SOULspace

“Euphemisms” is the topic which caught my eye today. In an article in The Hindu (Tuesday, 27th Jan.), the author talks of how there is a tendency in journalism to cling to euphemisms (“in other words”). We have euphemisms being used in any and every field. Saying “Sex worker”, instead of prostitute is the expected norm in that field, but does it change what they do and how we look at them? The author also points out that there are some very funny euphemisms being used, like saying “vertically challenged” instead of a short person, “differently enabled” for a person with multiple disabilities. What caught my eye is this area that lies close to my heart. that of Disability and euphemisms related to it. Incredibly this is a thought that I have also had many times in my work with the disabled and later while interacting with people and trying to understand their stance on disability. Disability and its related fields now insist on the use of “politically correct language”. For sure where I...

Ayah amma I want to go to the toilet” yells little Sukanya, rocking in her chair. Lakshmi ayah rushes into the class room slightly out of breadth, and with ease which comes from practice transfers her onto a wheelchair, all the while talking to her, softly, gently, pacifying the child. “Bus was late kutty , traffic jam no” she says to the child, while wheeling her into the bathroom, making sure she closes the door behind her. They come out after a while, once again friends. Lakshmi ayah was my right hand in the class. One minute wheeling the kids to the toilet, the next helping me clear the tables of the days work, sweeping, cleaning, feeding, lifting, seating, carrying. The work list is endless in a special school. Especially for a person like her with 15 years of service, who had seen the small school grow into the colossal institute it now was. Teachers had come and gone, management changes, children had grown up and left. She had seen innumerable volunteers, helpers and more, ...

I am constantly searching for really interesting stories to tell children. Now it is also true that the school I go to has storytelling right from 1st standard, so that means by the time they are in 4th standard they have heard ... a lot of stories! I have an affinity for Indian stories. So keeping this in mind I was looking for a good Indian story. The difficulty in choosing a story is also because of the exposure that these children have to Amar Chitra Kathas, which are Indian Mythology/History stories in comic form. So my search requires that I spend many hours on the net, or going through actual books. This time I chanced upon a book called Vikramaditya's Throne by Poile Sengupta. I read with increasing interest and the more I read, the more I liked it. She uses a a technique of layering, where she tells a story within a story. It is extremely fascinating not only for me but also my young listeners. Though the original story talks from the perspective of a small girl who has ...