Wondering what new books to read out loud to your children this Christmas? Instead of classic children’s Christmas books comprising of fiction and fairy tales, how about real-life stories of grit and determination? Neha J Hiranandani’s first book Girl Power! has been published by Scholastic. It takes a leap of faith to celebrate the successes of women spanning different walks of life, who have dared to pursue their dreams, scripted history by following their passion and overcoming all the odds against them. Neha J Hiranandani’s book Girl Power covers women from coolies to queens, spies to scientists.
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In an email-based interview with Financial Express Online’s Swapna Raghu Sanand, Neha J Hiranandani strongly pitches why this book is a must-read for school going boys and girls and she sheds light on her journey as a writer that has now evolved into this book titled ‘Girl Power’, celebrating India’s ‘phenomenal’ women.
Edited excerpts:
When did you first begin writing and what got you started?
I have always wanted to write a book like this! India is a country of incredible women who are constantly breaking barriers and reaching new heights. Unfortunately, these women often don’t get their due and their stories aren’t told in a fun, accessible way. This is my attempt at changing that.
Let’s talk about this book and what prompted you to write it.
My 7-year-old daughter, Zoya absolutely loved ‘Rebel Girls,’ a book that profiles strong women from around the world. But then one day she came to me clutching her beloved copy of Rebel Girls and asked sadly “Does India only have two rebels?” pointing to Mary Kom and Rani Laxmibai.
Of course, I immediately wanted to tell her all about the phenomenal women that India has had – our rule-breakers, our homegrown rebels, the women who changed the game.
Zoya and I spent the next few months discovering these women together – we researched them and marvelled at their accomplishments. It was magnificent! I quickly realized that these were stories that all our girls – and even our boys – should hear.
Can you describe what you set out to do when you first began writing this book? How did it unfold as you went deeper into your narrative?
At first, this was a project just for my daughter. I would research an incredible Indian woman – someone who had changed India – and then tell Zoya her story at bedtime.
Often, Zoya would often have questions to which I didn’t have the answer – like “how many hours did PV Sindhu train every day for the Olympics?” – so that prompted further research!
However, once I had decided to publish this as a book, the research became much more structured and thorough.
Share your thoughts with readers about how this came to you and the challenges, as a writer, that you felt while working on this.
Choosing which women to profile was easily the most challenging (and most fun) part of the project! It was clear that this wasn’t going to be just a list of accomplished Indian women – the women in this book had to be mavericks and rebels! And so I set about finding the stories and really, what stories they are!
Every story made me feel proud to be Indian all over again. You will meet a spy princess who parachuted into France, a warrior queen who defended India from the Portuguese six times!
There’s Subhasini Mistry who worked as a maid before winning a Padma Bhushan for healthcare, and Chandro Tomar, the octogenarian sharpshooter, popularly known as Revolver Dadi.
Of course, there are some household names as well including PV Sindhu and Priyanka Chopra. But personally, I am very proud of the untold stories. They were so excited to discover!
Given the social inequalities that women still grapple with at their workplaces and in their homes, how do you view the relevance of women and their achievements?
I think books like Girl Power! are important for exactly that reason. Globally, so many areas are still viewed as the exclusive domain of men – areas like wrestling, space travel or even business. But books like Girl Power! show that women are at the top of those domains too.
As Harshini Kanehkar, India’s first female firefighter and one of the incredible women in Girl Power says “No field of work belongs to any gender.”
Is there a methodology that you used to filter out whom to include and whom to exclude?
I have tried to be as inclusive as possible. I also tried to pick stories that had an identifiable ‘Kodak moment’ that could be written coherently in 300 words or less. This is easier said than done, especially given that all of these women have led very layered and nuanced lives!
Above all, I tried to have a mix of women from different domains to showcase the breadth of what Indian women have achieved. I’m fond of saying that Girl Power covers women from coolies to queens, spies to scientists. So no matter what a child is passionate about – from singing to space – they are bound to find that passion reflected in Girl Power!
Were there limitations on what could be covered and what could not?
If yes, could you elaborate?
There were some women who I would have loved to cover, someone like Indira Jaisingh for example. But I couldn’t find the correct ‘Kodak moment’ in her life that would be relatable to a young audience.
Separately, there were women who had overcome backbreaking violence to achieve great things but the details of their story weren’t appropriate for my readership. I am a parent of young children myself, and so I was especially careful that Girl Power! is first and foremost appropriate for children of all ages.
How would you sum up the crux of this book in one sentence?
An important, colourful and fun read for both boys and girls!
