Travelling comfortably across Delhi on a crisp,cool, not-yet-traffic-ridden morning is pleasant enough.

Heading for a storytelling session with kids, on 17th Nov., made it pleasanter.

And conversing ,on the way there and back,with someone as bubbly and yet as mature as my pretty escort Divya Karwal – a young writer – made it a morning to remember.

Divya and I reached Kendriya Vidyalaya, Tagore Garden well in time for the session.

From the moment we entered the gate we were impressed.

The school building as well as the area and lawns around it were clean, orderly and well-maintained.

The dynamic Principal, the affable Head Mistress, indeed all the teachers we met made us feel very welcome.

Then it was time to go to the library and tell stories to the assembled 100 or so children of classes 1 and 2. Once again, I was happy to be told that many of the bright 7 and 8 year olds in front of me heard stories from their parents or grandparents,  something we took for granted when I was a child.

I launched into my first story ‘ Little by Little’, a folktale retold  for Pratham Books. Children love the build up of suspense in it. And carried on….

I think the greatest reward for a storyteller is the gleam in a child’s eye as he or she listens intently to your story.

The greatest high is the pin-drop silence when every child in the room is listening…..

-          Anupa Lal