01/11/2022
We have celebrated the month of October as AAC Awareness Month. Our theme for this year is 'Show Your Voice'. Today, we are sharing the voice of a person with speech difficulties that is loud and clear in a book by Madhurima Vidyarthi.
In her day job, Madhurima Vidyarthi is an endocrinologist; trained in Kolkata and London and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK). She has always been a passionately committed writer, Over the years she has written in many formats – articles for The Statesman (Kolkata), scripts for educational documentaries (EMMRC, St Xavier’s College, Kolkata) and for a CD-ROM created by Price Waterhouse Coopers on Satyajit Ray (narrated by Sir Richard Attenborough). But her enduring love has always been fiction. Her first book, My Grandmother’s Masterpiece, has just been published by Duckbill (Penguin Random House India) in February 2022 – it is a chapter book for younger readers. A second book, ‘Munni Monster’ is due to be published in February 2023. She has also been selected to be part of the Italian Consulate initiative ‘Bridge of Stories’ – an anthology of short fiction by Indian and Italian writers. She has written for The Woman Inc. and Saaranga Magazine, among others.
In 'Munni Monster', she tells us the story of Munni, who has complex communication needs and has her own way of expressing herself. We are sharing an excerpt from the book here. Madhurima has also shared a portrait of her aunt in law, Shikha Ghosh, who has complex communication needs. Madhurima is her communication partner. The portrait has been drawn by Sanjoy Basu, her husband.
Excerpt from Munni Monster...
That was the thing with Munni, she always wanted two of everything. Asked for two of everything anyway. Biscuits, sweets, chocolates, even the special cheese puffs that Ma brought home one day. The cheese puffs were gigantic. No one could possibly have managed more than one, but Ma only said, ‘Have one, Munni and then I’ll give you the other one—’
But there were only five in the box—one each. Mishti hurriedly bit into hers. Whose cheese puff would Ma decide to give Munni?
But Munni, it turned out, was very sensible. When she had finally polished off her cheese puff, Ma asked her, ‘Do you want another one?’
‘N-no-no-no-no,’ she replied at once. ‘Yummm’, which was her way of saying she was full.
So everyone had a whole cheese puff and the grown-ups chuckled over their tea.
‘She’s not greedy,’ Ma said, ‘it’s only her way—’
An excerpt from ‘Munni Monster’ by Madhurima Vidyarthi, due to be published in February 2023 by Duckbill (Penguin Random House India)
More about Madhurima and more of her writing can be found at www.madhurimavidyarthi.com and https://www.instagram.com/madhurimavidyarthi/
