FOR THE CHILDREN, OF THE CHILDREN, BY THE CHILDREN

Right note:

A musical performance kicked off a campaign initiated by NGO Save the Children on the occasion of Children’s Day near New Market. Children on Move will focus on the violation of basic rights faced by migrant children, street children, child workers and those who have lost their homes because of a natural disaster. The NGO also launched the campaign with colourful performances near Hedua Park and Dakshinapan.

Smiles & spirit:

Boys and girls undergoing cancer treatment at Tata Medical Center sang, danced and recited poems at a programme on Tuesday. “Seventy per cent of cancers in children are curable and we give them the best treatment. But it is also important to keep them in good spirits, which is why we organise programmes like this,” said Mammen Chandy, the director of the hospital.

 Magic of words:

Stories, goody bags, a pictorial game and memories of Jawaharlal Nehru — Children’s Day was fun and educational for a bunch of youngsters at Daga Nikunj on Ballygunge Circular Road on Tuesday afternoon, organised by Apne Aap Worldwide and Alka Jalan Foundation. While actress, writer and child rights activist Nandana Dev Sen did a dramatised reading of her bilingual book for kids

Not Yet-Ekkhuni Na, Apne Aap founder-president Ruchira Gupta read out excerpts from Letters from a Father to his Daughter, which he wrote for 10-year-old Indira in 1928.

“Apne Aap is fighting for the freedom of children from slavery, especially sex slavery, and I am always looking for opportunities to remind them about other struggles for freedom that have been successful. So Children’s Day seemed like a good opportunity because Nehru was a freedom fighter. Also, I wanted to convey the idea of what freedom can mean, and what better book than Nehru’s letters to his daughter, where he talks about freedom and the kind of world he imagines, which in India today we still have to imagine and struggle for?” Ruchira told Metro.

For Nandana, it was “a moving, lovely, and fun event”! “We wanted to celebrate the tremendous power that children have to change the world. To draw the kids in, we focused on the relationship between children and parents: we chose Nehru’s wonderful Letters from a Father along with my little book Not Yet!, a mother-daughter dialogue about imagination and argumentation. I’m very happy that we focused on the importance of freedom and independence, of safety and tolerance, of justice and equality — topics that are more relevant today in India than ever before,” she said.

Welcome home:

The US consul-general in Calcutta, Craig L. Hall, and his wife Meeryung (right in picture right) opened the doors of their house to children on Tuesday to celebrate Children’s Day. From playing soccer with the deputy director of the American Center, Jay Treloar (left in picture left), to taking part in a spoon race or playing musical chairs and, of course, enjoying tasty bites and  ice cream, 40 children from NGO Tiljala Shed had fun. “Md. Shafkat Alam (of Tiljala Shed) asked me two months ago if the kids could come and have fun. I initiated it but help came from all other consulate friends and our colleagues in the US consulate,” said Meeryung, in between interacting with the children.

Reporting by Samhita Chakraborty, Chandreyee Ghose Dutta, Rith Basu and Jhinuk Mazumdar
Pictures by Pabitra Das, Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya, Bishwarup Dutta and Sanat Kr Sinha