Vani Tripathi Tikoo Throws A Light On The Inner World Of Kids

It's remarkable that Vani Tripathi Tikoo refers to kids as gurus in her debut work as an author. Why Can't Elephants Be Red? It is evident that toddlers are better equipped to handle many situations that adults find difficult to handle. Due to their unrestricted imagination and freedom from training and preconceived ideas, children are able to answer a variety of doubts, inquiries, and enquiries in their own unique ways.

We recently got a chance to have an exclusive conversation with her regarding the same. Speaking of the book and it's unique name, Vani said, "This book is a two fold journey, 'Why Can't Elephants Be Red?' is the title of the book and when i was working in the national school of drama, this was the last play i did. In a world of child, where he is not that good in studies but is brilliant in art. One day in art class the child paints a red elephant, after which an art teacher gets a bit furious and he tells the child that this is bit too much and that elephant are only grey, black or white. There is never a red elephant, so this leads to the child raging a polite but a firm debate with the teacher saying that your elephant is black but why is it so tough for you to accept that my elephant can be red. So it's all about the inner world of the child, so that's why this title. And the other journey was i had a 2 and half year old kid and for one and a half year she was away from me during the pandemic because i was nursing my mother in Delhi and she was with my in-laws in Singapore. So this 12 stories of book describe each character of the family who looked after her every day and kept her happy".

Talking about what made her choose this particular topic she stated, "I want to rage a debate with this book, with the lack of realistic writing for children. Mostly we do it all about fairy tales, kingdoms and princesses which have nothing to do with the realistic life of children. So the place where i did theatre, the first rule for the kids was no fantasy so that the imaginative capacity of the child is never a kingdom and a palace. And that is something we have forgotten, and in our minds the fairytale syndrome becomes very important and I completely disagree with it". 

Opening on her journey of writing the book, Vani said, "Yes, this was a very emotional journey. As I said, I was writing it during the pandemic time, all alone with my mother being the sole caregiver, and actually this book kept me from having a horrible meltdown. So the two hours between 9 and 11 in the morning that I used to allot to writing were also what saved me at the end of the day. I was also writing this book because I was taking a virtual journey of realistic real-life situations involving my child. I was far away from her due to the lockdown. We couldn't see each other physically. So this journey was a very personal journey that I pinned down, simply put. I probably was making up for the last time of 1.5 years. I left her at 2.5 and almost met her when she was 4 years old. So yes, there is a deep journey involved in writing of this book".  

Speaking of what makes this book so special, "This book is special because it is something which connects me to my past. My work with children and exploration, my fight with the present education system where the children are caged into this boxes. So if this gets the love from the audience more authors will get empowered to write something realistic rather than writing fairy tales. Another part can be exploration of the pressure in children's life. One main thing which i want to say with this book is that we are so busy growing up that we forget our childhood and that is where the complication starts", she concluded.