Nandita Das launches book where 21 authors take on motherhood

For actor-filmmaker Nandita Das, being a mother has completely transformed life. So has it for 21 leading writers of the country who look beyond cliches to reveal the mysterious, hilarious and creative state of motherhood in all its complexity, in a new book.
"Understanding the world of children has made me understand my instincts... Understand the human instinct, because children are so full of innocence. All the negative and positive things done by children are all innocent", said Nandita, after launching the book titled "Of Mothers and Others", here late last evening.
The actor, who brought along her two-year-old son Vihaan to the function says she would love to write about motherhood.

"I would have written about this journey which is so full of many different contradictory emotions and experiences of motherhood. Anything that I see or write or think about has a different angle and it is surely going to impact my son," said Nandita.
The actor-director who also served as the Chairperson of Children's films society for three years said her interactions with filmmakers and children made her understand the human instinct. "I have seem a film on death made by some children. Adults would never have thought about it," said the actor.
The anthology of essays, poems and short fiction edited by Jaishree Misra is a collaborative venture between the NGO Save the Children and publishing house Zubaan. It has a foreword by actor Shabana Azmi.

Jaishree said she began on the idea of the book a little over a year ago.
"It started with an event organised by Save the Children where I found myself promising to edit a book that would highlight the problems some women face in caring for their children. In India we lose children in 19 seconds to easily preventable diseases and it seemed worth trying to help the organisation employ more health workers to assist struggling families," said Jaishree.