Cover Illustration by Tara Anand
Published by Walker Books
Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for Bringing Back Kay-Kay. I have a wonderful piece from Dev Kothari to share with you where she reflects on train journey adventures.
You can also read my review of this wonderful story here: Bringing Back Kay-Kay.
Adventuring on trains
Growing up in a small town near Mumbai, in India, I walked or cycled to school, to the shops, to my best friend’s flat. To get to nearby towns, we took buses mostly, rickshaws and taxis were a luxury. And for farther distances, like when we’d visit my grandparents or go on a rare holiday or two, we’d take the train.
And it was during those travels, especially the long, overnight ones, that my love for train journeys began. Whether it is because of the rhythm of the carriages jostling on the tracks, or the views from the windows, or the serendipitous encounters with fellow passengers, travelling on trains has always felt like adventuring to me.
When I was 18 years old, I was lucky enough to be chosen to go on a very special train journey that brought together students from all over the world, to travel across India on a 20-day adventure.
Since then, I’ve ventured on trains in many different countries like Austria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Norway, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.S, to name some.
The more I travel by trains, the more I love it. I think that’s why the mystery-adventure in Bringing Back Kay-Kay is centred around a train journey too. Even though I didn’t set out to do so when I began writing it, I was very happy when the idea occurred to me. I loved bringing in and exploring different elements of train journeys. I think the best bit was writing the people that Lena meets like Stan the Man and Chacha and Singh Madam. What is interesting is that I had no idea when I was writing the story that these characters would appear. It was as if they were all waiting to be discovered – I’m sure that they’re all semblances of people that I came across one time or the other myself on a train somewhere.
I hope that my book is able to convey some of that sense of adventure and joy that I’ve experienced to the readers. And wouldn’t it be absolutely wonderful, if it inspirits them to adventure on trains themselves too?
Author Information
Dev Kothari grew up in a sleepy hamlet near Mumbai,
where she read obsessively, wrote furtively and daydreamed endlessly. She
won the Commonword Diversity YA novel prize in 2018 and went on to study
for an MA in Writing for Children at Bath Spa University. This is her debut
novel. Dev lives in north London. You can find Dev on Twitter: @DevyaniNK
and Instagram: devyani_nk
Bringing Back Kay-Kay by Dev Kothari (Walker Books) available now.
For the opportunity to win a copy of Bringing Back Kay-Kay, please check my pinned tweet.
Thank you to Lorraine Keating and Walker Books for inviting me to be part of the Blog Tour. Please do check out the other stops on the Tour:
Book Craic 