Writing stories for children is a difficult task. By the time you think of a plot, facts and characters come flooding from the past and confront you. There are myriad things in our oral and written tradition that an author has to contend with. Then, you have to come to terms with the time to which you belong. You don't know if the past is more appropriate as a setting for children or the present-whether they prefer reading stories on tigers or i-pods, or both?
As a writer of stories for children I was always lost in these things. I was never sure of myself. Whatever I thought to be of interest to children, I tried to give it the shape of a story. A discerning reader might find one or two stories carrying the age old plot. I don't mind if I am accused of repeating myself.
These stories written in Odia found a benign translator in Prof Bikram K. Das, without whose magic touch this tiny book would not have seen the light of the day. I am grateful to him.
Teeny-Weeny Balloon and Other Stories is a collection of eight illustrated children's stories; Dash Benhur, the author of this collection, has managed to retain traces of the child in him-which is a rare achievement for any adult. He writes mostly in the language which he learnt as a child-his mother tongue, Odia, but some of the stories that he wrote for children long ago are appearing for the first time in English, so that more readers can savour them. Something of the flavor of Odisha, as well as the flavor of childhood, will be found here.
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