A Tapestry of Colours 1 by Anitha Devi Pillai

Author:Anitha Devi Pillai
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish International

Author’s Note

As a child, and even now, Hari Raya Aidilfitri has always been a time I associate with some of my happiest moments. The dressing up, the food and the people. I wanted to convey the joy of coming together and surrounding yourself with the people you love and, of course, to honour my own mother’s mee kuah, which is something I look forward to every single year.

While working on this story, I consulted family and friends for insight and proofreading, to see if my writing was able to convey the emotions that I wanted it to. Dialogue is particularly important, as it allows readers to notice nuances in the relationships of the characters: the doting way that Alya speaks to her sister, her brother Hakim’s joking demeanour. Rather than describing how the characters feel, I describe their gestures and actions instead. Alya clutching the cushion out of anxiety is one example. The use of short sentences during scenes of heightened emotions helps to create tension and a sense of urgency.

Above all, I wanted to convey the message of not only family, but of love and the different ways that it is conveyed. Among the ways I have tried to convey this is through the use of imagery and flashback. I have also tried to show this through several instances in the story: the snapshot of Alya’s parents at their wedding, the tireless way that she and her sister try to piece together the recipe, and even the grief that hangs over their father after their mother’s passing. It’s the idea that love is capable of breaking hearts, yet it is also able to mend them and make the family whole once more. For it is love that cripples Alya’s family, but it is also love that brings them back together again.

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