Children paste stickers on an activity sheet. (Sudeshna Banerjee)

For two months this summer, children gathered every Saturday evening in an apartment in Mahavir Vikas, HC Block. They spent an hour and half not watching superheroes in cartoons or playing computer games. The only figure they focused on was Lord Krishna and all the games they played were based on his life and teaching.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness had organised Gita classes for children aged 5 to 12 years and by the second class most were hooked. “My son Divyansh just came back from tuitions, still he insisted that I bring him here,” said Vinita Saraf of AD Block as the eight-year-old hurried into the class. Ten-year-old Shreya was just as eager to come back after loving the first class, her mother Poonam Rathi of BL Block said.

The teacher Madhavpriya was a picture of patience, as she took a roomful of children through the evening’s activity, be it colouring, puzzles or pasting stickers in appropriate places in a story on Krishna’s birth.

At the end of the course, Savita Jaipuria of HB Block was a satisfied mother. “I wanted them to learn about our morals and values. I am happy that they know so many mythological stories and can chant four slokas from The Gita by heart,” said the HB Block resident, who had three children from the family attend the classes.