The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A day of discovery, fun

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 26, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A day of discovery, fun

R. Sujatha

Children participate in a host of activities at workshop

— PHOTO: M. KARUNAKARAN

Matching steps: Children participate in a ‘Padayani mask’ ritual dance procession at Kalakshetra in Chennai on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: For over 200 children, it was a day of fun with no studies or parents to mind them at Kalakshetra on Tuesday.

The children, aged 8 to 12, who participated in the ‘Gilligillippu’ workshop learnt a little of Geography and Mathematics, besides dabbling in music, art and theatre.

As children trooped from one classroom to another around the Banyan tree inside the institution, they were guided by Kalakshetra’s fine arts students. Though there were fewer boys than girls, they were talkative, providing a glimpse of what goes on in classrooms across city schools every day.

As children tried their hands on modelling clay, you could hear conversations that made you smile. Here’s a sample: A 12-year-old had a last word about a student in another part of the workshop: “That joker? He likes Suppandi..” and a boy next to her quipped, “He is in my class..”

At a painting session, a Class VII youngster explained his piece saying he was better with oil paints. He said he did not want to take his painting home because it was not good enough.

Aseema Trust and Kalakshetra had invited city school students to participate in a day-long event and parents could sponsor an underprivileged child. Fifty of the 210 children were from economically disadvantaged families, the organisers said. The aim was to give the children a glimpse of the culture during Chennai’s music season. The children could dirty their hands with paint, dance, sing off key and walk barefoot on sands without annoyed parents to reprimand them.

At the end of the workshop, a few children felt they had not had enough time to participate in all the 12 activities. One child asked: “Aunty, I have not had time to make clay models. Can I take time to make them after the procession?”

V.R. Devika of Aseema Trust had to console the child telling her that there is only so much that could be done in a day. “You can always come back next time for another workshop.”

At the end of the programme when she asked the children if they enjoyed themselves, the answer that came out, in unison, was “Yes”.

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