Children’s literature: Musharraf Farooqi launches third children’s book

Urdu translation of Tik-Tik The Master of Time to be out in six months.

LAHORE:

Tik-Tik The Master of Time, Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s third book for children, was released on October 4 (Thursday).

The book is also the first publication by Farooqi’s new publishing house Kitab. Tik-Tik The Master of Time is a story of two children from the fictional planet Nopter, who are looking for a way to grow up quickly. The Express Tribune spoke to the author at The Last Word workshop at the book’s Lahore launch of the book.

Farooqi said that switching from writing fiction for adults to fiction for children had been as easy for him as switching genres is for an average reader. “To me it is not an effort. I do not see a problem as a writer in switching between genres that I enjoy as a reader. So it is the same experience for me. I switch and start writing for kids, I switch and start writing for adults,” he said.

He said it was essential for children to be exposed to good reading. Investing in children, he said, should not be limited to sending them to good schools. So the parents and the schools need to inculcate healthy reading habits in children to allow them to be better rounded.

Farooqi said he believed that his job was to make children “intelligent readers”. But when it came to writing, he allows himself to enjoy the creative licence. “I want to write what I want to write, I am not even writing with a pre-determined outcome in my mind. This is going to give us some good laughs. And that is where my work ends.”

His wife Michelle Farooqi has illustrated the book, as she did his novel for adults, The Rabbit Rap, due for release this November. The books would not have been the same without her, he said. “She draws something and shares it with me, and then we see if it reflects the character I imagined. There is always a common point,” he said.

Farooqi, an avid reader and translator of Urdu classics, also wants to restore children’s interest in Urdu literature. This, he said, could help develop an understanding of the Pakistani literary heritage. “I will make sure that I provide enough background data for teachers, parents and children, and make it available widely and freely,” he said.

Once, Urdu literature was given as much importance by teachers and parents as Shakespeare or Dickens, children would automatically develop a sense of pride over their own literary heritage.

Farooqi said he was optimistic about his publishing venture, which he said was “curating the text”. He said that it was possible to provide economical options for children’s reading in Pakistan, because the resources were not lacking.

An Urdu translation of Tik-Tik The Master of Time will be available in about six months.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2012.