Special children perform at Anjali, a festival for kids on Sunday. Pictures by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 28: For five magical days, children from across the country came together at the sprawling Adivasi exhibition grounds to experience the joy of learning.

Anjali — all-India children’s festival — had a little bit of everything, games, gyaan and gala shows. The festival that began in 2001 has grown with every passing year. On the concluding day of the festival today, there were more than 5,000 visitors who thronged the grounds.

Throughout the five days, young participants were engaged in entertaining parents and celebrity visitors alike with equal fervour. And they were also busy entertaining themselves with hands-on activities. Primary participants constituted of children (between the age group of eight and 18), teachers and their families.

From 2000, Anjali has endeavoured to teach through entertainment — teaching history through theatre, local culture through dances, literature through puppetry, importance of inclusion through music and science through outdoor trips. Another thrust area has been to try to bridge the gap between rural and urban children and between disabled and mainstream children to create an inclusive world.

Effort have been taken to share stories of challenges faced and successes achieved by all kinds of children and making the differences the real pillars for inclusion.

During the festival scholarships are also given out to meritorious students. The young men and women are encouraged to attend activities such as inter-religious prayers, classical dances and kite flying and collage making competitions. There is also a little bit of synchronised yoga sessions, one act plays, treasure hunts, celebrity visits, film shows, magic shows and game booths to make this festival on one of the most busy ones in India.

Workshops on folk dances, music, puppetry, theatre and terracotta are also held.

After the troubled 2008, the theme for this year was, naturally, “Peace”.

“We are trying to make this the first international children’s festival by the year 2010,” confessed chief co-ordinator Shruti Mohapatra.