JOIN USIt was a pretty sight to see about a hundred students revelling in the magic of the written word at the Bangalore literary festival.
As Rohini Nilekani took to stage with Sringeri Srinivas, the children enjoyed every bit of it. Srinivas is a fictional character in one of Nilekani’s works, with his long hair as no one wants to cut it short.
The story was dramatically reconstructed, with one of the children playing Srinivas. The children were thrilled to see the fictional character on stage.
They conversed with him and wondered as to how he had such long hair. The story ended with all his hair flying away as he enters a cave with a tiger in sheer fear. When Sringeri Srinivas asked the children as to how he could cut his hair, one of the children advised him to go to Bannerghatta and find a tiger!
Parallel to the literary sessions at the main venue, the festival had organised storytelling sessions for children, in association with Pratham Books.
Bolwar Mohammed Kunhi, who has authored a book on Mahatma Gandhi’s childhood, struck up a conversation with the children about Gandhi. The children were as brilliant as ever. Even Bolwar was at a loss for an answer when one of the children asked, “Why was Gandhi jailed? Had he done anything wrong?”
Some of the other questions ranged from what were the names of the three girls who were decided as a match for Gandhi in his young age, but died. On Sunday too, the festival organisers have arranged special story telling sessions for the young ones.