SOULspace

Why do I have Rupa here? Good question. Its just that I did a story last Saturday "Little Vinayak" of Karadi Tales at another Library I love to go to, and once again I found that Elephants are such versatile creatures. Are they actually so, or do they transform into this magical creature in the hands of authors who can make them dance to any tune? They are so lovable, so emotional and so blessed with a be-what-I-will, that any author who casts an elephant in his/her lead role can never go wrong.  The first story that I ever told to an audience was the tale of an elephant, the sweet Rupa, (by Mickey patel;CBT), she is quite famous and most storytellers have her tale in their story bag I think. I know I did/do, and I know that my sister-in-law, who also tells wonderful tales to little minds, had completely pocketed my daughter with this story, way back when she was a tiny thing with big starry eyes and ears full of stories from her favorite aunt.  That Rupa ...

Ever since I got a mail asking me to review Katha’s latest contribution to the world of stories, I was doing a jig of anticipation in my own mental world as I am always ready to receive a book!  ....And the book arrived at my door step pretty fast! This book is a collection of 29 short stories written by children from schools across the country as part of the Katha-HP Write&Read initiative. Bring together interactive creative writing workshops, budding enthusiastic writers and a revolutionary ePrint tool, then it results in this one-of-a-kind compilation. The winning stories have been selected by Prasoon Joshi, a writer exemplar (what a tough job to do!) with introductions by Joshi, Neeraj Sharma (HP) and Geeta Dharmarajan (Katha). For anyone who is interested in writings by children for children, the tone is well set by these stalwarts. I turned the pages in anticipation. The topics are varied, yet strains of similarity do join a few, but w...

While planning any group activity it is important to remember the following: Theme: It is necessary to think of your theme for the workshop. But it is not mandatory. I say this because from a child’s point of view, all he/she wants is something to do, to explore, to create and to take home! So even if you don’t have a theme for your 3/4/5 days together that’s ok. In all probability, it will be the parent who will ask you for theme!! Well…precisely for that curiosity, let’s have a theme. Coming to particulars, the very first 5 day workshop I did was purely Story based, so to satisfy my need for a theme, I took on Around the World Stories, and did 5 stories from Africa, India, a Greek Myth, and Tibet  Moving on, I did a 5 day workshop on Creative learning, yet again only I knew the theme! It started with making toys from Junk, followed by a day of Art, a day of Math (! Yes, loads of learning there), a day of Science and of course the last day reserved for a story! Th...

My first post for NewYear. Happy 2012 to you all! May it grow and help us in its Growing and Learning!! I believe the greatest death of a soul is when it stops learning and wanting to learn! The greatest gift we can give ourselves is the joy of discovery, starting from the self and going beyond! Do you agree with me ?! Well I finished 2011 with a flourish... 3 Days of puppet making, stories, games and Edutainment in December! Some like to listen Some like to do Some like to watch Some like to glue! Some like the chaos Some are calm in that too! Some wander away Some are deeply involved But when children are interested, there is no other better space!! It was great fun and learning for me too, to plan a 3 day winter workshop at Brainvilla Library. Last October; in the Dussehra Workshop, I had planned a 5 day workshop with elements of science, stories, art, craft and junk art, as it is important to keep children's interest going, and provide them a v...