It stars two little girls Veda, a Mumbaikar and Doma, who comes from Ladakh to explore the metro. Doma clearly misses the mountains, but Veda has a surprise of her own; she suggests changing the very definition of the landmass constituting rocks and earth and popularly resembling a triangle. To know the mountains in the city that Veda is talking about, you'll have to read the book. What can be said, though, is that this is an odd 40-page story that makes you look at Mumbai in a different light — beyond the honks, the sea and the trees, or whatever is left of them.

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The picture book has been in the works for two years. "I took a trip to Leh in 2016 and brought a Ladakhi doll with me, to gift it to a friend's daughter. I also thought of accompanying the souvenir with a note, where I'd write a short story — something on the lines of the doll coming to Mumbai," Ghosh says. But the Bandra girl dwelled on that story a little longer and in the following year, at a Karadi Tales workshop in Chennai, she conceived the story that made it to the book, along with a rough sketch. Ghosh, 39, asked herself a lot of questions. "When people visit Ladakh, they say, 'It's gorgeous and amazing, and Mumbai is so dirty'. I thought a lot about what has Mumbai to offer? What is that one thing that everybody wants in this city?"

This is the first time Jain, a Dahisar-based chartered accountant-turned-graphic designer, has worked on a book as an illustrator. The vibrancy of Mumbai comes alive through the 27-year-old's watercolour artwork. You spot the dabbawalas, kaali-peelis, vegetable vendors and the skyline dotted with buildings.

Labanya Ghosh

"There is no black in my palette. I've dedicated this book to my art teacher [Indu Parulekar] who told me that there's no use of black or white in watercolours. There are darker shades, though — for instance, to create a shadow I have used contrasting colours. I wanted this book to be bright," she says. Ghosh hopes that the book helps people reflect on the feeling of community. "If you're going to have a negative narrative, you're going to see everything negatively. But you can also change your narrative. A city is as good as the way you look at it."

Pallavi Jain

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