Pratham Books Champions : The Travelling Nautanki

When we chose 'The Boy and the Drum' as the chosen book for this year's event, we were hoping that we would get to see kids enacting the play. One of the first pictures we saw of kids preparing for the grand show were the ones that Tanu Shree Singh started sharing with us. Tanu Shree tell us more about how the play took shape with The Travelling Nautanki...

Session conducted on : 5th September
Number of kids : 30 + 40 = 70
Number of sessions : 2

Language the session was conducted in : Hindi

'You up for acting in a play?'

Two heads nodded.

That is how it started. I enrolled for #PBChamps this year and sure enough the book came within a few days. When I read it, and realised that it was a play, I figured I had two choices - adapt it to a story, or get people to actually act in it. The first option was enticing. But then I went and asked my boys aged 12 and 14. They nodded and hence started the madness. Ishaan Singh (14 years) and Vivaan Singh (12 year) roped their friends in and soon The Travelling Nautanki was born! Ishita Kalra (14 years), Roza Majumdar (14 years), Prisha MainRai (12 years) and Nidhipa Dev Mainrai (9 years) joined us and roles were assigned. All hell broke loose as we struggled to take the play ahead. I had never acted in a play (unless being a tree counts) and neither had I directed one. The children had mostly participated in group events at school. 

The next three weeks were spent practicing relentlessly - dialogues were learnt, minor changes made, props prepared and more practice done. The minor change in question being that we changed it to Ladli from Ladla. We hope that we will be forgiven for that. We even made a mobile horse (stuck on a toddler scooter)! Then came the big day! Morning saw us packing the Travelling Nautanki up and leaving for Savera. This is a school for the economically disadvantaged children. There were around 30 children here who thoroughly enjoyed the play. Everything went off smoothly barring one incident of the horse toppling over! Well our horsie is like that - he drops off to sleep without a warning. The play was followed by an art session where everyone made scratch-art cards for others using oil pastels.

The second half of the day was spent at Karm Marg. The play went well (horsie too decided to be a good chap). Loud applause greeted the kids! And the art session saw around 40 participants. 

I have never had so much fun during story telling sessions that I hold alone. It was lovely watching the six participants come out of their shells, innovate and give their best. The joy increased exponentially, when, after the play, they helped the children with art. On our way back incessant conversation and requests filled the car:

'So when can we do this again?'

'We'll do a different story this time!'

'Yes! Can we? Please?'

I smiled and drove on. A tiny bunch of kids have been unleashed for good. And they are now looking for their next set of victims whom they can infect with love for stories.

You can view all the pictures from the events here and here. And don't miss the video of their performance 

Thank you Tanu Shree for helping coordinate this event and to the Travelling Nautanki for giving life to this story!

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In its fourth edition of the 'One Day - One Story' campaign, Pratham Books was joined by 2500+ storytellers who conducted 2300+ storytelling sessions. Many, many steps towards a 'Reading India'! 

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day . We will be sharing the stories of all our volunteer storytellers (Pratham Books Champions) through our blog. 

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations held in 2015. This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. 

You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champions : Oracle

Nupur Vimal from Oracle sent us the following notes and images of sessions conducted by employees of Oracle India. Multiple storytelling sessions were conducted across Delhi and the NCR region.

Date : 11th September

Location : Vidya & Child (NGO), Noida
No. of students: 280
No. of Oracle volunteers: 10

From the Prioritize Humanity page :

In association with Pratham Books, this was a learning experience for all and an innovative method of storytelling through role play and acting. We spoke about key takeaways: importance of being happy, sharing and caring, helping others, being obedient children, goal setting, dream building and virtue of patience in life.The kids, volunteers and teachers all had a great time.

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Date : 18th September

Location : MCD school in East of Kailash, Delhi

Number of children : 40
Number of volunteers : 15

We had another storytelling session today at an MCD school in East of Kailash, Delhi. We addressed nearly 40 children, with special needs and different learning capabilities. They loved the session. This time we used props as well. Thank you for this amazing concept. Our volunteers love this activity and are enthusiastic about inculcating it in our upcoming projects as well.

From the Prioritize Humanity page :  After initial introductions, we conducted a storytelling session on the book: ‘The Boy and the Drum’, through a role play. We followed it up with an extensive storytelling session through mimicry, art & craft, drawing, sketching and other innovative ways, to impart key messages. We also distributed a lot of useful stationery items to them. The children, teachers as well as the volunteers loved the session.

You can view more pictures from the session here.

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The 3rd session was conducted by an Oracle volunteer with her husband, in Gurgaon, where they enacted the story to around 10 kids.

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Thank you Nupur for helping coordinate these sessions and a big shout out to all the Oracle employees who took part to spread the joy of reading.

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In its fourth edition of the 'One Day - One Story' campaign, Pratham Books was joined by 2500+ storytellers who conducted 2300+ storytelling sessions. Many, many steps towards a 'Reading India'! 

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day . We will be sharing the stories of all our volunteer storytellers (Pratham Books Champions) through our blog. 

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations held in 2015. This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. 

You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champions : Bhanu Iyer

Bhanu Iyer from Panchkula sent us the following report about the storytelling session conducted by her.

Firstly I wish to congratulate your team for initiating synch a wonderful event and the subsequent response and success of the same. I am proud to be a part of this event. I am a story-teller by hobby, but managed to make it like a profession. I narrate stories to school children in a school in Panchkula, Haryana on a weekly basis. But for your event I wanted to spread the joy of your books to the underprivileged children and for this, I had to hunt for a suitable place with the right age group. And my search ended with ASHIANA - Association for Social Health in India. Here I got the chance to narrate the story of PAPLU in Hindi, to the children belonging to the nearby slums and those residing in ASHIANA. 30 children around the age group of 6-12. The response tot the story was great. Their innocent giggles for PAPLU's tearing clothes and his upside down effort to recollect the magic words was worth every effort and tension that I carried in my head for the day :). 

After this experience it was inevitable and I narrated the story to the children in the school where I work... Class 2-5. Around 30 of them. 

 

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On International Literacy Day (2013), Pratham Books took a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'.

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. In 2013, over a 1000 sessions took place across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champions : Rashmi Azad, Bhawna Singla, Jyoti Sharma, Shivani Verma, Ritu Rai

Tanu Shree Singh sent us this lovely note about how her students shared a story with the kids from nearby slums.

Champions: Rashmi Azad, Bhawna Singla, Jyoti Sharma, Shivani Verma, Ritu Rai

Venue : Women Cell, Govt. College, Sector 14, Gurgaon

In Charge : Dr.Tanu Shree Singh

Session 10.30 to 12.00 : 20 children came for the session-Some were school going children of the college employees and some were street children from the nearby slums. The session started with Rashmi telling them the story of Paplu the Giant. The children were mesmerized by her story telling and enjoyed a lot. The story was interrupted by loud giggles and participation from the children. The colourful pictures of the book from the projector added to the wonderful story.

After the story session, the children shared what they liked the most about the story. Most of them found the idea of Paplu hiding in the forest after regaining his size, funny!

Then al children were given a pack of crayons and a sheet of paper to draw out their version of monsters. Most children drew everything but the giant! From flowers to icecreams to fruits - we saw them all. Jyoti, Shivani and Ritu helped the children figure out how to hold the crayons. 

After that we asked the street children if they would like to study and most of them showed enthusiasm. It is sad that despite the facilities provided we still have children who want to study and parents who do not want to send them to school.

Through this session, we saw the power of stories in igniting the willingness to read and go to school. The twinkle in their eyes on seeing their art on the display-board was unmatched. We hope that this would ignite the dream of education in at least some of them.

Raveena, an 8 year old slum dweller usually spends her day begging and night getting beaten up by her mother. Today, she says, is the first time she has had fun and seen a pack of crayons. Every five minutes all she asked was, "Didi, will you take me to school?'

They went away after extracting a promise from us to teach them in the coming days. The session ended with refreshments for the children.

Now we are collaborating with the NSS arm of the college to rope in students to take classes for the school going children to help them with homework and have similar story sessions regularly. The street children, who showed up today again at the college gate, will be enrolled in the government school and will get to spend an hour at college after school to have similar story telling sessions and help with the school work. The art work still adorns our soft- board and brings smiles to our faces and also reminds of our promise that I will ensure is kept.

Thank you Tanu Shree, Rashmi Azad, Bhawna Singla, Jyoti Sharma, Shivani Verma, Ritu Rai for spreading the joy of reading!

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This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Vasundhara Bahuguna

This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

This story was sent to us by Vasundhara Bahuguna. Vasundhara is a self-confessed eternal optimist. A writer, creative, she is a lover of art, literature, music, and nature. She scribbles her thoughts on her blog:http://www.vasundharabahuguna.blogspot.com and adores the company of children and books.

From Vasundhara's blog :

It was another Saturday, yet, full of promises of a bright day ahead.

A story was awaiting its turn to be revealed, to be told to a bunch of 80 enthusiastic and mischievous children from class 7. On the occassion of International Literacy Day , Pratham Books aimed to reach out to children across India and the globe, by way of storytelling...in several languages. 

There are a lot of us, and especially our children, who are inclined, yet, oblivious to the world of books, of education. None of us, however, are oblivious to the amazing world of stories.

One such, called "Paplu Rakshas" (Paplu the Giant), was what I had taken upon myself to share with these bubbling handful. These 80 children, at the very sight of artoicles for activity (chart paper, packets, bags in my hand), began to scream, "teacher, when will you give the chart papers to us? Are there colours for us this time, too?"

After managing to quiet them down, without lowering their eagerness, I explained to them how would we go about the story and activity. And so began the story of Paplu the Giant...

80 inquisitive, exuberant children listened to me, hanging on to every word I read to them, aloud. Catching on to every nuance, intonation, and question. They raised their hands to answer questions, they shouted out loud to mimic an imaginary Paplu. The story was letting them be, the narration, setting their imagination free. With child like impatience, they began to predict what-happened-next-situations. They giggled. Their curiosity for the better of them. 

Every response from them oozed creativity and their rich imagination egged them on to more. I had planned for a lot of conversation in between the storytelling. It added to the narration. It brough them close to the experience. Once the narration was over, they split themselves into groups. 

Restless hands began to look for colours, pencils, erasers. Deft fingers began to etch Paplu's sketch on to the chart papers. The verandah where I was conducting this session was abuzz with excitement and mumbles, in the same breath.

Once sketched, it was Paplu's turn to get dressed in newspaper dresses. Beautiful ideas, vibrant colours, and witty explanations spread through the air. Each group stepped up to "present" their creation to the rest of their classmates. With pride in their eyes, joy in their hearts and smiles upon their lips, they displayed their work. 

Happy faces bowed to thundering claps of their friends, and said their good byes for the day. Here's to their spirit, and to the amazing world of stories.

Thank you Vasundhara for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.