Freedoms, both personal and collective, are explored in the endearingly crafted Nida Finds A Way, written by Samina Mishra and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan. Aimed at younger readers as a part of the hOle books series—Duckbill’s line of books with a hole cut into the top right corner to do with as you please—the story follows an irrepressible Nida, who balances getting what she wants alongside addressing her father’s perpetual worries for her safety.

For instance when she wants to learn to ride a cycle, Nida’s father (Abba) expressly forbids it. “NoNoNo,” he says, as he often does. She solves the problem by asking her neighbor, college-goer Simeen Baji (baji being a word for elder sister), to teach her to ride a cycle atop a terrace! It’s the perfect plan with Nida finding opportunities aplenty to dart upstairs: be it volunteering to do her homework there, or offering to bring back the dried laundry from the clothesline, or retrieving the sheets of candied mango left to coalesce in the sun. 

Samina Mishra takes us to the characters like Sitwat Khala (khala translates to Aunt) and Fahim Khalu (khalu translates to Uncle) who bring color to Nida’s world. Priya Kuriyan’s delightful black-and-white illustrations help bring alive the thrum of activity that pervades the terraces of neighborhoods in New Delhi, allowing a reader to see the sights and hear the sounds of Nida’s locality. With a few deft strokes, the illustrator captures a posse of grandmothers, each member delightfully distinct, as they confer on the dilemmas confronting their neighborhood later in the story. A reader is also treated to the inventive illustrations that Priya creates around the hole on particular pages.

Soon after she learns to ride the cycle, Nida sees her neighborhood become the site of a protest. Citizens stand up to the government, refusing the enactment of a law that places members of a particular religious community at a disadvantage. Based on the real-life, non-violent protests at Shaheen Bagh, led primarily by women for 101 days over late-2019 and early-2020, Nida Finds A Way touches upon security and belonging. It is bound to leave young readers wondering about a home as a place, and about finding a home in one’s people. 

Nida Finds A Way
Written by Samina Mishra
Illustrated by Priya Kuriyan
Published by Duckbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House India
ISBN: 9780143452638

You can buy a copy of Nida Finds A Way here or find it at a library.*

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Karthika Gopalakrishnan is the Head of Reading at Neev Academy, Bangalore, and the Director of the Neev Literature Festival. In the past, she has worked as a children’s book writer, editor, and content curator at Multistory Learning which ran a reading program for schools across south India. Prior to this, Karthika was a full-time print journalist with two national dailies. Her Twitter handle is g_karthika.