Book Review: I Do So I Do: Stories

 Where Every Creature Has a Story

What do you think the world of animals looks like? Not merely the one we glimpse through binoculars in forests, but the one they inhabit with their families and friends. In Padmini Mongia's imagination, young dolphins may squirm when their mothers fuss over them, while mice guard their homes as fiercely as children treasure their own rooms. 

In I Do So I Do: Stories, she creates a world where the lives of animals, birds, insects and even pests intersect with human lives - a world where Fluffy the cat is a diva and Gugu the giraffe is looked out for by four ‘ias - Kia, Mia, Sia and Tia. Full of wonder and whimsy, I Do So I Do: Stories, is a collection of seven tales, some of which are narrated as bedtime stories to the author's niece. 

The tales, which often read like modern fables, take readers from coral reefs in Capri and Cambodia to a desert town in India and a garden where two teeny-weeny cacti are jealous of each other. Not every story centres on animals. One story features an eight-year-old girl who is sure that she does not want to wear a delicate gold chain for her elder sister's wedding. She is not sure what she does want until she makes up her mind with the help of a wishing stone—a necklace made of motiya (jasmine) flowers. Mongia delves into relationships and the bonds that are created not just because people are family, but also because of those they choose to share their lives with. From a homeowner who politely knocks before entering so as not to startle a mouse, to serpents befriending children, Mongia imagines a world where humans and animals live not in fear of one another, but with kindness, curiosity and respect.

Name: I Do So I Do: Stories

Author: Padmini Mongia

Pages: 126

Publisher: Red River

Price: Rs 349

(The book review has been written for Amritabharati)

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