You live and you learn

We're in the highly unprofitable – but completely delightful – business of creating children's books in India. It's such fun actually that of course it can’t be profitable, can it? No, but really, this has been a good year. Critter Kumari (i.e., the baby) arrived and thrived, Amit illustrated two Puffin books (see above for one cover) and two of Anita’s stories appeared in The Puffin Anthology of Bedtime Stories (Nandana Jal’s review). Oh, and Anita started writing a column for the Mumbai Mirror. All in all, not much moolah, but lotsa work-wise joy!

More than anything else, for the first time in our cumulative lives, we’ve learned the fine art of baby-and-work management. So Amit has figured that the best time to draw is at 4 am before the wife-and-kid shebang rises like a double-headed monster. And Anita has learnt that the tummy is a good place to keep the laptop and type while watching a sleeping baby. Or how to read / write while nursing (lie on your side, hold the book / laptop behind the baby and read / write!). The only problem? How does one get the creative juices to flow on demand when the baby has fallen asleep and all you want to do is relax / eat / sleep / read / chat online or on-fone?