Puffin Classics: Shyamchi Aai

Sane Guruji (Author)
Sadashiv Pandurang Sane was a writer and a poet. He was such a fine teacher that he was given the title of National Teacher and came to be known as Sane Guruji. He wrote seventy-three books in all, mostly for children, of which the most famous and loved is Shyamchi Aai. Editor, playwright, orator, film-maker Acharya Atre made a film on the book that won the President's Gold Medal for Cinema in 1954 at the first edition of the National Film Awards.

Shanta Gokhale (Tr.) (Translator)
Shanta Gokhale is a novelist, translator, columnist and performing-arts critic. Her Marathi novel Rita Welinkar was published in 1992 and won the Maharashtra State Award for the best novel of the year. In 2009, her novel Tya Varshi also won the Maharashtra State Award for the best novel of the year, which was later translated into Crowfall. Shanta Gokhale was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 2015 and the lifetime achievement award for her exceptional body of work and impact in the Indian literary field at the Tata Literature Live! Festival in 2019.

'A novel of ideas'--Jerry Pinto

A child grows with mother's love
Also with its reverse.
The sun nurtures trees and flowers
The moon is equal nurse.
Thus do things grow and thrive
In this our universe.


The evening prayers in the ashram are over. Cowbells tinkle sweetly in the distance. The residents of the ashram sit in a circle, their eyes fixed on Shyam, who has promised them a story as sweet as lemon syrup. And so Shyam begins.

While on some evenings he tells them of his boyhood days, surrounded by the abundant beauty of the Konkan, on others he recalls growing up poor, embarrassed by the state of his family's affairs. But at the heart of each story is his Aai-her words and lessons. He reminisces of the day his mother showed him the importance of honesty and the time she went hungry just so her children could eat a full meal.

Narrated over the course of forty-two nights, Shyamchi Aai is a poignant story of Shyam and Aai, a mother with an unbreakable spirit. This evergreen classic, now translated by the incomparable Shanta Gokhale, is an account of a life of poverty, hard work, sacrifice and love.

'A definite must-have book, to delve into when you want a quiet moment. A book to bond over as you read it around to younger folk, or leaf through at times when tough decisions need to be made. At such times, more likely than not, Shyamchi Aai will have a solution to offer. And it will come packed into a delectable story. Shanta Gokhale's translation carries within it what I believe is the spirit of the original''With Shanta Gokhale as the translator, it's no surprise that (Shyamchi Aai) reads like it was originally written in English. The book transports you to an enchanting world... replete with such tear-filled conversations between mother and son... parents must make their children read this book today'