.  They might be
	waving their hands in your face as you read
	this page, but you may be looking through them
	to continue to read, as if they do not exist.
	Because they don't exist for you.  It's not
	your fault, but it does make the Marmaladies
	quite mad at you.

	'So annoying,' the Marmalady hovering in front
	of your face might be saying.  'And so rude',
	she might add, feeling that you are
	deliberately ignoring her. p.14

Before 5500 years, Marmaladies and humans would communicate freely.  That
was when the Orange Marmaladies helped the humans build the first sundial.
As "the Original Timekeepers of the Universe, it was their duty to
help. (p.12).

After a celebratory dance around the new obelisk, the humans gifted them a
piece of the obelisk.  The Marmaladies returned to their Black Hole of Time,
and at the end of the dark, windy tunnel, they inserted this "Chip of the Old
Block" into a crack in the perfect circle of the Perfect Om.

Since then, however, Marmaladies have disappeared from human sight.


	The stupendous time-telling superdog,
	Rousseau, as featured guest on BBC...


They would really really like to be visible to the humans, and one particular
request they would like to make is to have the humans give "a thousand
photocopies of page twenty-seven from different books of their choice" -
then they would read these page 27s all over Marmaland...

Interestingly, page 27 in this book is the page where the top Marmalady
scientist, the cleverest Oran Marma, has just pulled out the Chip of the Old
Block from the crack in the Perfect Om, and time has stopped all over the
world.  The face of Big Ben went blank, the Cell phones and watches were
blinking and flashing and the little strips on the TVs that told the time
were empty.

But sadly, the Marmaladies still remain invisible.

Except for one stupendos timetelling superdog, Rousseau, who belongs to
Anya and Kaavya Ghosh and their mother.

In terms of sheer imagination, this work heralds the debut of one of our
most creative authors of recent times.




	Himanjali and the real-life Rousseau - yes, her golden
	retriever is indeed named Rousseau.  He can't quite
	tell the time, though.  But he is "supremely insane",
	claims H in this interview. 

Excerpts

Rousseau, an insane, wonderful and handsome dog, lived with two little girls,
Kaavya and Anya, and their mother, Mrs. Ghosh.

Rousseau enjoyed being the only man in the house.  He barked at the girls
when they made too much noise, he was the first to reach the door when anyone
knocked and he welcomed every visitor with a hug - that is, he put his paws
on their shoulders and pushed them against the wall.

Some people didn't enjoy this.  ... p.1

Mrs. Seth whispered to Mrs. Ali: "Very badly behaved dog,"

The Marmaladies [are] very sad.  They might be waving their hands in
your face as you read this page, but you may be looking through them
to continue to read, as if they do not exist.  Because they don't
exist for you.  It's not your fault, but it does make the Marmaladies
quite mad at you.

'So annoying,' the Marmalady hovering in front of your face might be
saying.  'And so rude', she might add, feeling that you are
deliberately ignoring her. p.14

[A Marmalady commenting on the Miss Universe pageant:]
'How serious they look! As if this is actually something important!'  p.22

In different time zones, people woke up at different times to find time
gone. p.28

Only in one corner of the world, in one particular household, time moved
along peacefully and happily with barks and thumps of a tail.

Other Reviews

Lavanya Gopinath at lavanyagopinath.com : 

	In her gentle mocking of media frenzy and fame, her
	tucking in of little treats for adults who may be
	reading this book, Himanjali has created a thoroughly
	enjoyable read. Heartily recommended for that seven+
	year old in your life. Or for that matter, recommended
	for you as well.


Cynthia Rodrigues Manchekar at cynthology :

	The occasional second person conversational style
	works well in a children’s book, and Himanjali Sankar
	has used it to good effect ...

	While we are bound and governed
	by clocks today, and helpless without them, our
	ancestors told time just by looking at the sky...
	What did they care for the minutes and seconds?
	And weren’t they happier for it? 

	Pooja Pottenkulam... seems to have the happy knack for
	picking up the funniest lines from the book and
	translating them into a cartoon with her own happy
	touch. My favourite is the one on page 44.