Puchu and Shingmo are the most unique guests that Books en Beyond have ever hosted in an author interaction. It’s not that they didn’t have much to say, or that they looked rather bored through the interaction, or even that they were more hairy than any other guest ever hosted in any author interaction.
The uniqueness of these two individuals can be attributed to the fact that these two are dogs with decidedly human traits! In association with DPS Greater Faridabad, by Ms Shweta Aggarwal, the founder of Books en Beyond hosted an interaction with Aparna Karthikeyan, writer of ‘Nine Rupees an Hour: Disappearing Livelihoods of Tamil Nadu’, ‘Kali Wants to Dance’, and her latest release ‘Woof!: Adventures by the Sea’.
Aparna writes for intellectually stimulating newspapers and journals including The Hindu, People’s Archive of Rural India, The Wire, Scroll, Caravan and other media outlets. She writes for the farmers and sickle makers to handloom saree weavers and folk dancers. And then she writes for the truly voiceless – dogs – whom we love, pamper, cherish and at times love more than anyone else. Ms Karthikeyan has broken dogma in becoming a devoted ‘Dogma’, i.e., mother to two beloved pooches. Her love for her babies takes precedence over all else, as she is able to write only when Puchu and Shingmo allow her to!
The session with the young book lovers was unforgettable, with the author keeping her audience spellbound with her story telling skills. In fact, even the adults were enthralled. Why not? When one love’s all creatures of god, it’s like magic all around!!
