Craft and creation

With aluminium kettles and khullars as their canvas, children were at their creative best. Some painted their props in a single colour, others played with different hues. “We chose simple items so that the kids had ample scope to use their creativity,” said Suniti Khastgir, one of the mentors along with Suvra Chakraborty, Jibon Biswas and Sukanta Sarkar. Vedanti Barik, a Class IV student of Auxilium Convent School, loves painting. “I paint at home and whatever I am learning here, I will try to apply to my paintings. I have painted my kettle in my favourite yellow colour and will be drawing a flower at the centre,” smiled Vedanti, who wanted to gift the kettle to her mom.

Disc Jockeying

Sixty young DJs fiddled with the console, trying to mix music at a workshop conducted by DJ Akash. “I am very happy to see so many girls interested in DJing. I was pleased to see their interest in Beatles and Abba. Parents too seem to be encouraging their kids,” the DJ said. Ritvik Modi, a Class XI student of St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, listens to music all the time and Pitbull and Afrojack are his favourites.  Palak Gupta of The Heritage School has an ear for hip hop and EDM. “I see those DJs mixing and playing live to the crowd and really wanted to know how they do it,” said the Class IX student.

Basic Spanish

Students picked up basic Spanish at a two-day workshop conducted by Voiceworx Events and Workshops. Anshuman Murarka, a Class IX student of Birla High School for Boys, has been learning French and decided to explore Spanish as well. “It is always good to learn something new and vacations are the best time as there is no
academic pressure. Both Spanish and French have similarities with English and hence are not tough to learn,” he said.

Step up and dance

Zumba, hip hop, freestyle, salsa, vachata, cha cha cha — more than 30 children mastered the right moves at a dance workshop at Apeejay School, Park Street. For Aditi Sinolia of St. Thomas Church School, Howrah, this was her
second dance workshop. “I like different forms of dance,” she said.

Photography

Fifty children became one with nature as they captured its various aspects on camera. The students were taken on a field trip to Nature Study Park. “This is the first time I have taken part in a photography workshop and the experience was very enjoyable,” said Srishti Neogi, a Class VI student of South City International. Parinidhi Dadlani, a Class V student of La Martiniere for Girls, ran around, captured “leaves, falling twigs and other beauties of nature”.

Patachitra

]Kids aged six to 15 learnt the basics of making a patachitra at Summer Carnival 2015 during a three-day workshop.
“Patachitra is highly stylised. It is a unique blend that throws light on Bengal’s heritage. We taught them about different styles of the art that includes Kalighat and Murshidabad styles,” said Halley Goswami. “Patachitra is a very different art form; it is very traditional. It is beautiful,” said Anisha Ghosh, Class VIII, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Brahmapur. Agneebha Srimani, a Class IV student of MP Birla Foundation, was delighted to learn a new art form.

Calligraphy

Around 30 school students aged six to 16 tried their hand at calligraphy. “We have to work on a lot of projects in school and good handwriting does matter. So, I opted for this workshop,” said Aishani Mukhopadhyay, Class VII,
Mahadevi Birla World Academy. Nirali Hemani, who conducted the workshop, said calligraphy helps improve hand-eye coordination.

Musical theatre

The stage was set as groups of excited students converged at Apeejay School, Park Street, for a three-day theatre workshop conducted by Rijita Chatterjee. Subject, plot, music, dialogues and other aspects of theatre were addressed. Mistakes were corrected and the children divided into groups to present short skits. “Some students were shy and some had stage fright. I saw them taking an effort to better themselves and that made me very proud,” said Rijita. For Sarat Menon, a Class VI student of Techno India Public School, this was his first brush with
theatre and he enjoyed it.

Table manners

How to use cutlery the right way and how to ask someone to pass the food — these and more such questions were addressed at a workshop on table manners. The most important lesson Siddhant Saith, a Class VI student of St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, took home is “not to fidget with gadgets during a meal”.

Text by Farah Khatoon, Tanisha Bagchi, Dilshaad Hossain and Chandrajit Mitra
Pictures by B. Halder, Anindya Shankar Ray, Sayantan Ghosh, Arnab Mondal and Mayukh Sengupta