When I was little, my family did not travel far and wide for vacations. But my parents made every extra coin count when it came to buying books and affording the library membership. The long established British and Rotary club libraries in Bengaluru\u2014my hometown in India\u2014were too expensive.\u00a0Somy dad took me on his bicycle to the much more affordable State Central Library where I would read and write.<\/p>\n
State Central Library in Bengaluru where Suma grew up<\/p>\n
I would sit on the companion seat mounted on the front of his bicycle. Watching\u00a0bikes,\u00a0motorcycles, autorickshaws, buses, and trucks zip past us, I felt the wind on my face all the way through the bustling streets of the city. \u00a0It took us nearly an hour-and-a-half to\u00a0get to\u00a0the library almost every Sunday. Once there, I wandered into a magical book garden amidst the shelves in the library. When I was done exploring, I borrowed the books and put them into a yellow cloth bag. Appa tied the heavy bag to the companion backseat of the bicycle with a jute rope, and we rode home.<\/p>\n
With a book in my hand, I traveled the world. The stories took me to places I\u2019d never been. They provided me a safe and comfortable seat in a world of words\u2014the London of Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle,\u00a0and Charles Dickens;\u00a0the Neverland of Peter Pan;\u00a0the River Heights of Nancy Drew;\u00a0the magical English coast of Famous Five;\u00a0the fairytale worlds of Cinderella and Snow White;\u00a0the Persia of Arabian Nights;\u00a0the France, Italy, and Mediterranean Islands of The Count of Monte Cristo;\u00a0the Missouri of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Then, there were the familiar Indian stories that reminded me that there\u2019s no place like home\u2014the Malgudi of R.K. Narayan\u2019s books, and the folk tales from Amar Chitra Katha comics that my parents bought me at train and bus stations. They transported me to historical eras, and magical realms of the heavens, the earth, and the netherworld.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>
Some books\u00a0Suma\u00a0read in her childhood<\/p>\n
When I sat on the red-oxide floor of my small apartment with a story, I left the realities of the world behind and read. In the background, I\u00a0knew\u00a0people\u00a0were\u00a0walking by, the vegetable vendor yelled\u00a0proudly about his fresh produce and catch of the day, sparrows chirped\u00a0out the window,\u00a0and\u00a0steam rose\u00a0off the pressure cooker in the kitchen.\u00a0A scooter honked.\u00a0An autorickshaw\u00a0rumbled.\u00a0A\u00a0cow mooed.\u00a0The\u00a0phone rang. Someone made an announcement in a\u00a0loudspeaker. But I paid no attention to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reading kept me turning pages like an invitation to experience the world without leaving the warmth of my home and family. It let me wonder and imagine gods, goddesses,\u00a0stars, animals, birds, magical creatures, and mystery. It gave me a window into people and places I\u2019d never seen or visited before. It helped me find my way into the world.<\/p>\n
The habit stayed with me as I grew, although making time to read became more challenging with other distractions. When I became an adult, reading time came with other trade-offs.\u00a0I saw five\u00a0common career paths that trended in my family \u2013 engineer, doctor, lawyer, teacher,\u00a0and\u00a0banker.\u00a0I didn\u2019t know then that writing could be a viable career. Like everyone else in the family, I took up what was considered \u201cpractical\u201d and earned degrees in computer science and management.\u00a0It was only years later that I\u00a0made a\u00a0foray\u00a0into writing.<\/p>\n
Fast-forward to many decades later now, as a children\u2019s and young adult author, I read every day. I read about cultures other than my own. I read diverse books. \u00a0I notice the nuances and details of communication in the work. I take note\u00a0of the author\u2019s descriptions of the character\u2019s clothes, gestures, expressions, culture, and setting. I reflect on the choice of words, voice, imagery, the language, and the wordplay. I read to study the craft elements in writing.<\/p>\n
Suma\u2019s\u00a0Library\u00a0Writing Space<\/p>\n
Writing helps me process life\u2019s realities better. Stories make me recall and relive memories and moments from my childhood. Hanging on to a book keeps me going. I imagine seeing children like my younger self as protagonists and heroines discovering the power of their voice, doing big and little things to make the world a better place for everyone. \u00a0<\/p>\n
As a writer, I have good days and bad days. \u00a0I create joyful, uplifting stories and worlds that might fade and diminish if we don\u2019t write about them. Some days, the ideas dry up on the page. Words fail to flow out of me. At such times, reading opens my mind and makes it possible for me to string words again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Suma\u2019s published books so far<\/p>\n
Like\u00a0writing,\u00a0reading, too, is a solitary pursuit. It gives me permission to explore the inner sanctum of my imagination.\u00a0The longing for my childhood home more than eight thousand miles away has morphed into a desire for a deeper experience of stories that resonate with me.<\/p>\n
I can travel back there when I create my own books\u2014through\u00a0the meaningful relationships in Namaste Is A Greeting and A Bindi Can Be\u2026, the adventure with fantastical animalsfrom Indian folklore\u00a0in The Runaway Dosa,\u00a0M.S. Subbulakshmi\u2019s\u00a0melodic voice of\u00a0social justice in She Sang For India, Kaveri\u2019s journey along the river she\u2019s named after in\u00a0My\u00a0Name Is Long As A River, and the spunky Malar\u2019s sustainable living\u00a0in the fictional coastal village\u00a0of Pori\u00a0in V. Malar\u00a0\u2013 Greatest Host Of All Time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t read all the books in the world, but I can strive to read as many as I can. \u00a0In the process, I might learn and create something beautiful of my own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Suma Subramaniam\u00a0is the author of several children\u2019s books based on STEM and STEAM topics as well as India and Indian heritage\u00a0including the most recent V. MALAR- GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME, illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan (Candlewick Press, 2024). She earned her MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.\u00a0When she\u2019s not writing, she\u2019s volunteering and blogging about children\u2019s books.\u00a0Suma lives in Washington\u00a0State\u00a0with her husband and a dog who will do anything for Indian\u00a0sweets and snacks. Find her online at\u00a0sumasubramaniam.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was little, my family did not travel far and wide for vacations. But my parents made every extra coin count when it came to buying books and affording the library membership. The long established British and Rotary club libraries in Bengaluru\u2014my hometown in India\u2014were too expensive.\u00a0Somy dad took me on his bicycle to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}