At our refectory, things are beautifully, thoughtfully organised. Little children eat in one hall; older children in another. There’s no discrimination involved. The wash-basins attached to the hall for the little ones are lower, the trays are designed for children and everything is child-height. One day, a tiny girl was rummaging amongst the spoons of […]
The Table Family
Have you been introduced to the Table family? When I was in school, we were kept forcibly away from the family. The Table family was a strict no-no for us. Pronounce correctly. Stay away from the awful Table family. Trends are changing, though. Many children have found their comfort zone with this delightfully extended family. […]
Essel World
When I was ten years old, I wrote a story that won me two tickets to Essel World, and 4 tickets to Nehru Planetarium. Going to Mumbai was impossible, so we passed the tickets on to friends in Mumbai. I have no recollection of being upset with it, or in any way deprived. I think […]
Hiding from Children
There are many things that you may successfully hide from adults, but simply cannot hide from children. Impoliteness is one of those things. As a child, my sister once turned to my parents. “When I said ‘thank you’, why did that uncle not say ‘welcome’?” Today, a colleague of mine was trying to hide from […]
Butterscotch’s Washing-Machine
Ought I to be embarrassed by this one? It was written two days after my tenth birthday, when I was eager to show off newly acquired vocabulary and paragraphing abilities. Butterscotch was a brownie. He lived in India. You may not believe it, but he was tinier than a wild daisy! Butterscotch was very kind. […]
Lost and Found
Children leave all kinds of things behind at dance class. My teacher could set up a shop and make a fortune if she ever decided to sell the stuff children leave behind. The most common things children forget, of course, is their theory material. I think a part of them wants to forget so that […]
Chocobar
I teach at a boarding school, where the happy Enid Blyton tuck-box has cheerfully been changed into a tuck-shop. The shop is open for about an hour in the evening, and children can go get all the unhealthy, delicious things that the school cannot morally serve as often as children want. What makes me smile […]
Reading Stories
I was asked to read and assess stories written by Grades III and IV. What a joy that was! Of course, I had students who wrote for me the story of The Life of Pi or other movies they’ve watched. In fact, I felt rather bad for one of the children who wrote about that movie – […]
The Dictionary at School
The portion for the exams has been completed; students are fed up with revision. So, a colleague of mine decided to do something different – she read out a story from The Story-Catcher. I was thrilled! This reading went one step further than ‘I loved your story’ and ‘nice story’ and ‘I like the story […]
School Bus
I’m feeling the generation gap the wrong way around again. School buses are meant for playing stone-paper-scissor, not listening to music on an iPhone. During rides in the school bus, children should jump around and shriek when they go top speed over a speed breaker. And they should, of course, get told off by the […]
Fire Drill
I remember how, a few months ago, two girls came excitedly to me in dance class. “Miss, we had a fire drill today!” “The whole period went in the drill!” said one child, immediately pointing out the highlight of the exercise. “Oh?” I said, interested. I was glad things like this were being done. “So […]
More Readers?
I, Varsha Seshan, author of The Story-Catcher and English teacher at your school… … donated two books to Vishwashanti Gurukul library. One for the primary school library and one for the whole school. I also spoke to the principal about the way I’ve done readings in the past at St. Mary’s, and she seemed interested. At the […]
Getting Lost
Sometimes, I look back and think, “What a foolish, foolish child I was.” We lived in Vashi when I was very young, and like all children, I was always happier playing outside than being indoors. Unlike most other children, though, little Varsha loved to go and check that Mamma was still there. Just a little […]
Will I ever call it junk?
How do teachers throw away cards they receive? The children I read to gave me so many cards. Some were beautiful; some were thoughtful; some were sweet. How can I throw any away? Just a sample of those gems… THANK-YOU FOR SHARING SO MANY THINGS I LOVED […]
The Dame who Hated Plants
Another original story by seven-year-old Varsha. This one won the first prize in a story-writing competition and was published on my mother’s birthday in 1994. The word ‘dame’, for those who have not read Enid Blyton, meant nothing to me except ‘woman’ (often magical/ evil). I wonder if this story could be psycho-analysed. There was […]
Surprise Farewell Party
A new life begins for me on the 1st of March. I’m going to stop all my hundreds of classes here and there and teach full-time in a school. Last evening, the girls from one of my classes gave me a surprise farewell party that was truly heart-warming. Thanks to their excited whispered planning, there […]
Book-Reading – A Different One
An acquaintance who is part of the Teach for India programme asked whether I would be willing to come to a small government school in Chandannagar and talk about my book, about writing and about dance. I was tremendously excited by the prospect, and agreed immediately. When I got there, though, I realised how different […]
The Special Green Tile
In the hall where I teach at Sanskriti Cultural Centre, there’s one Special Green Tile. It’s different from the other tiles. For me, all it does is mark the centre of the hall, which makes helps children orient themselves when we have performances. For the children, not so very long ago, the tile was special. In […]
Raising Children
Every so often, I realise just how difficult it is to bring children up. Of course, there are all the financial aspects of parenting, and the tension of finding a school, monitoring TV, internet, books… The list of things parents do for children is simply endless. Recently, I was introduced to another side of parenting. […]
The Circus Boy
I did two more book-readings yesterday – The Circus Boy and The Old Yellow Scooter. The reactions were completely different! Children never stop surprising me. The first reading (The Dictionary) was wonderful – I got questions about reading, writing, publishing, drawing… The second reading (Dreams) was strange – I wondered whether the girls understood the story at […]