Sid for kids

As a child, Sidhartha Mallya wished he had someone in his life to tell him what he wants to convey in his latest children's book, Sad Glad

- ANIULY MATHAI

In a way, Sidhartha Mallya's new book, Sad Glad, is a microcosm of his own life. It is about a boy called Sid who wakes up one morning feeling different. He can't understand why. The sky outside is dark and gloomy, much like what he feels inside. Finally, his dog Duke has to talk him through what he is feeling, explain to him that some days might be bad, but other days will be better, and that "all these feelings complete our life". In the end, the sun comes out, and Sid feels better.

There was a phase in his life when Mallya felt much like Sid in the book. It happened after his parents' divorce when he was nine years old, as he describes in his previous book, If I'm Honest. Before that he was an active happy child, playing Bingo with everyone in his father's office former liquor baron Vijay Mallya when his father would ensure that he always won; playing pranks like locking his dad's secretary in the office and running away with the key; pretending to be imaginary characters, his favourite being Raphael from the Ninja Turtles. "I remember being given a Raphael costume and taking a couple of forks from the kitchen (because they resembled his three-pronged weapon called a Sai) and running around the house stabbing things, particularly the ornamental pillows, pretending they were the bad guys," he writes in If I'm Honest.