It took me 18 years of my life to love the Mother Tongue that I had. I don’t want my children to wait 18 years to learn to love their own Mother Tongue – I want to give them opportunities at a young age to realise that damn, this language is really beautiful. It was only when I took Tamil literature that I started really enjoying Tamil plays and poetry and appreciating its beauty. Razmiah: Same – it took me 18 years of my life to love the Mother Tongue that I had. There are so many things you say in Tamil that can never be captured in English, so just the fact that we could lose all that if our children don’t appreciate the language really drove me. It’s later on that we realised how beautiful the language is, and how much of our culture and tradition is tied to the language. Razmiah and I are both good at writing Tamil, but you would never catch us speaking it. Usha: There is a big fear of losing touch with Tamil. What drove the decision to launch Chellamey Books? With English books, I couldn’t read normal picture books – I needed some sort of interactive element in order to stand a chance of my daughter sitting through it. We might think that books are just about reading to your children but at such an early age, it’s more about keeping their brains engaged because the whole world is so overly stimulating for them. Usha: My daughter isn’t as much of a reader as Razmiah’s son, but she liked playing with books. I couldn’t find this level of interactive elements in Tamil books, so we had those softcover books that are very wordy and have bad illustrations.
My kids love interactive books, the ones where you can pull the tabs, lift the flaps and explore different textures. We’re basically stalking each other.īefore Chellamey Books, what did you read to your children? We got married around the same time and pregnant around the same time – so lots of similar experiences. We were in the same form class in Secondary Three, then we went to the same junior college and university. We were always the worst two students, so as the worst two, we united to copy homework and share resources and knowledge. Razmiah: Usha and I have known each other since secondary school where we were in the same Higher Tamil class. Hi Usha and Razmiah, thanks for joining us today! First up, tell us more about your long friendship. RECOMMENDED: Scent memory: Local candle brand Carrom evokes dreams of South Asia Photograph: Chellamey Books
We catch up with Usha and Razmiah to find out how Chellamey Books hopes to foster an appreciation for Tamil language, culture, and issues from a young age. Co-founded by childhood friends and young mothers Usha and Razmiah, here you’ll find books with all the cool bells and whistles – tabs to pull, flaps to lift, textures to explore, and even QR codes that lead you to digital translations and transliterations. This newly launched publisher bridges the gap with Tamil-language interactive books for children. For young Tamil parents who are eager to enrich their kids’ education at home, this lack is a source of frustration and anxiety.Įnter Chellamey Books. While English interactive books for children flood the market, the ones in Tamil are few and far between. The beauty of interactive books though, is that it grabs their attention with engaging visuals and fun elements they can touch and feel – keeping kids interested in the story and enhancing language learning. Try to sit your three-year-old kid down with a wordy book and chances are that you’ll lose their interest five minutes in.
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