Il libro della giungla a Londra

by Bhajju Shyam, Gita Wolf, Sirish Rao

Qualche anno fa Bhajju Shyam, innocente e timidissimo artista indiano, è stato invitato a Londra per decorare gli interni di un noto ristorante indiano. Il giovane ha, così, lasciato per la prima volta il suo villaggio decidendo che lungo la strada avrebbe disegnato tutto quello che lo colpiva. Ne è uscito questo libro, un po' quaderno di schizzi, un po' diario di viaggio, che trasporta il lettore in un mondo fatato in cui gli aerei diventano elefanti, i pub londinesi alberi notturni popolati di pipistrelli.

Genres: Travel, Art, Childrens, India, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Asia

52 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Bhajju Shyam is one of the finest artists of the Gond tribe in central India. Like most children from his tribe, Bhajju grew up helping his mother paint the walls of their village home, and at the age of sixteen, he moved to the city of Bhopal in search of work and soon became an apprentice to his uncle, the famous artist Jangarh Singh Shyam. Bhajju’s prowess as an independent artist grew quickly, and in 2001 he received a state award for Best Indigenous Artist.

Reviews

[Patrick Sherriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Take a folk artist from rural India and drop him in London for a couple of months, then get him to describe his experiences through his art with some translated, brief explanations. The result is occasionally profound. I'd never thought of Brits being particularly punctual, but Shyam calls it when he describes Big Ben as London's "temple to time." I'd never thought about it before, but of course sticking a great clock at the heart of the British Empire was the Victorians' way of saying "We are the owners of the world now, we run its time." Sometimes it takes a foreigner with no preconceptions to discover the wonder that the locals have lost. It's a lesson I will remember when writing about Japan.

I loved The London Jungle Book and can vouch that it makes a great bedtime book to read to a curious eight-year-old.

Download my starter library for free here - http://eepurl.com/bFkt0X

[Beccy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so pleased to have found this book. A story in a familiar setting, traditional and inventive, drawing on history and geography and looking at aspects of time, travel and transport that can be discussed in science classes as well as teaching about immigration and the positive experience of cultures melting together- this book is perfect!

It's an English translation of the oral recollection (in Hindi) of an Indian artist, Bhajju Shyam's experience of coming to London.

Shyam describes flying on a plane, the underground, the sights sounds and feelings of being a stranger in the city. Unable to speak English he captures each of these experiences through his traditional art. It's an approach to art which is steeped in history and symbolism (brilliant for looking at metaphors and similes)and some of the illustrations are wonderful in marrying his culture with that he experiences in England- a trip to the pub, for example, is shown by bats and a fox cloaked in darkness.

This book is brilliant for group reading- taking one picture at a time with younger readers. For older children the context of citizenship is an obvious topic to be addressed as they read it. Really can't recommend it enough!

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gem. We've started a section in the library "Picture books for older readers" and I picked this up out of that.

It's a beautifully illustrated book about the experiences of an Gond Indian Artist - Bhajju Shyam - in London. His first phrase on the back cover sets the tone "Rich people travel to spend money, poor people to earn it"

Each page reflects on an aspect of travel, living and working in a foreign country, or wry observations on "the locals" with illustrations that capture the inner experience of the incident. The illustrations are reminiscent of Aboriginal paintings, however is traditional to the Gond Tribe, which is one of central India's largest indigenous communities.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without exaggerating this is one of the most delightful books I've ever come across: an indigenous Gond Indian artist from a small village is invited to fly to London and paint the walls of an upmarket Indian restaurant for two months.

He's never flown; he's never seen a subway train; he doesn't know any of the language except "goodbye." And yet you get the feeling that he notices Londoners and their surrounds more than they do. It's a virgin view.

With his own ancestral and personal artistic twists.

[Vinayak Hegde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated book in Gond-style by award-winning artist Bhajju Shyam. The book cover his impressions of London on his first trip abroad. The observations are wonderful and almost child-like with comparison to the village life that the artist is used to. The book is both enlightening and witty in parts (eg, Imagining the Englishmen as bats as they are active during the night). The artwork and imagination is brilliant.

[Sandhya Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

18/52 - a book set in a place you're likely to visit this year

an unusual travelogue. again, a beautiful book to own

[Shruti Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jungle Book--It's surprisingly strange how simplest of books can make you ponder over little things. London (Jungle Book) by Bhajju Shyam (as illustrator and storyteller), Gita Wolf, Sirish Rao is one such book. I read its Hindi translation which is even more endearing since it's my mother tongue.

There is so much that I learned from the book. I learned about the Gond tribe and Gond art which belongs to central India. I learned about Bhajju Shyam, the great artist, the protagonist of the story. I learned about the behind-the-scenes story of publishing this book (through my extended research on the internet about how Tara books got in touch with Bhajju Shyam).

It's such a great feeling to get to know about publishers like Tara books who are working towards bringing our tribal voices to us, naive city dwellers. I was hooked throughout the book. At many places, I could relate to Bhajju Shyam's myriad of emotions. I found myself acknowledging some of his feelings as my own. The fear of flying, leaving my people, my language, that nasty feeling in the stomach when you leave your loved ones. And then once it's time to leave the foreign land, the sadness of leaving that place where you made memories that will last a lifetime.

Bhajju's story of his travel to London in an airplane would make you remember your first international trip and the first time you sat in a plane. It's so raw and innocent that you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from smiling. And of course, you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from admiring the beautiful Gond illustrations. They are ah-so-gorgeous! 

[Yee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book shows his Gond style of art which uses a lot of patterns and animals. He expresses his thoughts about London and the differences between the western and his own culture. We also get to understand more about Gond traditional beliefs through the arts especially each piece of art has its own description with it. What I loved the most is he uses the Gond style to bring the two different worlds together with symbols. Big Ben is the temple of time for London but a rooster is the symbol of time for Gond and he combines both in his art to tell the story.

Book Journal: The London Jungle Book by Bhajju Shyam.

[Neera Mahajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book on the shelf of an Airbnb I was staying in. I loved the concept of the book, the illustrations and of course the story of Bhajju Shyam written in simple words by Gita Wolf and Sirish Rao. After seeing a lot Renaissance work in London and Edinburgh galleries, this book was a humble reminder that everyone of us is an artist, only the way we express ourselves is different.

[HadiDee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another stunningly beautiful book by Tara Books. I would buy their entire catalogue if I could...

[Shrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly wonderful

[Debopriyo Moulik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never has the feeling wonder ever been so honestly and completely captured on paper

[Abdulaziz · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://instagram.com/p/CEMPXESAZkC/

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very creative piece! I like how he writes a caption for each Gond artwork to introduce us to the style and unpack the rich symbolism of each element.

[Ethan Washington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting!

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s refreshing to see the familiar London from someone else’s (and not Japanese or American) point of view.
And I love the artwork as well.
It made me miss the surprise and excitement of first time visiting London.

[Milan Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long wait finally comes to seize when I laid my hands on this fresh copy of ‘The London Jungle Book’. I have always been intrigued by traditional arts, but this one is my favourite not just because of the simplistic and modest art forms but the innocence and down to earth nature of the artist’s narrative and visual travelogue.

Bhajju Shyam brings to me his experiences in a brilliant narrative that swaps me back in time, to my own London experiences. The artist from Gond tribe in central India reflects on his first encounter with the British island. Even though coming from a background so different from my own I feel an immense link to his thoughts, however different world people may come from yet some simple things are so relatable. The strangeness of a new land, the two knot feeling of leaving home (that 50-50 assurance), the peculiarities of a new country, everything is brilliantly expressed in this piece of art.

Some narratives were like a fantasy story to me; the comparisons of London beings, Things and Doings to that simple village life. It builds a beautiful gap between my own roots that are as strange to me as the new experience of being away from my own country. Thoughts do not need a passport or approval they are independent travelers as the artist rightly said…It’s the Journey of the mind.

“Everyone was a foreigner - all kinds of skin colours and all kinds of hair. I had seen foreigners before - some of them had visited my village to look at our paintings, but now I realized that something strange had happened. My color was different; my language was taken away from me… I myself had become a foreigner.” - Bhajju Shyam

The strangeness of being away from home in a foreign land only to realize that it’s you that is the foreigner.

“When something means the world to you, and absolutely nothing to someone else, that is the gap that only language can fill. Art is the only language I have.” - Bhajju Shyam

The simple experiences when he talks about the comfort that the bus route 33 gave him, or the ever hailing sky, the culture of the west and Britisher as being the monarchs of their own destiny, I felt a sense of familiarity. There is a subtle unintentional humor in his conversations where he is questioning the irony of his own situations.

“I tried to understand what the people of London were like. The important thing, it seemed to me, was that they were the rulers of their own desires. As long as they didn’t break the law, they could do anything they liked, unlike in India where there are plenty of people who question what you do if you even have done nothing wrong.” - Bhajju Shyam

What I miss most about this country is the true sense of freedom in believing who you are and perusing your dreams. The non judgmental attitude and the free spirit nature of British Land makes it home to many away from home.

“What I like about the people in London was that working people had dignity, no matter what their job was. Even a man who cleaned rubbish bins had a nice uniform, and boots; Workers on construction sites were big and healthy and had electric tools. Just from looking at the people, I couldn’t tell who was rich and who was poor.” - Bhajju Shyam

“Rich people travel to spend money, poor people to earn it” - Bhajju Shyam

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Bhajju Shyam, a renowned artist from the Gond tribe in central India, accepted a commission in London, what followed was a series of firsts for the artist: his first time on an airplane, his first time in a Western city, and his first experience being a foreigner. Shyam approached each new situation with a sense of wonder and awe, and has captured his travels beautifully in The London Jungle Book, a picture book sure to be treasured by both children and adults.

Originally published in limited release in 2004, The London Jungle Book will reappear this May to take new audiences on an unforgettable journey through the streets of London. Shyma is curious about every aspect of life in London – from the weather to the way British people conduct themselves in public – and in order to better understand his surroundings, he makes comparisons to his own life and traditions, resulting in incredible illustrations that blend London objects (such as Big Ben) with traditional Gond images.

But The London Jungle Book is more than a beautiful picture book. The accompanying text tells the story of Shyam’s adventures in London and provides fantastic insight into each image, allowing readers to learn both about the Gond culture and the joy that comes when we take the time to delight in small, everyday experiences.

Taking its title from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, which was set in the central Indian forests Shyam calls home, The London Jungle Book serves as a charming volley of Kipling’s perspective, as Shyam depicts London as its own kind of jungle, filled with adventure, mystery, humor, and joy, making this a perfect book for travelers and those of us who wish to see our own surroundings from a fresh perspective.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a unique book this one is, providing an unusual perspective on London, a city with which many are familiar. The text comes from the words of Bhajju Shyam, a talented artist from the Gond tribe in central India who traveled to London to paint murals in a restaurant there. The illustrations are fashioned in the traditional Gond artistic style, filled with animals and symbols. I loved the illustrations and comments about "Time" and "Monarchs of their Own Desires." Only sixteen when he boarded an airplane for the first time and left his village for London, the artist sees the city with clear eyes but also manages to make things that are familiar to many of us seem exotic and unfamiliar. This picture book is visually stunning and leaves readers wondering about the nature of travel and how travel changes us as well as what sights might capture the eyes. I loved the reminder that while we are looking at others through our tourist lens, they may also be looking back at us. Which one of us is the tourist and which the person being observed?

[mentalexotica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a prize offering to the world of art and reading. Each part of Bhajju's simple but awestruck tale of his once-in-a-lifetime trip outside of India, is filled with quiet wonder and respectful observation. At no point do you find the stereotypes we are all so often saddled with because Bhajju's eyes are virgin and see everything for the first time; not as it is but as he is.

The simplest functions and acts of commuting, gestures, behaviour, style, food, and art are replayed to us through Bhajju's view. A perspective that is both remarkably astute while remaining delightfully child-like.

What a stellar work of art this book is.
What a stunning book this piece of art is.

[Bobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of how London is seen through the eyes of the author, who belongs to a tribal culture in India and lives in a small village. When he travels to London to paint murals for an Indian restaurant, it's the first time he's experienced many aspects of modern Western culture. He decides to show the readers London through his eyes, by suffusing famous symbols of London with various symbols from his own tribal culture. This makes for a very unique (and truly amazing!) book. Highly recommended for all, but especially to fans/residents of London.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully re-designed edition of a book published 10 years ago by Bhajju Shyam, a celebrated artist from the Gond tribe in central India who traveled to London. He spent two months in the city, and it was the first time he encountered a western metropolis. This chronicle of his journey is a fascinating, unique visual travelogue that features folkloric paintings representative of his culture. Although a picture book, this is not one likely to appeal to most children.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, published by Tara Books, in India is stunning! The visuals are incredible. The viewpoint of London is the original and unique.
This is one of those books that changes the reader. I'll never look at the world in quite the same way again.
Great book to show difference in culture and different ways of viewing the world.

[Raphael · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is a great novel obout a man with a great love of art and his culture.

[Tanvi Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible narrative of an artist.