Taming Tots with Routines

Amidst rising uncertainties, children often require the sameness of comforting routines. In a tender and balmy picturebook, “Noni & Paati Make a Dosa” gives them just that. While reinforcing an intergenerational bond, it pays attention to a human capability that is shriveling behind screens: imagination.

Paati’s Store of Stories

Noni arouses her half-asleep Paati with a familiar entreaty: “a bedtime story.” Paati is elated. But she also teases Noni by feigning ignorance about what she really wants. Should it be something she’s heard earlier? Impish Paati runs through a gamut of themes, ranging from “a bell that dings, a song that sings, a queen who weds a thousand kings.”

Reviving Mornings in Bed

All fabulous and appealing, no doubt, but that isn’t what Noni wants. None of those fancy things please. She wants her Paati to storify making dosas “in elaborate detail.” And this is where the book succeeds. They don’t make a real dosa, as they’ve already eaten dinner. They don’t need to. Memories can be dredged up in their minutiae, starting with a rice-flour kolam, sprinkled into “flowers, spirals, stars and curls.”

Flipping Magic on Tawas

Then they place an imagined pan on Noni’s dinner-full tummy, upping the heat of an imagined stove. They spray water, listen for the hiss, dole out fermented batter, thin it into a perfect circle. They butter it, flip it over, slather it with chutney, tuck themselves to bed with tummies full of made-up dosas.

The book tells a tale that would be relatable for many Indian kids. Both Paati and Noni recognize the magic embedded in the mundane, or of how anything small can be billowed into significance. Without labeling the concept, it’s also a lesson in mindfulness, as reading, watching and listening always are.

Tale-Telling Tricks for Paatis

It can also boost the storytelling smarts of all Paatis, who might be wary about coming up with worthwhile tales. When you watch everything with the newness of a child’s eye, combined with a Paati’s timeworn wisdom, the ordinary can be written and illustrated into the extraordinary, as Nisha Ravindranathan (Author) and Maithili Panikar (Illustrator) have done.

The Mind Behind the Words

Nisha Ravindranathan is a writer and poet who has worked across papers, magazines, publishing and theatre companies, creative agencies. She’s a keen explorer of islands, a deep-sea diver and runs the hashtag #ThePoetryProject on Insta, where she matches her photographs with poems.

Meet the Image Creator

Maithili Panikar has illustrated many Indian books. In this book, her pictures capture the playful relationship between Noni and Paati, with the child’s big-eyed curiosity and unfiltered emotions being tempered by a mischievous, tolerant and gently-silvered Paati. Panikar relishes time spent in nature.

References:

Nisha Ravindranathan, Noni & Paati Make a Dosa, Illustrated by Maithili Panikar, Tota Books, Speaking Tiger, 2026