Bookaroo schools day 25th November

930 AM Sessions

Helen Rundgren and Sandhya Rao

Almost every child in the world has gone through a ‘dinosaur phase’. Swedish writer Helen Rundgren stirred up this sense of wonderment with ‘Stone Eggs’, a book about Indian dinosaurs told through the scary but equally adorable Rajasaurus. A chance to win posters raised the excitement level amongst the young dino-buffs with hands shooting up to answer every question.

Premola Ghose and Anita Roy

Premola Ghose and Anita Roy took their young audience on an enthralling journey across Delhi with excerpts from Ghose’s book ‘Tales of Historic Delhi’. Rich descriptions of the dizzying sights and sounds from across the city offered a vivid glimpse into a time gone by and fuelled the enchanted young imaginations.

Adeline Foo

If you liked ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, you’ll love ‘Diary of Amos Lee’ by Singaporean author Adelini Foo, who captivated dozens of schoolchildren with a reflective session on the trials and tribulations of growing up. Excerpts from her book followed by an agony aunt-like question and answer session seemed to have left Foo’s audience with a tougher skin.

Malika Doray

Under the hazy sun at the Crafty Corner, French author and illustrator Malika Doray’s workshop ‘My Never-Ending Book’ involved just a simple sheet of paper. An hour in and a few cuts, rips and folds later, the schoolchildren had their own never-ending story to take home with them.

11AM Sessions

John Dougherty

John Dougherty’s session is probably one the kids will talk about nonstop for the rest of the day. Excerpts read from his book, a couple of songs thrown in and tips for budding authors captivated the children. Dougherty’s medley of a session was both encouraging and entertaining for his young audience.

Kunzang Choden and Anita Roy

Some may feel storytelling is a dying art but for one hour on a Friday afternoon, Kunzang Choden is living proof that it isn’t going to go quietly. Choden mesmerised the children with her stories of the tiny majestic kingdom of Bhutan, bearing testament to the fact that the joy of listening to a story is for everyone.

– Manveena Suri

Rabani Garg at Pratham Urban Learning Center

KISSA KAAHANI KA

Bookaroo In The City today covered Pratham Urban Learning Center in Jahangirpuri, a school for the under privileged. The school was essentially a two bedroom set on the second floor. They called one room “the science room” and the other was called “the computer lab”. The miniscule kitchen was converted to a library which had nylon strings stretched out on the walls where they hung books to manage the lack of space.  On the third floor the two bedrooms served as classrooms. The session took place on the terrace. It was nice being in the open air with the sky closer to us.

Then Rabani Garg put them all on a magic carpet ride as she began her story of stories. It was such a captivating experience I almost forgot to take photographs for this blog.  I noticed a little boy standing alone on the terrace of the next building listening intently to her story.
I was a little surprised by the atttitude of the under privileged children. They appeared quite pleased and content with what they had. They didn’t look sorry about their lives, instead they looked hopeful and grateful for the life they had.

Then a thought made me smile.  It reminds me of this one particular song I listened to as a little girl called “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell and one verse kept playing in my head:

“Well, I really don’t mind the rain

And a smile can hide all the pain
But you’re down when you’re riding the train that’s taking the long way
And I dream of the things I’ll do
With a subway token and a dollar tucked inside my shoe
There’ll be a load of compromising
On the road to my horizon
But I’m going be where the lights are shining on me”

Rabani Garg eventually went on to say that there is a little truth to every story. I recall the children, from first standard to the eleventh, gripping the mat they were sitting on because she said it may slip away. It was so heart warming.

 

–Urvashi

Pankaj Chaturvedi at Kendriya Vidyalaya Vasant Kunj

Stories and Science Mix Like Never Before

Pankaj Chaturvedi started his session today at KV Vasant Kunj by announcing that it was not going to be about ‘studying’ at all, but just a little chit-chat about fun things. Along with the children, I believed him too as he launched into a marvelous tale by Roald Dahl about a mouse trap which hung from the ceiling and made the mice dizzy. A natural storyteller in Hindi, Pankaj could immediately capture the children’s attention – they were totally taken on seeing the illustrations from the book that tells this Roald Dahl story in Hindi (a National Book Trust publication, I believe).

But hey, wait a minute, what do we see next? A passing mention of gravitational force and then a glass of water covered by a thin cloth, turned upside down and not a drop of water dripping from it! Oh well, perhaps a little trick to keep the kids interested. Pankaj then talked about an airplane who thought best not shake hands with a bird, a book that was flown away by the wind and the pencil who saved it by drilling a hole in it, and more such amazing stories. Now, did anyone realize we were getting to know the basic science principles without anyone teaching them?  Without mugging up jargons and without scary diagrams?

A writer, a poet and an assistant editor at the National Book Trust, Pankaj is one of the clever storytellers who can weave science into a dream-like story. It works like a sweet candy made of vitamins and minerals. The children we met today were so motivated and eager to come up and share their own amusing science experiments. I couldn’t agree more when the Principal, who was present in the room for a while, (absentmindedly) addressed Pankaj Chaturvedi as ‘Chatur Ji’!

I am sure that as soon as the kids went home today they dug out broken bangles and mirrors for the kaleidoscope that Pankaj taught them how to make. And the teachers…I think, are still going through the Science storybooks that Pankaj left with them and wondering, ‘Science in a Story? When did this happen?’

- Divya

Herminder Ohri at Samarpan Foundation

“Don’t Just Live… BE LIFE” says the cover of the pamphlet of Samarpan Foundation, a non-profit school established in the year 2006 by Dr. Patrick Sanfrancesco working with under-priveleged children. I was bowled over by the “the bottle room”. They built a room which had their walls made of Bisleri bottles which they filled with sand and later cemented. And believe you me, you cannot tell the difference. I’m told it’s the coolest room in summers. I was blown away by Samarpan Foundation.

“Good Morning Ma’am” they all recite as we entered the class. A little boy raised his hand, stood up and asked with the biggest smile of the day, “How are you Ma’am?” in a lovely musical tone.  They were all first graders.

Herminder Ohri told them heart warming stories under a sunny sky. Somewhere deep down, I missed my grandmother and my childhood and the stories kept coming. And they never tired of an encore. You can even tell if the stories have been improvised and most of all you hear love.

The children listened wide eyed, absorbed in the stories that kept coming. They listened patiently and applauded after each story gleefully. We shared a moment of happiness together, spending the day there introduced me to an atmosphere that I had not known before. I recognized that more than anything else, these children needed us to share our love with them.

- Urvashi Das

 

Amar Soni at MCD School Nand Vihar

It was a good session as Amar Soni started with a story and then switched to image making of some animals. His story was a bit too childish for the level of the children present but yet they enjoyed it a bit. However when he started with the image making they were overjoyed and took an active part in it as well. They really loved that part of the session.

Thanks

Pallavi

Tanya Luther at Kendriya Vidyalaya JNU Campus

I was very happy with the venue this time, as it was my campus. So I knew that there would be no early alarms ringing. But I began feeling happy too soon as the news came that there are three KV’s all around the place. The venue was not at all clear till the very next day. Adding to this was that the author was unreachable. I knew this was a plot by my alarm clock as it did not like the comfortable and cozy relation I shared with my bed. Urgh!!!

So I was all red in the eyes, no clue as to the venue or the author.  I was all set to read out the stories to the kids if no answers were received within the next half an hour.

Soon Pallavi texted me the authors new number , I buzzed Tanya Luthra Aggarwal. She was all set and met me with a sparkling smile on her face. Elegantly dressed in green, we had a brief conversation about her eight year long journey as an author. Her kids being her greatest critics gave her the inspiration to come out with the best within her.

The head mistress welcomed us full of energy as the kids settled down looking excited. As Tanya started off with her sweet little story about ‘bulbulli’ the restlessness gradually stopped. Intrigued by her presence and her stories the students were already on their way to the discovery of ‘Masala Chai’. And despite the sun rays blocking their view the little boys sitting at one corner were completely captivated by the author’s voice.

As the stories ended the kids came to the stage to share their views about the stories and what they learnt from it. They all thanked the amazing story teller as well as me and rushed to us for a perfect picture at the very end.

- Debahuti Brahmachari

Richa Bhaskar at MCD School Malka Gunj

The regular ringing up was on the previous evening, as I called the school coordinator and she explained the route towards the school. But I knew one thing that the directions were not at all clear to me. Sigh!

So next I got in touch with the author and as the phone rang I was still trying to figure where Malikagunj was? (that sounded better to me). Soon I stopped worrying about the malika location as a sweet, soft voice greeted me on the other side. I knew one thing, I would have a beautiful session with this lady.

The morning chill touched me sharp at 6 am in the morning, I saw my watch and smiled, for a change I did not have an early morning session today. But despite the perfect opportunity to snuggle in my bed, I was already up on my toes gearing up for the day’s session —‘into the magical world of characters.’

As my cab picked me, my driver bhaiya zipped zapped zoomed across the unbearable traffic and we reached our first destination. Richa ji was already outside her house all dressed up in red. As we greeted each other, her warmth was the best part all through the journey.

It was a little difficult to locate the school but finally the coordinator Shahana helped us through the streets. Children rushed to the library as soon as they saw the Bookaroo banners. The atmosphere became all lively, energetic and full of anxiety to know what lay ahead.

Richa ji bought the characters all alive as the kids entered a different world ranging from a little caterpillar to a butterfly, from ghosts to shadow images and finally to kinship tales. The finest part was the use of little props to enact the stories which were interestingly made from toothpaste covers, paper plates as masks, chocolate wrappers, etc. Visual aids, use of repetitive language structures and making the children enact the characters led to a fun filled session by the brilliant storyteller. To add up to it she bought chocolates, which I distributed to each kid present at the session.

Finally, as the school bell rang the kids were all ready to go home, but did not forget to thank us with beautiful “thank you” cards made by them.  A bunch of them came up to me to take down the details of the Bookaroo festival and promised to see me again.

Their promises gleamed in their eyes and it was the truth that-

“The soul is healed by being with children”

So it was with me!!!

- Debahuti Brahmachari

Anupa Lal at Kendriya Vidyalaya Tagore Garden

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

I. Lakshmi at Andhra School, Pushp Vihar

Bookaroo in the City: Welcome to the New Talent!

Mrs. I. Laxmi made her debut today as a storyteller at Andhra School, Pushp Vihar, New Delhi. A content translator who speaks English, Hindi, Telugu, Oriya and Bengali, Laxmi is extremely fond of kids and of course, books written for kids. This was surely evident in the way she mesmerized the kids with her stories – perfectly packaged in sweet motherliness and ready laughter.

She says, “Comic situations are a great way of keeping children focused till the end. It’s even better if you can show them amusing illustrations.” Laxmi mostly used Telugu picture books published by Pratham Books. It was refreshing to see less of unnecessary animated gestures and role playing (and over acting) that has become the norm for storytellers these days, and more of traditional storytelling with vivid descriptions of characters and intervals between a story to discuss a particular scene or situation. The way the kids got lost in a story and then suddenly jumped into the real world to share their thoughts with Laxmi, and then gradually got lost again in the story … it was almost as if a child sitting in his mother’s lap was trying to prevent the cherished story-time from ending by asking more and more questions. Don’t believe me? See the pictures and you will know!

Laxmi told me that it was Pratham Books who encouraged her to participate in Bookaroo in the City. “At first, I didn’t think I could do it, but now, after the session, I have to say I loved it.” Well, I guess, this is what Bookaroo is all about: encouraging new talent who can inspire kids to discover the wonderful world of books.

I wish good luck to Laxmi and, as the Andhra School children said, please do come back again, Ma’am – we want more stories!

- Divya

Indu Harikumar at Deepalaya School

‘Glittering eyes,and magic!’

I had just organized my Excel sheets, for Bookaroo in the city  and getting them in order when there was a last minute crisis! Our volunteer had fallen sick. So I had the opportunity to attend one of the sessions by Indu Harikumar.

I was accompanying our Essar Foundation representative, Poulomi Pal, to be honest I was a little dubious of how puffed-up she might be, but to my surprise she was an entirely different person!  I effortlessly jelled with her, and  conversed about Delhi, her trip, her admirable education, and I finally indulgedmy curiosity inquiring the meaning of her name, Poulomi, which now I know ,is a name of a Goddess , who was lord Indra’s second wife.

We reached the venue and the school was in a not-so-good looking building, before I could analyze anything about the structure, we were welcomed by a group of lovely girls, singing a welcome song and greeting us with the samskara of sprinkling us with holy rice. Wow! When we entered the building the first reaction which I and Pouloumi shared was admiration of the vividness and ingenuity of the place, the school had been festooned with chart papers filled with inspirational and eco-friendly quotes, the ugly walls, as school’s coordinator Ma’am Geetanjali said, were hidden behind cute curtains. The creativity was at every nook and corner of the school, it was a kind of place every kid would love to go to because of the bright and positive atmosphere.

The tiny kids of 2^nd, 3^rd class greeted us with the rhyming good morning,

which hit me with nostalgia and immense love for those little ones.

We headed towards the session where the kids were placed in a little room and Indu was narrating a story to them, and asking them questions. The way those students were engrossed in the stories and the spontaneous answers they gave, was brilliant. They were receptive, vivid and in high spirits. But the finest part begun when Indu asked them to narrate one of their own tales, one of the girl students narrated an account of how honesty and patience always imparted fruitful results, and one of the boy students narrated an anecdote about a monkey and the hat guy.

The next fun element was when our volunteer Shashank engaged the students in an activity where they were to spin a yarn collecting few words. The kids titled the story as “dosti” and chose words like- ‘fight’ ,’books’, ‘same class’ ,’love’,  ‘fun’, ’toys’, ’park’ and to our utter surprise ‘facebook’ (to which Poulomi responded “I feel like I am 100 years old”, and one has to agree!) and we had a story which went like “Two classmates Abhishek and Manoj (the students from the same class, in real life) were studying in the same class ,they fought about books, as they were to share the same books,in the evening they wanted to have fun so they went to a park with their toys, they played together, and the love in their friendship bloomed. But, it was late in the evening, and they had to part, Abhishek asked Manoj if he had a facebook account, and Manoj said yes. They went back home, and added each other and had a chat over internet. That’s how they became good friends. It was the most amazing responsive, impromptu yarn that could have been spun!

It was the time to say our goodbyes to the kids, but I left with an amused and overwhelmed mind, which was intimidated by the fact, that little and simple things were the only element vital to make those kids so happy! And one of my favorite author’s words never stopped striking me for the entire day, when he said :

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
― Roald Dahl

I daresay, I believe in some magic, and I found that instilled in Deepalaya school, contained within a not-so -good looking building!

- Pallavi Karnatak