Before I would meet with them I thought I would do my homework by reading whatever literature was available about their perception of the world. I started by reading. Having read about, I felt it was time to go meet them. After meeting with them, the initial objective was to learn how to make pictures that can be seen by fingers. This was followed with some experiments. Finally the project emerged as a book with illustrations which were tested. Personally I have learned a lot and my understanding has acquired depth that my initial emotions could not comprehend.

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Step by step process
The images show the steps in which the pictures were made.

That’s the final image. Following are the experiments done by making the same picture in four different ways. The pictures differ in their details. This experiment was done to understand to what extent can our hands recognize details. The selection of the texture for each creature was done accordingly. Later all these material and drawings were given to the visually impaired children for getting the feedback. In the following image, the last illustration was approved by the kids. They demanded little stylization too. But it was not that easy for every drawing. Kids were well acquainted with fish due to the simplicity in its form. But in case of other creatures the case was different. It was very difficult to distinguish other animals tactily as all of them had tails, all of them had legs!

One interesting fact I remember while I was carrying out these experiment that, there were partially sighted kids too in the same school. So they complained me for not coloring these images.

“Yaksha” belong to a class of demigods. They dwelled in a place called Alkapuri situated somewhere in Kailasha, the snowy mythical abode of Shiva in Himalaya. It is believed that they had the powers like flying through the air and becoming invisible. They are represented as servants of Kubera (God of wealth). Their duty is to keep guard over his garden and treasure. There was this love blind Yaksha condemned to banishment by his Lord for neglecting his duty with a yearlong exile from his lover at Ramgiri Aashram. According to some commentators his job was to bring fresh flowers every morning for his lord for the worship of Shiva (Lord of three worlds). But one day unwilling to leave the company of his wife early in the morning he brought lotus-buds during night. While Kubera was offering these to Shiva the next morning a bee lurking in one of the bud stung him. Incensed at this Kubera exiles him for a year at Ramgiri Aashram.

Thus days passed just by crying. One day with the arrival of shravan (monsoon) he stands helpless at the sight of the rain cloud, wondering megha (clouds) can travel anywhere at will, why not carry my tidings of welfare to his lover. He loses the sense of reality and begs megha to carry his message. He starts directing the route to megha ensuring his comfort by describing the beauty of the landmarks and providing him with information about the places like mountains and rivers where he can rest whenever he feels tired and fatigued and also instructing about the places where he should not overstay. Throughout the story there is a very surprising blend of nature, imagination, mythology, metaphors, syntactic, semantic details can be seen. Finally the output was in an audio visual format. The above images are some of the screen shots.

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Some Calligraphic exploration for the word “Meghdutam” in Devanagiri script.

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Following images depict the original sketches and the final image:

Yaksha requesting megha (clouds)

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(Temple scene)

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Kubera ( God of wealth)

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Yaksha and Yakshini

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Following are few character explorations. The mood of the playful clouds has been taken as an inspiration while making such stylization.

Triplets:
Outplay the ordinary. For 8+, it requires developing strategies to visualize line formation of set of your own three pieces, while preventing the opponent to create his formations. Projecting potential moves on to the board (like in chess) is expected to develop spatial intelligence.

Chakra View:
Master the arc of winning. For 10+, it demands developing strategies that protect your pieces while capturing your opponent’s pieces by circling around it. Clever moves allow windfall gains by multiple captures in a single move.

http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/projects/projects/board-games.html

http://www.indiaplaza.com/toys/pd.aspx?sku=KID081107153129BHR5

Few images from the book are as follows:

Few lines from he book are as follows:

That is what I call Elysium. My last day of graduation. The day I waited from the day one I came here. Finally I’ll be home to enjoy 24 hours water and electricity. Now am going to temple I always crossed thrice a week in my four year stay in Allahabad, but never been inside. It seems so interesting to do puja with thali of flowers and prasad. I wonder why didn’t I do it earlier instead of watching Ma doing it. Lovely spiritual day. Better to leave now, got to do adieu to all my pals.

Now where did my dupatta got stuck! ……….

The above photograph is one of my favorite snap. I took it in IIT Bombay. There used to be a beautiful aquarium in Main Building ones with lot of beautiful gold fishes in it. There fins were amazing like some fairytale. Whenever we used to stand by the corner of the tank all the fishes used to rush towards us jumping over one another hoping they will be given some food, the photograph captures the same moment. We were not allowed to fed the fishes anything at all but used to be fun and refreshing. But SADLY that place is not the same after it got renovated. I just have this picture.

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That’s the entrance of my hostel room ( Hostel 11, Room No. 222) 

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 Those are the pots made in IDC at a pottery workshop.

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The following photographs are few amazing colours of nature collected from Trinity Church beside IIT Bombay Campus.

Since the chapter was for middle section students (i.e 6th to 8th standard) it was decided to add illustration supporting the story. But at the same time not many illustrations as they tend to divert kids from reading the chapter. Few illustrations because it will help them avoiding boredom. Illustrations are also helpful in remembering the chapters. During exam time children tend to mug up lot of things, illustration in a way do help in recalling the events. The text was composed in a way that is clearly redable. Moreover  at the bottom of each page the meanings and pronunciation of various words from the chapter were included. 

Myself as a kid I always wished my school text books to be full of pictures all over and my wish was never granted, but now I understand the strategy behind.