Children’s Books Set in Coastal Karnataka
Coastal Karnataka, also known as Karavali, is the stretch along the Arabian Sea across three districts: Dakshina Kannada (Mangalore), Udupi, and Uttara Kannada.
Mulky, or Mulki, sits halfway along the 60-kilometre stretch between Mangalore and Udupi. The beautiful Karnataka coastline, about 360 kilometres long, stretches from Karwar in the north to Someshwar in the south, with every major beach offering a unique experience. We in Dakshina Kannada, now known as Mangalore, boast a unique culture and cuisine.
Stories of Childhood, Family, and Growing Up in Mulky
Some childhood stories belong as much to a place as they do to the people in them.
Malli and the Mulky Stories is a collection of children’s stories of the everyday life of coastal Karnataka during the late 60s and 70s. The stories show courtyards becoming playgrounds, festivals bringing entire families together, and small incidents carrying lessons that last a lifetime.
Set in Mulky, the stories follow Malli through her childhood adventures, family relationships, mistakes, fears, friendships, and moments of discovery. They are written for children, but adults may also relate to their own growing years.
Why Is It Written as Mulky and Not Mulki?
Readers familiar with the town may notice that the book uses Mulky, while the coastal Karnataka town is more commonly written today as Mulki.
There is a simple reason.
Mulky is the spelling I used since childhood. Those were days before search engines and maps came about.
The stories are from memories of growing up there, so retaining the spelling Mulky felt natural to me. It belongs to the time and place I remember, just as the courtyards, tiled houses, neighbourhoods, family routines, and local expressions do.
Today, the town is more commonly referred to as Mulki, Karnataka, but within the world of Malli, I chose to preserve the spelling that has always been part of my own memory.
What Makes Children’s Books Set in Coastal Karnataka Different?
Place and time change a story.
A childhood in coastal Karnataka comes with its own textures: monsoon rains, coconut and jackfruit trees, temple festivals, family compounds, village roads, local foods, and communities where children often grow up surrounded by cousins, grandparents, neighbours, and familiar faces.
These details are lived experiences. The incidents are real. Those were pre-internet days. The whole town had a few private cars; there were two taxis and a few bicycles. The most common way to get from one place to another was on foot. Few houses had a refrigerator, and fewer still had a telephone. We needed to wait for a few years to get a connection.
Families stored pulses in anticipation of a heavy monsoon. Vegetables like pumpkins and gourds were stored for the days when you couldn’t get fresh vegetables. We pickled almost everything that grew in the garden. We made papads by the hundreds and stored them. Mothers and grandmothers knew how to cook a delicacy with the limited resources they had.
Those were days of a different kind of abundance.
The setting allowed children to encounter a culturally specific part of Indian life without needing long explanations.
Childhood in Coastal Karnataka, Remembered Through Malli
Most of the incidents behind Malli and the Mulky Stories are inspired by lived experiences.
The games were real. The orchards existed. The family conversations, sibling teasing, festival preparations, falls, mistakes, and moments of courage grew from childhood memories.
The stories do not attempt to present the past as perfect. I have tried to present it as it was felt then. Malli herself is not perfect.
She is curious, competitive, affectionate, occasionally stubborn, sometimes reckless, and often eager to prove herself. That is what allows her to remain a child rather than become a character created only to teach a lesson.
Through her, children encounter everyday experiences in which understanding grows naturally.
Stories Where Culture Is Part of Everyday Life
In many children’s books set in coastal Karnataka, culture becomes meaningful when it appears naturally within the story rather than being explained separately. That is how it is in Malli’s world.
Family structures, festivals, local routines, food, neighbourhood relationships, school life, and everyday objects are part of the story because they are part of the childhood being remembered.
Children unfamiliar with coastal Karnataka can discover a different way of growing up.
For Children, Parents, and Grandparents
Malli and the Mulky Stories is written primarily for children aged 6 to 12, but the stories often resonate differently across generations.
Children may notice the adventure first: a mischievous monkey, a jump from a wall, stolen raw mangoes, teasing between friends, or the anticipation of a festival.
Adults may notice something else: the authority of grandparents, the work that went into running a household, the simplicity of childhood entertainment, and the social aspects of a small town.
That difference creates opportunities for the stories to be read together.
About Malli and the Mulky Stories
Malli and the Mulky Stories are a collection of short stories inspired by childhood in Mulky, a small town on the coast of Karnataka.
Across the collection, Malli encounters family, friendship, fear, mischief, mistakes, celebrations, and the small incidents through which children gradually understand themselves and the people around them.
Each story concludes with a brief What Malli Learned reflection, keeping the lesson gentle and conversational rather than instructional.
The book also includes illustrations that help young readers visualise and relate.
A Story from One Place Can Travel Much Further
I began writing the Malli stories because I wanted to preserve memories before they are forgotten. What I have discovered since is that readers often recognise their own childhoods in them, even when they did not grow up in Mulky or anywhere in Karnataka.
In early June, I visited a senior living facility and read my stories to the residents, and I was thrilled when they, one after another, shared their experiences.
Read Malli and the Mulky Stories
FAQs
Malli and the Mulky Stories is set in Mulki, a town in coastal Karnataka. The stories draw on childhood memories, local routines, family life, festivals, neighbourhoods, and everyday experiences from the region.
The town is more commonly spelt Mulki today. The author uses Mulky because that is the spelling she has used since childhood, and it felt appropriate for stories based on memories from that period.
Real childhood experiences inspire many incidents in the collection, although names, dialogue, and certain details have been adapted for storytelling.
The stories are primarily written for children aged 6 to 12. They are also suitable for shared reading with parents and grandparents.
Yes, but the lessons emerge through the incidents rather than through direct preaching. Each story ends with a brief What Malli Learned reflection that encourages children to think about what happened.
Yes. Although the stories are culturally rooted in coastal Karnataka, the themes of childhood, family, friendship, courage, mistakes, and growing up are relatable across regions.
Yes. The stories include illustrations that complement the scenes and help younger readers visualise Malli’s world.
Yes. Adult readers may recognise aspects of their own childhood, family life, and a slower era of growing up, making the stories suitable for intergenerational reading.