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Chambery to Torino

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From Lyon, I went to Chambéry to meet my correspondent from the French exchange programme and her family. It was a lovely stay, though short. My 'Maman' in Chambéry is a boat-driver, and, as I was there in summer, she had long hours of work, so I did not want to impose on them for too long. My sister came to Chambéry to meet me, and we stood in queue to reserve places on a train to Milan. The plan was that we would get to Milan, go from there to Bologna and finally, find our way to Greece. With Eurail passes, we did not need reservations for most trains, but for trains from one country to another, we did. The train to Milan was full, though, so we considered our options, and then booked tickets to Turin instead. With a few hours to spare, we wandered around Chambéry. Nostalgic about the exchange programme, we looked around happily, but made sure we got back to the station well in time … [Read more...]

The Truth about Leo

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It's unfair to compare any book with any other book, I know that. Yet, I could not resist comparing The Truth about Leo with Moon-Pie. The subject was similar - a dead mother and a drunk father. But Moon-Pie moved me in a way that The Truth about Leo did not. Leo spends each day covering up for his father Dr Rake. Dr Rake is a surgeon to the world, but nothing more than an alcoholic to Leo. Building a world of his own, Leo finds himself living there more and more so as not to face the realities of school and a drunk father. The careful, precarious world that Leo has built begins to fall apart when a bottle of vodka rolls out of Leo's bag. Dr Rake chooses a new place to hide his bottles each day - that day he chose Leo's school-bag. The Truth about Leo is an important book. In addition, it is moving and, in places, hurtful. Yet, I wanted more. I wanted to cry out. I wanted the book to … [Read more...]

Language and Literature Workshop, VPEMS

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A hectic, lovely month came to an end with a heart-warming valedictory function and the last session with each of the nine batches I worked with at Vidya Pratishthan's English Medium School. As usual, I got too involved with the workshop to take any photographs, but my mind is full of pictures. Children ran to me to tell me they had read stories on my website. Others asked me when I would come next. Some came and promised to read right through their summer vacation. A few said they would write stories and poems and send them to me. I'll answer the question I got asked most frequently, though: Yes, I'll be back. I will come to VPEMS and conduct more language and literature workshops. I'll be back next year, and I'll meet all the children, and more.   … [Read more...]

Summer Camp – Cedarwood Afterschool

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For all those who have been asking me whether I have any workshops planned for the summer ... I'm doing four exciting weeks under the banner of the Cedarwood Afterschool Program at Magarpatta City. The modules I'm conducting include - - A five-day reading workshop for the age-group 7-12 - A five-day writing workshop for the age-group 7-12 Do call Cedarwood for details!   … [Read more...]

Language and Literature Workshops

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Each activity during the Language and Literature workshop revealed something new and delightful. The second session with nine batches of children at Vidya Pratishthan's English Medium School, Baramati, is over! "What did you learn during today's session?" I asked them. Promptly, a child responded, "We learned that there is so much to read! So many stories!"   … [Read more...]

Drama

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Children love to act. All of us love to act, or Dumb Charades would not be such a popular game. One thing I stress during all my workshops is the importance of copyright. I insist that children don't just rip images and articles off the internet, print them and use them. In keeping with that idea, I usually use my own stories during workshops, in addition to traditional tales from around the world. A story I love is a Japanese tale of Amaterasu, the radiant one who lights up the sky. Her brother Susanowa ravages the earth with storms, so Amaterasu hides in a cave. The gods are desperate to bring light back to the world, so they call Uzume, the god of laughter and joy. Uzume begins to dance, and the gods roar with laughter. Curious, Amaterasu peeks out - the first streaks of light appear. She catches sight of her own brilliant reflection in the mirror opposite, and she emerges some … [Read more...]

Little Red Riding Hood

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In the first session of a workshop, particularly one with a heavy name like "Language and Literature Workshop", I like to start on a light note. Humour is a great place to begin, and I turn to an all-time favourite - Roald Dahl. This time, I chose five of my favourite poems - "The Crocodile", "The Porcupine", "The Tummy Beast", "The Anteater" and "Little Red Riding Hood". I divided the participants into groups of five, and gave each group a poem to read. I gave them ten minutes to read and understand the poem, and then asked them to perform a little skit based on it. (Spoiler warning: This blog post spoils the punchline of Roald Dahl's "Little Red Riding Hood".) In Dahl's version of "Little Red Riding Hood", after the dutiful comments on Grandma's big ears and big eyes, Little Red Riding Hood says, "... what a lovely great big furry coat you have on." To this, the irate wolf replies, … [Read more...]