On the eve of the Fifa World Cup, a native of Brazil spent hours in Salt Lake imparting lessons to youths who had signed up for his coaching. But football was not the topic of those training sessions.
It was a summer camp with a difference. Participants here were not learning to paint, act, dance or play. Italo Rovere was showing a dozen boys and girls how to create handmade miniature books.
The summer camp was being held at the CG Block office of Prayasam, an NGO. Founder Amlan Ganguly recalled how he came across Rovere. “I had worn a dhoti to a session at Kolkata Literary Meet last year. He walked up to comment on that. He spoke of his love for India and how he teaches miniature book production to children. I invited him over to conduct this year’s summer camp. I loved that he was teaching not just art and craft but also encouraging children to think and write their own story. In a generation engrossed in passive consumption through mobile phones, I was unsure how many would be up for it but we agreed that we needed to give children a chance to stay away from screens,” the social entrepreneur said.
When The Telegraph Salt Lake visited the summer camp, the Brazilian poet was teaching the participants the rudiments of book planning: “Write beautiful stories with beautiful endings. If the line has importance, it can take a full page. Or you can put three or four lines on one page.”
He showed them how to cut blank pages to size, fold and attach them with glue. Next, he cut out the book cover from harder paper, measuring it to make the size slightly larger than the rest of the pages.
He had brought an entire library of his mini books along, which he passed round for inspection. And soon, the participants got busy — writing their stories on one day, cutting and pasting the pages on another day, and bringing it all together on the third for inspection.
“He is so full of energy that on the first two days, he sat on the floor with the children. Back pain forced him to ask for a table and chair on the third but at the start of the day he explained the situation to the class — a courtesy that we are hardly used to,” said Prasanta Ray, director, communications, Prayasam.
And on the final day, the participants presented their work in the presence of their parents.
Sriya Agarwal, 14, had created a 13-page book on Michael Jackson. “I plan to watch the movie,” she said.
“This can be a nice hobby,” felt Aradhya Das, a resident of IA Block, who has been promoted to Class VIII in DPS Newtown.
This was Siona Raha’s third summer camp with Prayasam. “Last year, we decorated models with recycled objects; the year before we decorated ourselves. This is very different,” said the BD Block girl who studies in Class IX, Our Lady Queen of the Missions.
The most productive was Ayushman Sarkar. The reticent nine-year-old, who was the youngest of the lot, made up in the number of mini books he produced what he lacked in spoken words.
