Amma, Take me to Shirdi-Book Review
Part of "Amma, Tell me" Series
It has been said that once a person reaches a certain age called as “ripe old age” they should take up spiritual reading. But I always wondered why it should be so late. Shouldn’t we also teach children spiritual reading so that they can live their lives accordingly? For children, though, the stories are always there. Books are a great way of discovering, imbibing and rethinking our ideals, beliefs and faiths. And stories attached to pilgrimage centres are even more exciting for children as they see and visualize it through sculptures, locations and customs. If they can’t go there directly, the next best way is to take their imagination there. The “Amma, take me to Shirdi” book does just that. It brings Shirdi, Sai Baba and most importantly His teachings alive for children.
"Amma, take me to Shirdi” takes the form of a travelogue. It is written in the format of a conversation between a mother and her two children. This is an appropriate choice considering the target audience. The author uses the voices of her children to ask the questions that children are most likely to ask and are curious to know about. She answers as a parent would. The conversational style of text paves the way for a good start to the book, to keep the flow of the book going and to also appropriately close the narratives. The book starts with the travel of the trio to Shirdi in a car, and takes us through the places in Shirdi as they visit them– the Samadhi Mandir, the Dwarkamai, the Chavadi, the Gurusthan, the museum and the Hanuman temple. The stories around these places and the significance of these places are narrated as they go from place to place. The narrative as they travel to the various places brings about a lovely yet subtle comparison between the Shirdi of today and the Shirdi when Baba was alive. As a person who has visited Shirdi, I felt the description of the places brought them alive, esp. those of the Samadhi Mandir and the idol of Baba brought the same emotions as when I had myself visited.
The book uses the narrative to not just describe or take us around the various holy sites but also uses the curiosity of the two young children to delve into questions of philosophy or spirituality. It was lovely that the author fantastically uses the opportunity to also convey the teachings of Baba. I liked the bits where it talks about the power of devotees and devotion right in the start of the book itself, talking about walking barefoot and surrendering the tiniest of worries, setting up the correct attitude to pursue the rest of the book. The author uses small,simple sentence structure, with clarity of thought, conveying the ideas with a good flow. The reference to Harry Potter tickled my funny bones, rekindling the child and Harry Potter fan inside me a little bit.
There are mini narrations of stories found in the Sai Satcharitra and other sources. These well- chosen incidents grab the essence of the philosophy and could entice the devotees to suggest this book as a pre-reading to their younger ones before they introduce the Satcharitra, the quintessential book for Sai devotees.
The book makes references to the philosophy, teachings and customs of other pilgrimage places and saints like the Guru Granth Sahib, Kabir and sufi saints. This may appear as deviation to some. But it is a good way of integrating various teachings and faiths and interconnecting various holy sites. It also arouses a good interest to read the other books in the “Tell me” series written by the author.
The book has wonderful illustrations. Be it the grey brick walls of Dwarkamai, the artifacts of the museum, the sellers of Shirdi, they are truly beautiful and close to real-life. I wonder who all were involved in coming up with ideas for illustrations, it speaks of a person who has thoroughly and truly enjoyed and soulfully experienced Shirdi.
In conclusion, the book is a simple, yet articulate, nuanced read for children especially if the parents are looking to increase their curiosity in Indian culture, heritage and spiritual richness. While reading, we get as curious as the children in the book. A complete picture of the place is given and the book with its illustrations, description, narrations and teachings is very wholesome. It belies the author’s own affinity to Baba and his philosophy which I felt in the way the author has finished the book. This makes me want to pick up another of her books in this series to see if I get the same fervour towards it and I really hope and wish I would.
