I brought along only a handful of copies of Here Come the Tickle Bugs! to India to give away. When we met Jayesh-bhai and the incredible work that was being done for kids at Manav Sadhana, I knew immediately that I had to give him one of the copies. There were only 3 left, but I was convinced that I would find no better place to leave them than with Jayesh-bhai, so I gave him all 4. I had none left.
That could have been the end of the story, but Jayesh-bhai is a miracle man extraordinaire and quickly crafted the idea of publishing Here Come the Tickle Bugs! in Gujarati. He called up his publisher friend and we met. Hammesh Modi from Rannade Prakashan agreed to publish 2000 books at a cost of Rs. 1 crore (over $2300 US). This is A LOT of money in India and he made the decision to do it without question - simply out of his faith in Jayesh-bhai. I offered to give all royalties from the book to fund free books for underprivileged kids.
I hustled to turn the book Gujarati, complete with a topi, or Islamic cap, for Bobo, and bindis, or 'third-eye' dots, for Summer and Classy... and Rannade hustled to print the books in time for our walk through the villages. The book is out now -- and it looks terrific!
Can't wait to hear all the local kids giggling in Gujarati!!! :)
Hey John,
This is such a cute manifestation of the wonderful work you are doing in India! Ticklebugs in Gujarati -- it doesn't get any better :)
Can't wait to hear what Gujarati giggles sound like ;)
Hope all is going well for you...
Love,
Trishna
Posted by: Trishna | April 19, 2005 at 02:33 PM