Blog post by Barkha Sharda
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.-Maya Angelou
Vaishnavi, like the Pied Piper brought in a lovely bunch of children as she made her way to Bookworm. Our first session for ‘Art Room’ (a free art programme for children who cannot afford paid classes but have the hunger to learn) was attended by only two of our MOP children. Vaishnavi spent the session with these two children, exploring patterns with various colours of photo ink. She is only one session old at ‘Bookworm’ and is a natural at disseminating the pleasures of colour and form with the children.
In the next session we had six children between 10 to 13 years of age. This time, the medium was only oil pastels. She asked the children to create a design with flowers and leaves with a pencil on their individual sheets. She then explained to them the concept of colour scheme using both warm and cool colours. What was really fascinating was that the children were able to provide examples to show the concept. This meant they had understood the idea.
The children then coloured their pictures – first with lighter colours and then double coloured it with a darker shade. After the picture was complete, she showed them a new technique. She used a sharp tooth pick and made designs on the double colours which brought out the contrast of the light and the dark colours. The children were very excited and happy with the technique.
At the end of the session, the children wanted us to read a story to them, since reading is the association they have had so far at Bookworm. Sujata read to them ‘The Ramayana’ which had lovely illustrations. Although the children knew many of the events, they listened patiently. It was more of learning for us as we did not know what was in the story and the children explained it to us as we read along. It was an enriching and warm experience.
These are children who after walking back from school, doing household chores, walk back to ‘Bookworm’ so we they can learn more. They do not need reminders and phone calls or even someone to pick them up and drop them back. They make ‘Bookworm’ a worthwhile experience for all of us.
