What inspired you to begin Saffron Tree? Tell us a little more about the concept and what all you had to do to achieve it.
Praba: Right after graduate school, I decided to stay home for my older daughter who was a toddler then. Around the same time, we had also moved to a new city in the US where we had no friends or family. Books kept us company, and I loved spending time reading to my little one.While we read many wonderful authors and illustrators in the mainstream American publishing world, I was keenly aware to offer books with Indian and multi-cultural flavors. I thought books would be a great medium to expose my children to the diverse world we lived in. I started researching online for authors of South Asian, particularly of Indian descent who had written stories centering around Indian themes. Soon, finding picture books written by some wonderful authors and illustrators became a passion. Around the same time, I also found out about publishers from India, such as Tara books, Tulika, Katha, Pratham, each with its own, unique independent voice in the world of children’s books.

I immediately knew I had to share with the world, the wonderful multi-cultural and multi-lingual gems, both from India and the U.S. Saffron Tree was born in October 2006 when my older daughter was four years and my little one, just four months old. The name was born out of imagination, simply to imply that books are as precious as the exotic spice, saffron and the more, the merrier indeed! I have always believed in the positive benefits of exposing children to books early on, mainly from studies and research showing how infant and toddler brains can soak up information like spongesAlso,discovering the joys of reading with a child through a multitude of children’s books that kids growing up today have access to – a truly pleasurable experience, indeed. Reading to children brought out the inner child in me, and made me realize seeing the world through the eyes of children can be very rewarding to adults too. It makes you pause, take a step back amidst the busy and hectic lives you lead, and enjoy the delightful moments you share together reading.

The best part about blogging is that it also gives us a wider forum to interact with a group of other like-minded individuals who are as passionate as I am in exposing their children to good quality children’s books. The tree slowly branched out and has been growing with the love and support of like-minded parents who are equally interested in reading eclectic children’s literature. Today, we stand strong as a team of sixteen blogger reviewers.

How difficult is it to find children’s books written by Indian authors? Who are the well-known ones and is there anything being done to promote this genre?
Praba: It’s truly a breath of fresh air in the world of Indian children’s publishing. Today, there are some excellent independent children’s book publishers working to promote authors and illustrators and create books with modern Indian sensibilities, while also being sensitive to the needs of children living in both rural and urban India. And there are veteran publishers such as Children’s Book Trust, National Book Trust, Rupa etc. with years of publishing experience, who have promoted gems like Ruskin Bond. Also, there has been a new wave of international publishers that have entered the Indian publishing scene. All these put together, I have little doubt in my mind that finding good, quality books would be a challenging task. If someone is interested, we have the names of all the popular Indian publishers listed on our website.

How do you select appropriate books to read to your children? Do you screen them before introducing them to your kids? What are the things you look for?
Praba: Going with the interest of the child is certainly one way to select books. For the really young in the baby/toddler.pre-school stages, there are plenty of board books and picture books that experts recommend. My guess is finding board books for babies on Indian themes might be a bit difficult, although publishers in India have recently started paying attention to this age group as well. Also, age appropriateness is an important aspect to consider. Most publishers would let you know that on their books and websites. Of course, what clicks with one child may not click with another, and that is perfectly fine. Little children typically tend to be volatile, but research shows that twenty minutes of reading aloud to children goes a long way in terms of benefits.

Which are the books children take to most readily and are easiest to learn from? Does Indian mythology feature high on their list?
Praba: Interests change and evolve as children grow older. For the very young in the early childhood category (0 to 5), concept board books and picture books are always wonderful to introduce early. Sometime between five and seven, typically children here make their first transition from picture books to chapter books. My guess is more complex genres like mythology, mystery, adventure typically click with children in the 7 or 8 plus age group, i.e. when they are more mature and fluent readers ready for advanced
chapter books. Children also take to comics and graphic novels around that age. These are just general pointers, and they can vary from child to child. The key is to start reading to your children early on and expose them to a variety of genres. Thanks to the children’s libraries that have sprouted in India in recent times, we have seen some of the voids being filled in terms of picture and chapter books, both Indian and non-Indian available in plenty for the early childhood.

Q: What was the inspiration behind Trees For Free ?

In 2005 when I wanted to start a Trust in memory of my late husband, there was lot of tree cutting in Bangalore and everybody were crying over this. So I thought it is better to be positive instead of crying over the felled tree, and started planting trees.

Q: What was your background before starting Tree For Free? The obstacles you faced in setting up the organization?
I was a landscape artist before I started Trees For Free. Initially I had to go around the neighbourhood with friends, and volunteers, knocking on doors to ask them if they would look after a tree planted in front of their house.  Most of them were for it except a few who preferred keeping the place for parking of their car and some of them did not like the idea of a tree in front of their house as the trees shed a lot of leaves and they will have the added job of sweeping the leaves.

Q: I believe a lot of us want to plant trees, but we don’t know where to plant, how does Tree For Free scout a site for plantation?
Earlier we used to go door-to-door.  Now with the media exposure, people who want to plant trees, who have found places for planting and who are ready to look after the saplings planted have started contacting us.  Now our role is to only plant it for them.

Q: What is the kind of socio economic, ecological impact the organization is generating?
People who want to plant trees inside their compound, on their roads and nearby schools etc., and who have no monitory support or do not have the know-how of planting can now contact our organisation and we plant it free for them.

Similarly, Corporates and green groups who want to plant, who can afford the expenses but do not know how and where to plant, can come to us. We will not only show them the place to plant where it will be looked after, we will keep the place and the saplings ready for planting .They and their representatives can come to the site of planting and plant it themselves. In case they are unable to, they can still sponsor the saplings and our volunteers will plant it for them.

Lot of trees are being cut in Bangalore, almost every day and lots more are on the anvil. Our aim is to plant trees all over Bangalore wherever they could be looked after, to see that
the greenery is brought back to Bangalore.

Q: What has been the general feedback of volunteers?

All our volunteers are very happy to plant trees. Most of the places where we plant are filled with debris and filth all over. When they start planting, in the frenzy they do not see any of these. They put their hands without even thinking and plant trees. The feedback is great and they spread word about our website to their friends in turn.

Q: Any corporate partners, sponsors you are associated with?
Many corporates have been partnering with us - Yahoo! Software Development Pvt. Ltd. plants trees for the birthdays of their employees. Harley Davidson has collected fees for test drives for Trees for Free. Aditya Birla Group has kept a portion of the price on Van Heusen Cotton Shirts for tree planting. Once, the car in which we were carting the saplings broke down before time and the Volunteers and Applied Materials India Pvt., Ltd, have come forward to contribute and we have been presented with a 5-seater Bolero Camper Gold with a tipper to facilitate transport of trees, workers, tree-guards and tools.

Shell, Perot Systems, WPA World Class Service, Applied Materials, India Pvt. Ltd., etc., have all been sponsoring the tree planting.

Q: Could you explain the various initiatives Trees For Free is running? Like the Gift For Free ?
CSR is a huge part of what we do.  We also have Gift Certificates which we issue to people who want to sponsor trees and gift them to friends.

Q: How do you plan to take it forward?
There is a lot of space in Bangalore for trees and lots more are becoming empty every day. People from Schools, Colleges, Hospitals, Gated Communities etc., have started coming forward to ask us to plant trees for them.  We have been covering a distance of only 30 kms
from the city center so far.  Now we have started getting requests from places like Ramanagaram (a district near Bangalore).
We have already planted trees in a village school in Muthur, 75 kms away from Bangalore and in Malur. We hope to take this initiative to many further places.  We also hope that Corporates come forward
to sponsor bamboo tree-guards so that we can start planting on the roadsides wherever people have shown us the place to plant.