A mix of science & reality

Humra Quraishi

Stories written for children and teenagers are usually quite interesting as these have the capacity and capability of taking one ever so gently towards a different world! Carefree and carelessly casual, ripe with settings which hold sway with an abundance of childlike innocence and dramatic moves — Indu Ranchan’s No Child’s Play has it all.

It’s a well written, fast-paced read. According to Ranchan, it is one of those stories that “wrote itself in the last three weeks of November 1995.”

It is a semi-thriller, with lots of action and run-aways, a mix of science and everyday reality, a combination of raw childlike innocence and modern-day machines and gadgets. 

The story flows along rather spontaneously in keeping with the fact that Ranchan has been a story-teller since she was a young girl. When she was 11, she penned a comic story for her siblings. She never stopped after that and started narrating stories to them, evening after evening. In college she took to writing plays. 

After she joined teaching, writing took backstage. Though she did continue to write short stories, she never bothered about getting these published. In fact, there has nearly been a 25-year gap in writing No Child’s Play and getting it published. Also, another collection of her works, From The Terrace, is awaiting to be published.

A born storyteller, Ranchan has been actively involved in the creativity process and perhaps that’s why she has not given the due significance to the publishing aspect. But now that her book is finally published, it stands out. It has some striking illustrations by Santosh Mishra to go along with the story, dripping with facts and fiction.