Little Cloud...
Enrolled Nithila for story-telling workshop in a nearby theatre, very well knowing that she isn’t the kinds to sit patiently in one place for more than 1 minute… all that I knew about this programme was that it was being organized by a reputed theatre group, and performed by eminent theatre personalities… its called ‘Little Cloud’…
I had not expected Nithila to pick up anything in that workshop and rightly so… when I asked her what stories she heard there, she gave me a completely blank look !! making me wonder if its worth at all, afterall… but I had also thought that I will pick up some story-telling skills and make my otherwise bland sounding stories sound more interesting… but tough luck, parents were asked to wait outside !! so no learning for me either… after two days of the workshop over last weekend, I decided no more of these…
Over past couple of days, I have seen/heard some things from Nithila which have made me change my opinion about the workshop… on seeing some trees from our window, swaying to the wind, she said “trees dekho jhuk rahe hai, to kiss me” and before I could approve of her imagination, she said “voh story mein bhi jab bacche trees ke neeche baithke khana khaate hai, tree jhukke unko kiss karta hai… vaise hi”… on other occasion she asked me, “hum chulhe pe khana kyun nahi banaate?”… I told her that the gas we use to cook food is only called chulha in hindi… so she nodded her head in negative and explained “nahiii.. voh neeche jameen pe hota hai”… she paused and found it difficult to elaborate further but I understood she was referring to the chulha made of mud/bricks/stones… and I asked where had she seen it to which she promptly said “story mein tha na”… And today while giving bath, she asked “hum river mein kyun nahi nahate?”… and to my question “river kahan hai?” she said “voh aunty se poochke bataoongi”… took a few seconds to register that it was part of some story in that session…
When I think about this, I have been really fortunate to have spent time in villages where my grandparents and extended family lived… have experienced the cool shade of trees in hot sultry summers, have savored food cooked on chulha (also attempted to blow air to keep the wood flaming), have felt the chill & shrill of river currents while we took bath, swam, and flowed with the flow… have felt the freshness of dewdrops early morning and lived through the serenity of starry sky at the night…
And now think of the next generation (that of our kids..)… what is their exposure today? Books, Cartoons, Games... The cartoons are a disaster in their messaging, some of them are dreamy characters (barbie), while others are absolutely unreal (spiderman) and some of them are hopelessly dumb (doremon)… is anyone sure how the console games help, and not to mention the most accessible games on smart phones and tablets… much has been written on the educative games available on these gadgets, but I have a different view (building castles of sand or making drawings on sand with a stick and seeing these wash away by the waves cannot be ever matched by making drawings on iPHONE and shaking it to erase it !!)… also the story books, be it the clever birbal or the magical fairies or the pretty princesses or mythological classics, all these talk of aspirational qualities like intelligence, smartness, beauty, bravery etc… but what would expose these kids to that part of life which exists but not in the world they live in? Or are they not required to?
I do take Nithila to supermarket regularly and that has helped her recognize variety of vegetables and fruits, but I have never been able to show where are these grown… I am dead sure, if I ask her where does milk/fruits come from, she will say ‘market’… there are so many more things that this generation is being deprived of and why… the workshop I was talking about is atleast getting these kids to step out of their virtual/book world and IMAGINE a different side of life (they enacted folk tales about trees, rivers, fields, food with right props, the set created was of a small hamlet, fields and the story teller was dressed in traditional 9-yard saree)… Now isn’t it our responsibility to SHOW them that part of existence?
Really looking forward to sending Nithila to the remaining two sessions over this weekend and let the Little Cloud in her sway freely to the imaginary tales !! :-))
1 comments
An absolutely apt piece for the current lot of parents who are not paying attention to these seemingly minor but actually most important facets of the growth of Children... most aptly captured in your sentence "building castles of sand or making drawings on sand with a stick and seeing these wash away by the waves cannot be ever matched by making drawings on iPHONE and shaking it to erase it !!" ...Brilliant... hope the other "Nithilas" and "Niharikas" in the world get "Gauris" like u as their moms ! :))
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