A Writeherewritenow workshop in progress at Disha Foundation, Manoharpukur Road. Picture by Farha Gherda

Writeherewritenow.org, a web blog structured for students from mid-junior to senior high school, was launched early 2007 as a forum for those with a serious interest and flair for writing. “The idea first came when a lot of my friends would complain about their children being either absorbed into the tuition fever or watching television after coming back home,” explains Megha Malhotra, a web programmer and co-founder along with Richa Wahi, a teacher at The Heritage School. The duo designed the blog offering four online courses in creative writing — including poetry, script and creative non-fiction. Also on offer are book reviews, discussions and short-story writing sessions.

Writeherewritenow.org keeps the spirit of blogging alive through its chains of feedback and comments posted by young members on every piece of literary work uploaded on the site, including an article per month by Richa, encapsulating the concern of the month’s exercises, along with another by a guest writer. “The idea is to expose the children to as diverse a range of influences as possible. We are encouraging them not only to write but also providing them with the required fuel by offering them articles to read,” says Megha.

The services on offer are restricted to members only. “We don’t want this to be just another public web blog so we decided on a minimal fee for participation in this unique experience,” adds Megha.

Working to maintain the unique structure of the programme and getting the young minds to work towards serving a higher social goal through wordplay, it conducts several workshops in schools and bookstores. Their latest event was held at Disha Foundation on June 27, a non-government organisation that runs a school for the socially deprived on Manoharpukur Road, with a translation workshop aiming at overcoming language barriers and forging teamwork. Several members of the community (which is now 55-strong, from various city schools) were grouped with students of Disha and taken through three rounds of active participation in basic exercises. These included translation of a piece by Sukumar Ray, a song from Taare Zameen Par and a popular Birbal story.

“I love the workshops the most, especially because you can meet and have fun with all your friends. Today was most fun because we wrote and read in Bengali, English and Hindi and some of the translations were so funny. Now I know what ‘ministers’, ‘tunnel’ and ‘calculate’ are in Hindi,” says a very excited Niharika Pangy, a Class IV student from The Heritage School.