Adventures of the Big City Girl

It was 2007. It all started with a series of storybooks about the Adventures of a Big City Girl. Me. I wanted my children to know how wonderfully different lives can be all over the world.

Bombay & Arlington

I had grown up in Bombay, India. And so my stories were different from those of many other Indian moms and I wanted to share the stories with my two Indian-American children growing up in Arlington, Virginia. So I taught myself to write stories and make books by hand. I made copies of the books for my son, who could read a bit. He would check them out in bed before he fell asleep. In the morning he would give me a thumbs up, thumbs middle, or thumbs down.

The series was mostly about animals, and two specific foods—one she loves and another which she hates. But the stories are also about places where I saw them and learned about them. Even though these stories are for children, the questions that come up can engage adults as well, and The Big City Girl asks a lot of questions! From being vegetarian to ahimsa, from the wonder of fish-filled rivers to cute monkeys jumping across rooftops who turn out to be vicious. As she learns we all get a taste of her adventures.

“Wonderfully Different”

s I start to archive my work of 20 years I find I don’t have a full set of the books anymore. So I decide to make a new edition. Twenty years ago I was not comfortable using my childhood nickname for the girl in the storybooks and so I used a friend’s childhood nickname instead. As my friend’s name was also from the Bengali ethnic group, the name worked. However, over the years I wanted to change her name to Maya. As I plan the new edition, hopefully to be ready by 2027, I will have to change every instance of the name to Maya, a girl’s name in many parts of India, including Bengal. It is a Sanskrit word meaning illusion. This works well as when we think we are superior or better than others, it’s an illusion. We are just wonderfully different as we grow up in different places, with various experiences!

Animals & Foods

The first story, Bakri, was set in Bombay from when she was six and is about goats. And goat curry.
Hanuman was from when she was eight and is set in Deoghar, where mother had taken her brother and her to visit during their vacation and she sees her first black-faced langur.
Bandar is set in Haridwar and she is nine years-old and attending a wedding. But one hot afternoon, monkeys enter the room where all the wedding supplies are stored.
Kairies, is set in Jabalpur, when she is 10 and sees her first summer storm when green, unripe mangoes fall from the trees.
Haathi, is set in a tea garden and Gorumara National Park in Northern West Bengal. Here she is 12 and sees her first Indian elephants—a baby and a mommy.
Gaai, is set at another wedding, this time in Varanasi and how she, now 14 year old, has to defeat cows as she decorates the wedding car.
Nariyalpaani, is set in Goa, when she visits as a 16 year-old who hates coconut water but is constantly offered some on the beach.

I never did make the last book. Over the years the stories changed as did the design of the books. For example, Bakri changed to become Mangli, The Very Special Goat. This was a stand alone book, not one of a series, but one that changed my work! Check it out here.