MAHABHARATA MADE EASY: Children listen to the Kathakars duo narrate tales from the epic. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

The attendance at the Lord Sinha Road address of Starmark on March 29 was proof that the traditional form of storytelling can still hold its own against the onslaught of computer games and television.

“I had heard the story of The Mahabharata from my grandparents. But there are so many characters that it is difficult remembering them all,” said Class VI student Vinayak Kamal Ghosh, as he walked into a storytelling session from the Indian epic.

The Kathakars duo Mira and Daleep Kakkar’s reading was from Samhita Arni’s version The Mahabharatha: A Child’s View, a child-friendly retelling of the epic.

“We chose to read from Arni’s version as it is more engaging than reading from voluminous chapters. Our epics have all the ingredients of a Bollywood potboiler, from drama, love, violence to bloodshed,” explained Mira.

The Sunday evening began with the story of King Shantanu of Hastinapur, who married Ganga and later, Satyavati, continued with prince Devavrata’s vow of celibacy, ending with Amba’s rage at his rejection of her. Devavrata came to be called Bhishma following his oath.

The sessions, that will take place every month, will continue until next year and conclude with the narration of the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

To help the children remember the characters, a family tree was drawn up. “It is not enough to tell the story. To engage the children, we will ask them to make illustrations, write about the characters they admire and those they do not approve of through poetry or prose. They will also enact scenes from the story,” said Mira.

The technique seems to have worked. Children from four to 12 years of age listened in rapt attention as King Shantanu fell in love with a beautiful maiden but was bound by two vows before marriage to her: he could not ask who she was or question what she did.

“Initially I, too, felt angry when Ganga drowned her newborn sons in the river,” said Class IV student of St Xavier’s Collegiate School, Vinayak Sanganeri.

The words tumbled from the youngster’s mouth as he excitedly held forth: “But she was doing a noble deed, as they were vasus cursed by the sage Vashishth for stealing his sacred cow. They pleaded with Ganga to release them from the curse by drowning them so that they could go back to heaven.”

Many were eager to return for more. “I can’t wait to know the characters better. I don’t want to form opinions in a hurry,” said Vinayak Kamal Ghosh. “Though my daughter is a pre-schooler, I brought her as I want her to know her epics,” said Savita Krishnaswami.

The next session is scheduled for a late-April Sunday.

Jhinuk Mazumdar

CHIT CHAT

Forward march

The Heritage School held a “graduation ceremony” for students being promoted from kindergarten to Class I on March 21. The programme began with a workshop titled “We Are Ready! Are You Mummy and Daddy?” conducted by school counsellor Salony Priya, where parents were shown the various levels of emotional development in a child.

Priya stressed on the need to develop the four important educational skills in Class I, including reading, spelling, writing and mathematics. Anuradha Bhattacharya, coordinator for classes I, II and III, went on to explain that the young ones would be offered extracurricular activities like Indian dance, music, art, pottery and swimming.

Meenakshi Atal, vice-principal of the primary school, spoke about the facilities the kids would have at Ankur, their new building, that is equipped with a math lab and an audio-visual room. The children then accepted their report cards dressed in academic regalia. The session finished with songs sung by the students.

Richa Wahi

Look back in wonder

On March 14, students of the mass communication department of Jadavpur University organised their third annual reunion, Paradigm, at the Triguna Sen auditorium on the university campus. Among the guests were course coordinator Santwan Chatterjee and S.V. Raman of Max Mueller Bhavan.

The event began with Rabindrasangeet performed by the students. Veering away from tradition, they also sang Emosional atyachar from the film DevD and Lambi judai from Jannat. The ex-students reminisced about old days, shaking a leg to the music and joining in the singing.

Laughter took centre stage later, with a comedy staged by the students. Titled EMI, it was about the craving for material comforts that had not only humans, but also the gods in its grip. The show ended with a performance by upcoming band Pal.

Rajdeep Das & Gyaneshwar Pandey,
Mass communication,
Jadavpur University