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"Not
all's well with kids" The Hindu - October 1, 2004 "It surprises me when I see that children as well as elderly people in villages take reading so overwhelmingly. Recently, I was in Madhya Pradesh where I had gone to shoot a film on early child marriages. What moved me most was when I showed them a storybook; small children and even elderly women enthusiastically asked me 'Should I read'. Also in a small village in Karnataka I found that children are so fond of listening to stories. They kept demanding, 'tell us a story'. When children read, they grow according to their own natural space," he says. Being heavily into academics and theatre, Karnad knows that the investment in knowledge pays best dividends. But when it comes to knowledge contained in books for children in India, Karnad feels that we still haven't invested much. Neither we have proper written material for them nor many events as book fairs and children's theatre etc. Huge success "See Frankfurt Book Fair, it's a huge success. The publishers for children's books bring numerous illustrations and sell them to almost all countries present there. Those countries attach their own text to them and convert them to children's books. Why can't we do that? Recently. I read 'Kardi Tales' and found it very interesting. Why should we always give 'Harry Potter' to our children? We have our own magic boys, lands and wonder tales. Moreover, children in villages do not identify themselves with such tales. There are hardly any good writers for children either. Even in Hubli I did not find any book in Kannada for children. That only exposes our apathy. We only see best sellers in bookshops. On our airports we find stacks full of English books, there are no books in any regional languages," says a sad Karnad. Karnad is not happy with the state of affairs on television either. "It is a total mess. First there are no proper channels for them and if there are any, what all they do is attempt to make them laugh. Children are not stupid, so why should they be made to laugh all the time?" And he sets London as an example where people are aware of theatre activities for children, much in advance. "Parents cultivate the habit of watching theatre in their children. They book tickets even six months in advance, if they think a play is worth watching. But in India, whether it is Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore, the very thought of going to theatres gives one a shudder because of time consuming traffic mess and safety on roads at late night." |
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Copyrights Pratham Books, 2005
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