"Cinnamon" by Neil Gaiman

A book about India?

It is rare for a folktale to live beyond its original form and language, and rarer still for it to be transferred uncorrupted and remain true to its original charm. However, in this tiny example of an exquisite picture book, Neil Gaiman may have succeeded at doing just that yet again.

While much can be said about Gaiman’s economical lines and mesmerizing way with children’s books, the true life of this work is to the credit of the illustrations of Divya Srinivasan. The princess Cinnamon with her pearly blind eyes and the majestic tiger alike remain imprinted on the mind thanks to the vividness of the colours, complementing a story well told.

Is a Picture-Book a book?

Whenever I include a children’s picture book into my reading list, I feel a twinge of guilt. Can a book meant to be read to kids and one that is devoured in a matter of minutes share a space with epic-sized novels which take over entire weeks of one’s reading time?

Why not?

It is snobbish to categorize some books as “real” books even whilst others are shrugged aside. The same question arises when one speaks of manga comics or audiobooks. Literature that may have begun as tales told around ancient campfires to ease the passing of time ought not to be compartmentalized.

Don’t tell that to the Canonists of the world’s English Departments though.

How India is Captured

Edward Said in Orientalism makes a fierce critique of the presentation of the East within the imaginative fiction and academic writing alike of the West. Can such a book, set in a “small hot country, where everything is very old” also be guilty of orientalizing? “Everything is very old” certainly meets the requirement of the Orient being “forever trapped in time” in the eyes of the West as per Said, but I feel that would be guilty of lazy theorizing.

If anything, this book creates wonder and excitement about this faraway world and I can only imagine what kind of a picture of India unnamed would be created in the impressionable mind of a European or American toddler feasting her eyes upon these slim pages. The debate is certainly open.

What is not open is the masala-dabba from which this cinnamon has escaped into the literary world. Do find a copy (or view it on YouTube) and permit it to add flavour to your reading and your day alike. Do share this post and let me know what you think about representations of India in Western content. And do not forget to follow this Indian’s humble newsletter while you are at it.