School Stories!

A portion of this post was first published in  Parent Edge blog

With the arrival of my second child, my life seems to have been put on hold and has become home-bound for now and is all about nursing, burping, changing nappies, swaddling the baby to sleep and so on and so forth. But for the others around me…life goes on like before…school has reopened, there’s office to go to, there are routine things to take care of and so and so forth! Especially my older one (probably the first time Abhay is being referred this way) now a fourth grader, who doesn’t seem to cut me any slack at all! J Why should his baby sister’s colic evenings come in the way of letting out his frustration at having been separated from his friends at school? Who can blame his irritation at not being able to discuss his cricketing feats at school with his mom without any interruptions like before?? Frankly, while it may not seem so, I do empathize with him for having to vie with his baby sister for his mother’s attention.  Well….. school has begun and so have his routine weekly activities …that’s what matters to him the most!  I understand….but believe me, it is tough to be all ears to his who-did-what reports from school with a wailing baby at hand!

Though Abhay’s school reopened a month ago, I haven’t had much time with him as he continues to operate from our house ( thanks to my husband and my mother-in-law!) while I have been staying at my mom’s place. So while the daddy is in charge of our older one through the week, I am with our little one and we try to swap places during the weekend ( if that’s actually possible!). So its only last weekend that I got time to read a back-to-school book to help him kick start this academic year! 

Though I have read many  school stories before, this time I picked out a compilation that is more complex and layered,  titled “School Stories” by Paro Anand meant more for kids aged ten and above. Since some of the stories were beyond Abhay’s reading level, I read them out while Abhay listened on. This collection brought out by Scholastic publications sensitively portrays the  angst, confusion, trials and tribulations most adolescents face while having to grapple with various challenges in their school lives! It is interesting to note that almost all the stories are narrated in first person and this if not anything else is sure to strike a chord with the tweens and teens at home. Though the school years during high school seem tough….it is only when we are out of it do we realize that they were probably the best years of growing up! Each story by Paro Anand echoes such a sentiment ….. from the story of Pratap who almost succumbs to the temptation to cheat to Gita’s bold move of wanting to play the part of the protagonist in a play despite her stammering problem or the hilarious exchange of correspondence between parents and their son studying in a boarding school facing a cash crunch! Besides being brilliantly written all stories present a delightful inter-play of humour, reflection and reality-check for today’s youth! Though I am a little late….here’s wishing all the kids and their parents……..have a great school year ahead! J

Summer vacations - Time to turn a Bookasura!!!

First appeared on parent edge blog

We are at the end of the academic year and the  dreaded exam season is over in most parts of the country…at least for the younger kids and shall I say the most dread season for the parents is here to stay for the next two months ….vacations??!!  While the prospect of a temporary respite from the mad school mornings may be a reason for cheer, but given the long summer breaks, parents most often find themselves fretting over how to keep their kids engaged or occupied constructively. With most households having both parents working, the kids’ holiday schedule can get even more hectic than the regular school schedule- driving them from summer workshops, art camps, sports camps and even pre-IIT JEE training programs!  Of course….there’s always an option to pack them off to their grandparents’ provided it is convenient and the grandparents are willing to share the load…of course not to forget the children being willing participants to the change in social climate!:-)

Anyway, speaking of going to grandparents’ for the holidays, we are at Abhay's grandparents' place at Shristi and will spend most of April soaking up some coastal sunshine! Though a lot of kids routinely spent their summer vacations at grandparents' while we were growing up, I never got a chance to do so. Thankfully, Abhay is lucky and spends a part of summer holidays every year at their farm house at Dharmasthala. For a change, this year I also have accompanied Abhay to his grandparents' place...though I am not sure if he's very thrilled about it! :-)

Anyway, we got along many books withus, including a recently released book that makes a great summer read for kids aged five and above, -  Arundhati Venkatesh’s “Bookasura” brought out by Scholastic publications.

Bookasura revolves around the adventures of Bala and his run-in with the book-eating monster. You can’t help but adore Bala, the young protagonist, who amidst his excitement over having discovered a new adventure book series, his irritation at being supposedly sidelined by the new baby at home and his utter disdain over his baby sister gobbling up some pages of his book, feels almost relieved to be sent off to his grandparents’ house for the holidays. Bala’s visit to his grandparents is almost reminiscent of the days we used to camp at grandparents’ during the summer with Paati (grandmother in Tamil) vowing to fatten him during his stay with her lip-smacking delicacies and Thaatha (grandpa in Tamil ) regaling him with stories from the Indian mythology. So when his grandpa narrates the story of Bakasura and his defeat at hands of Bheema, Bala finds himself encountering another monster at Navneet uncle’s Thotadaan (house with a garden) with an insatiable appetite for books! Bala is then constrained to feed the monster many of his favourite books, with a “pun-intended” choice of titles!  But before he runs the risk of having to give up all his books, he thinks of a one-of-a-kind ploy to outwit the book-eating monster, whom he believes to have a striking resemblance to his book-eating baby sister!  Besides being brilliantly written, the author delves into the mind of a young boy  like no one else and showcases the myriad shades of Bala’s world with an indigenous charm that makes it all the more relatable. The book touches upon so many aspects, albeit in a subtle manner -  changing family dynamics with the arrival of a new baby, parents’ paranoia over exposure to television and its transference to the child,  the undivided and no holds barred attention from grandparents, impact of stories on a child’s imagination in turn instilling a passion for reading and books! Priya Kurien’s playful illustrations present a perfect visual context to this original plot that is sure to entertain and engage your young reader this summer! After reading this…don’t blame me if your young reader turns a Bookasura ………..eager for more adventures of Bala! As far as Abhay was concerned, it made him think about only one thing.... I hope the new baby in our house does not eat up my book!:-)

Inspiring life of a woman.......!

This year’s women’s day in India assumes great significance in the light of some recent events, particularly the misogynist views of a rape convict made known vide a documentary film that has now become the center of controversy. While not commenting on whether or not the ensuing ban on the film is an appropriate response from the establishment, I do believe that airing such views does not tantamount to endorsing the same but only goes to highlight how primitive and regressive such thinking is …..that too in this age and day!  Though the views opined by a deranged convict do not necessarily represent that of the mainstream society in general (or at least I hope so!), the very fact that this is the mindset of certain sections or even a fringe of the society ….is shocking enough to make one shudder….particularly when it is the apparent view of an age group that is less than 35 years…meaning that it’s not only our generation but even the future generation that may be subject to such scourge! Anyway, one way to counter such thinking is to start young and by that our role as parents, particularly of young boys, seems even more momentous, as our current Prime Minister puts it. So this Women’s day, it is time to reflect on how ……as mothers….we can contribute to changing the way our boys look at girls today….and that will in turn having a bearing on the future lives of the women of tomorrow! So going with the 2015 theme for International Women’s day….calling all mothers…… “To make it happen”!!!!

Women’s day is a must-post day on Onestoryaday and I always make it a point to read a women-centric story to Abhay. In fact, this year, Abhay got to know about women’s day, through his school as they held a special event, one day before, with Dr. Malathi Holla as the Guest of Honour, a Padmashree and Arjuna Awardee for representing paraplegic sports on International Sports Tracks followed by a karate demo for urban street survival strategy. It is a pity that I couldn’t make it, with Saturday being a working day for me. So here I am trying to make up for the same by having Abhay read about an inspiring woman achiever in “A girl named Helen Keller”, a Level 3 Scholastic Early Reader by Margo Lundell and illustrated by Irene Trivas.

 

 

Ideal for early readers transitioning into chapter books, the young reader is introduced to the amazing journey of Heller Keller, who at the age of two is struck with high fever that leaves her visually and hearing impaired and leaves her parents helpless. Though her parents are not able to cope with her wild and untamed ways, her mother strongly believes that Helen is very smart but is unable to connect with her. So with the help of Alexander Graham Bell (even I didn’t know this!), they bring in Anne Sullivan, a young teacher from Boston whose painstaking efforts to help Helen feel and understand the ways of the world finally yields results, notwithstanding the reservations Helen’s parents have about her strict methods. Anne Sullivan is not only able to communicate with her but also able to get Helen to connect with the world around her! Thereafter, there is no stopping Helen as she learns to read, write, goes  to school and graduates from Radcliffe College with honours…becomes a famous writer who travelled many places, addressed and delivered lectures and met many kings, presidents and heads of State, and fervently worked towards helping different-abled people. Helen Keller is one woman who’s extraordinary life continues to bring hope and inspiration to people. So here’s celebrating such women today …happy women’s day to everyone!

Theatre Gold!

Summer’s here and so are summer camps!  Two years, when I first began exploring the summer camp scene in our neighbourhood, I so wished I could enroll my then five year old into one of the summer activities held at Rangashankara but couldn’t as the minimum stipulated age was seven. This year however, there was no doubt that Abhay was getting on board the Summer Express 2014! If we could, we would have enrolled him into all the workshops that he was eligible for, but alas, with vacation plans already made much before the announcement of the Summer Express schedule, we could only do the workshops in April. We enrolled Abhay into a five day workshop called “Theatre Gold” conducted by Padmavathi Rao (a.k.a Pinty akka), a summer express veteran, a gifted story teller and a writer-director of plays for children. Essentially meant for children of the age group of seven to nine years, the endeavour of this workshop was to introduce the children to the theatre, identify the common and not so common sources to draw inspiration from, and recognize if not fully understand the process of onstage and off stage activities involved. This year’s theme for “Theatre Gold” being ‘values’,  each parent was asked to scrawl out a proverb or a saying that best reflected the values they hoped to imbibe in their kids which, was then mounted on a chart board for “Pinty akka” to weave them into her interaction with the kids.  

Each day, the kids worked around the theme along with Pinty-akka and her team who tried to convey the essence of their parents’ messages and helped them understand and develop their own value based sayings, while throwing light on various aspects of performing on stage. The kids were also involved in constructing and creating their own props, through origami and papier machie with the help of organic materials and home made glue. On the last day yesterday, the kids put up a small presentation comprising of a series of 30-second acts/skits in groups of threes, with the plot, dialogues and delivery all managed by the kids themselves! 

 

 

 

 

Abhay enjoyed the workshop and was in fact begging for more! We as parents were delighted and felt relieved that the workshop was more process oriented than result oriented. On a personal note, I happened to reconnect with an old schoolmate after almost two decades, whose son happen to attend the same workshop. Overall, it was a one-of a kind workshop that Abhay will always remember …..all thanks to Pinty Akka and team and not to forget her  personalized bookmarks for all the summer express travellers!! J

 

 

So celebrating Abhay’s first Summer Express adventure, I had him read “School Play” by Susan Nees, a part of illustrated Early chapter books brought out as the Branches series by Scholastic as to help Early readers transition into chapter books.

 

 

This particular story is a part of Missy’s Super-Duper- Royal-Deluxe series. Missy loves to be on stage and dreams of being a big star, so famous that she doesn’t have to go to school. Her mother ferrets out the reason she is reluctant to go to school – her class is putting up a play and she doesn’t get a big part, in fact not even a speaking part! Despite all her pleadings and protests, Missy is sent to school where she is annoyed to find nothing going right for her – from her school report being shot down by the teacher to her music teacher chiding for singing too loud…it’s just not Missy’s super deluxe day! To add to this, she discovers to have forgotten her lunch and is forced to eat her school lunch made of bruzzels sprouts! To her dismay…all her classmates talk about is the play …and their substantial parts with dialogues, colourful costumes and music. So Missy decides to take the matter into her hands and slightly tweaks her dialogue-less role and dull costume and adds some much needed sparkle to the play, while also helping a fellow performer with his dialogues that ultimately saves the play in a super-duper-royal deluxe way!  We loved the realistic portrayal of the issues that confront a primary school kid and particularly the call outs that represents her confused yet determined mind! Though the story has a usual ending, this Early chapter book aided with apt illustrations takes the young reader through various facets of putting up a performance, including music, costumes, props, dialogue prompts, settings and of course team work! So there’s lot more to theatre than what we see on stage ….which hopefully Abhay was able to identify through one of his first workshops at the Summer Express! Here’s hoping he gets on the summer express next year too!! J

Abhay in the race!!!

Abhay’s latest predicament is that he is always the last in a running race – be it during his weekly physical training class, or at a friendly game during recess, or while racing to the school van in the evening! Last Friday, he woke up with a foul mood at having to repeatedly lose to a couple of other kids as they raced him up to the school van from their classrooms and thus didn’t want to go to school…..talk about ingenious excuses to cut school! :-) I have always maintained that Abhay has never been as kinesthetically driven as the other boys and that he couldn’t have cared less if other kids beat him in a race or a game. Added to it, the scope for a regular physical activity was affected by our move to India, owing to fewer public parks (like in the US) and the fall out of living in an independent house as opposed to an apartment complex. So barring a few exceptions, Abhay has lagged behind other kids his age, when it comes to sports. So as long as Abhay wasn’t bothered, we couldn’t be bothered too. But now as Abhay seems to want to better his kinesthetic skills…. here we are doing rounds of sports camps/coaching academies in our area. So now our latest predicament is to fit in a sports/games class in our perpetually busy weekly or weekend schedule! J

So while we zero in on the right class for Abhay, I had Abhay read “Boris for the win” by Andrew Joyner from the Branches series by Scholastic which is intended to help emergent readers transition from graded reading to chapter books. Scholastic has brought out  about seven books’ series under the Branches banner that not only features characters and settings that early readers can easily relate to but also seek to motivate them to go on and progress into higher levels of reading.  I found this Branches series perfect for Abhay who is not yet comfortable with chapter books….and hope that Scholastic would soon begin market them in India too. Since they are currently available mainly in the US, I had a couple of books from the “Boris series” ordered to be delivered to one of our relatives who was visiting India around December last year, so as to  serve as an ideal read for his Sports day. But his school had other plans and decided to instead hold only School day this year! L Anyway, this series meant for children aged 5-7 is centered around an endearing little warthog named Boris, who like any other kid loves adventures. In school, Boris and his friend Fredrick find themselves being the last in most sporting events and are tired of having their classmate Eddie always win! So Boris along with Frederick draws up a plan for the upcoming Sports day with the help of another classmate Alice, their self-anointed coach.  So while they train hard to beat their school’s Usain Bolt, Boris encounters various obstacles, including Frederick suddenly afflicted with hay fever on the D-day thus making Eddie invincible. Boris however, still has a chance to redeem himself during the round-the-track marathon, which is the most important race of the day. Boris has a great start and runs past many of his classmates, dodges some of Eddie’s friends who try to slow him down and reaches the second place, behind Eddie, much to the sprinter’s surprise! But as Boris races past Eddie and nears the finishing line, he remembers his friend.  Frederick who is reeling under an allergy attack, is barely walking and is most likely to be the last in the race again. But being the loyal friend he is, Boris decides to help his friend and does something that no one in his position, would ever dream of and ends up winning the “Best and Fairest” prize. But who wins the race? Well, it's not Eddie…have your early reader read on to figure out the suspense! So while Abhay devours this delightful series, I hope he too gives it his best to be the fastest yet the fairest! J

Celebrating Gulzar!

Last weekend saw Bangalore host its second annual Literature festival popularly known as BLF 2013, a must-attend event for all bibliophiles and wannabe bibliophiles in town. Though BLF 2013 was on for three days starting Friday, we could only go in for the sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Like last year, we decided to split the two days at BLF between Abhay and us, with Saturday being Abhay-centric so that Abhay’s parents could treat themselves to a Sunday full of interesting and engaging discussions revolving around the world of literature, sans interruptions. A personal highlight of the festival of course was listening to Gulzar  throw light on some of his most popular verses/songs, including “Mera Kuch Samaan” from the film Ijaazat, which I guess has been a favorite with an entire generation who grew up in the eighties and early nineties! Being a song very close to my heart and listening to the poet who penned the same indeed felt like a dream come true! Though we missed Gulzar’s session with the children due to a PTM meeting at Abhay’s school, we took  home one of his children’s books…..personally autographed by the author himself! We had Abhay approach the legend for a signature just as he was about to rise from the book signing event and  despite looking visibly tired, he did sweetly oblige.  As he asked Abhay his name to address the book to him, my seven year old in turn assumed that he was being asked to spell out his name and instead slowly prompted A-B-H-A-Y to Gulzar Saab as he signed on the first page of “The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha”!  While Abhay may not have realized it now, he came face to face with one of the most celebrated poets/lyricists of our country whose work he will hopefully grow to appreciate and enjoy….and this photo is definitely a keeper …..well, not just for him!

 

Today’s book has to be “Adventures of Goopy and Bagha” written by Gulzar, illustrated by Shilpa Ranade and retold by Sameen Mishra brought out by Scholastic. Based on Upendrakishore Roychoudury’s Bengali  tale Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Gulzar adds his brilliant touch to this story with his inimitable style of narrative that I hope is not lost in translation in the English version. Dedicated to his grandson named Samay, this is Gulzar’s story-telling for children at its best! This is a story of two passionate musicians named Goopy and Bagha who delight as much in their discovery of each other as they delight in their music. Goopy, the drummer and Bagha, the singer are shunned in society for their obsession with music but when they team up – they hold everyone spellbound with their music – from midnight ghosts to warring enemies! In the hope of finding appreciation and respect, they go in search of King Hulla who is known for his patronage of music but lose their way and land up in the wrong kingdom. How they manage to escape and conquer their destiny that transforms them from simpletons  country bumpkins into benevolent rulers of Hulla is a journey filled with magic, music and mirth ..... made all the more special with Gulzar's words!  A great way to introduce Gulzar to your little....especially if you are a Gulzar fan like me!:-)