Just Who Am I? - K Geethanjali

The universe itself is the greatest fairy tale!

Growing up with this thought embedded in my mind, I was sure of two things at the time of life when one is sure of nothing – I would be a writer when I grew up and I would be writing fairy tales for children!

Then as Life happened and I grew up, I started on my quest in search of my own personal Holy Grail. I became a Reiki master, did courses in Pranic healing and Magnified healing and became a Kriya yogin. I found myself connecting to light and healing through my writing. I wrote not because I wanted to become an author but because writing helped me understand aspects of my own self and helped me to make sense of life.

The question ‘Who Am I?’ which is so popular in non-dual circles, was uppermost in my mind as life unfolded. This search, coupled with my childhood vision of writing spiritual stories for children, translated into the book ‘Just who am I?’ – a collection of stories that follow the adventures of various characters on their journey of self-discovery. Neel the cat finds out that he is Life itself, Sparkles realizes that it is in giving away her light that she finds herself. The gentle, beautiful Lily of the Valley finds eternal spring in the harsh Himalayan setting when she finds that she is forgiveness. Payal’s wings gain new strength only when she forgets herself and loses herself in her desire to bring joy to a group of children.

Jealousy, fear, anger, doubt – they are all here to create drama in the lives of the main characters in this book. But transcending and accepting these emotions are the very things that help the characters find out who they really are.

With the widespread interest in all things that are ‘New Age’ and a greater knowledge of Indigo and Crystal and Rainbow children, ‘Just who am I?’ is a book that is sure to speak to such ‘star children’ and Gen Z readers. The characters go through a series of adventures and end up finding out who they are – something everyone is trying to find out these days.

Though many children’s books deal with spirituality, my objective was different – to introduce this basic question ‘Who am I?’ to young minds. This book not only tantalizes the young mind with this question but also nudges them to figure out the answer through stories which delight without sermonizing. The stories are designed to appeal not only to children but also to adults who are in touch with their inner child.

I have gone through the children’s books published by Hay house and I feel that with the interest in all things spiritual, even spiritual masters like Deepak Chopra (‘You with the stars in your eyes’) and Wayne Dyer (‘Incredible you’) and Byron Katie (‘Tiger, Tiger, is it true’) have written for children recognizing the need to address the young mind which has a greater capacity to absorb spiritual truths now more than ever before. Doreen Virtue who has written more than 20 books about angels, indigo and crystal children etc was a leading writer of angel books. Other angel stories by authors like Jacky Newcomb – (‘Angels watching over me’) Dear Angel lady, Fairie Treasure have become bestsellers.

These stories of mine are however unique as they make use of angel characters and Nature Spirits to bring home to the child important messages about life. I find that such type of stories are of interest to a universal audience and especially to the Indian readers as much interest has been shown especially recently by children in books dealing with fairies and angels and supernatural beings as shown by the sales of Harry Potter books and the Twilight series which are still the rage ,years after their publication.

Having grown up on a diet of Enid Blytons and all the favourite children’s classics like ‘The Secret Garden’ or ‘Little Women’, it is with dismay that I find that such books are hardly known to or read by the children of today.

The last twenty years or so has seen technology taking over our lives and especially the lives of our children. As an English Teacher I find that children are losing the ability to enjoy good literature and are more inclined towards fast paced novels dealing with dark themes. And as a teacher of Creative Writing, I find that the students of today tend to reflect these dark themes in their writing also.

And though we need to accept this trend as the world changes and appreciate the bold themes explored bluntly by the authors of today, our children will lose out not only on good literature but also on values, if they are not guided to appreciate the humour of a PG Wodehouse, the descriptive beauty of a classic like Anne of Green Gables or the sense of togetherness and family present in abundance in the lives of the March sisters.

It is with the idea of reclaiming this lost beautiful world for at least the very young, that I came out with my collection. ‘Just Who Am I?’ caters to the needs of the young reader (in the age group of 8- 13. It is designed to mould the impressionable mind of the young child by focusing on positive and gentle qualities of angels and fairies and to help the child absorb these qualities and develop an open mind while revelling in the sheer magic of a world of infinite possibilities.

The older I get, the greater the urge to convey to the young readers, the truth that life does not have to be complicated. Life itself is the greatest story being written; unravelling itself each moment, woven on the threads of our experiences, memories and imagination – as magical and beautiful as a fairy tale!

As Rainer Maria Rilke said years ago in his ‘Letters to a young poet’, “Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring…”