I sit on my balcony each morning to soak in some sun and do a little reading. It overlooks a street corner inhabited by generous piles of rotting waste from almost every house in the neighbourhood. I’m routinely greeted by the stench. Flies, mosquitoes, rats and cockroaches are mundane.
Actually, that’s just what I’m reading about in Shweta Taneja’s new book— but it’s beginning to feel all too real to be called fiction. Kungfu Aunty vs. The Garbage Monsters is the story of Kabir and his sister Leela, who battle the tyrannical rule of Trash Rajah, with the help of their mother’s crazy invention—a fantastical cleaning bot named Kungfu Aunty.
Kabir and Leela live in what’s called a dystopian society. A dystopia is an imaginary world marked with great suffering and injustice, a setting that science fiction writers absolutely love. ‘Pretty city’ is under the control of an all-powerful garbage-eating monster, Trash Rajah, who forces its inhabitants to produce enormous amounts of trash to satisfy his insatiable appetite. Living in filth is now the norm, and everyone has to pretend they love it all. What’s a tiny bit frightening about most dystopian literature is that it doesn’t seem that far off from reality. Just like Kabir and Leela, we live in a world ruled by powerful businesses that encourage us to keep buying more, hence we produce more waste. They’re the Trash Rajahs of our Pretty Cities.
This book falls into an interesting genre called eco-punk fiction, which explores environmental themes and ecological issues in a dystopian future. These stories also feature a lot of fun, imaginative tech, such as holograms, hoverboards and, of course, robots like Kungfu Aunty.
Most dystopian tales are quite grim, but thanks to the author’s wacky sense of humour, this one’s too entertaining to ruin your mood. I especially enjoyed the fun names she’s given the places and people. Trash Rajah is only one of many. As you move through the story, you’ll meet Mayor Junkfan, discover Lethal Lake and scale Puke Peak!
Even the ‘pests’ that we’re familiar with in our world—flies, rats and cockroaches—have undergone a fictional reincarnation to have mutated into monstrously large creatures: fatflies, bloat-rats, monsterquitoes and dog-roaches—the Trash Rajah’s minions who enforce his rule over Pretty City. Similar to the little minions in our cities, they thrive on improperly disposed rubbish. They are his loyal disease-carrying army, his garbage monsters. Though their portraits are quite frightening to imagine, they’re hilariously dim-witted, which makes most of their appearances in the story a comical delight. When it comes to action for change, there are the doers who are ready to light the way, and then there are those of us who need a little nudge (or sometimes even a shove) from the doer folks.
Kabir, like many of us, is frozen in inaction. He sticks to the Rajah’s tyrannical rules and avoids upsetting anybody. Who’d blame him? Taking on an army of garbage monsters can be a tad overwhelming. Sometimes, doing the right thing for the planet can mean standing up to our leaders, our schools, and sometimes, even our parents—which can feel just as difficult as fighting an army.
It takes unbridled, unafraid spirits like Leela and her mother to inspire the Kabir in all of us to come together and fight to protect what we love.
Is there someone out there who inspires you? Or makes you wonder about things you’d never thought about before? They could be your favourite writer, artist, or even a loved one— the Leela to your Kabir.
