In Vineeta and Arvind Kanoria’s book ‘Neel‘, Krishna comes alive through art. The Lord Vishnu-incarnate who, many people believe, walked the Earth thousands of years ago and lived a complicated and enigmatic life — an astute politician driven by a desire to teach ‘dharma‘ to the world — has been depicted as a mischievous boy going about his extraordinary life in Vrindavan and Gokul: milking cows, fighting the mythical many-headed snake Kalia, dancing with gopis, etc.
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Vineeta sounded visibly-excited over the phone while talking about her book, conceptualised shortly after the birth of her grandson ‘Neil’. “My husband and I read a lot, and are interested in art and philosophy. Our grandson is called ‘Neil’, and it is also the colour blue (‘neel‘ in Hindi). We thought of doing something on Krishna. Every time we go abroad, [we see] so many lovely books; [but there are] not that many books on Indian art,” she told this outlet.
A Jamini Roy painting featuring the Blue God.
While Neil was born in 2017, Neel was published “just before Covid, in 2020”.
On every page of this self-published book, there is evocative artwork — from a Jamini Roy to an M F Husain — detailing the various colourful and gripping episodes of the godhead’s life. “It took a long time [to finish this book], because these were all images from museums and collectors. You need permission, since you cannot just take them off the internet,” Vineeta, a pre-school and special educator, said.
When the Kanorias set out to write this book, they had an age-group in mind — it was meant for Neil and kids of his age. The couple first began work on the book’s skeleton, deciding on specific events from Lord Krishna’s life which they wanted to include. “I found illustrations based on the stories. For instance, I didn’t want to get into death and all of that with [demons like] Bakasur and Putana. And I did not want to include ‘cheer-haran‘ [chapter from Mahabharat] or show him running away with clothes. We made a list of the things we wanted to talk about, and then found artworks that were accessible and those that could move us.”
A painting inside the book, featuring Mirabai and Krishna, by late artist M F Husain.
The writing part of it took almost a year, for they attempted to get children interested in exploring the world of art, through various artworks found in the book: from a miniature painting to a patua. “I stretched it from three-four-year-olds — which was my original plan — to kids up to seven or eight years.”
The artwork details and credits for every painting are mentioned in the last page of this glossy hardcover, along with engaging tasks after every episode — promising to keep children busy at home, especially in the current times.
Arvind and Vineeta Kanoria
“In special education, we believe in multi-sensory teaching. If someone reads it out to you, it is auditory, and there is a visual element — something that a child can do with their hands and legs,” she said, adding that decisions on the book’s aesthetic details — including its font style — were taken by Arvind.
“I wrote the book with Krishna as a friend in mind,” the author said, explaining the reason why he is shown as a little child engaging with a girl and boy in the illustrations. “In the book, he is a boy, or a man, a regular person. I wanted to make him relatable, like an older brother. For me, it was more about Indian art than mythology. I could have done animals and birds, but the association with the word ‘neel‘ was there. Also, Krishna is beautifully represented in Indian art.”
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