A Perfect Festival

Author Ramendra Kumar was busy having a perfect time at the Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival in Jaipur. He sent us this report of his adventures :

Guys, I have just come back from participating in Bookaroo, India’s best loved children’s literature festival. Bookaroo was presented by Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK), produced by the Bookaroo Trust and sponsored by ZeeQ. I was the only writer from Odisha to have been invited to this popular festival which was attended by 17 speakers from four countries and was held at JKK, Jaipur.

I conducted five story telling sessions during the festival for different age groups. One of the sessions for the age group 8 to 10 years was based on my book ‘A Perfect Match‘ published by Pratham Books. The tale of a hockey match with a twist in its tail was lapped up by the 300 odd children.

In another session I told my perennial favourite Paplu, the giant also published by Pratham to a younger group. The story of the giant who believed in fighting without fighting was enjoyed by the kids, their parents as well as their grandparents.

It was such a thrill to see my eclectic audience respond to my stories with unadulterated enthusiasm and unbridled energy. Each session, with its interludes of shouting and singing and dancing, was impeccably mastilicious. Later, I had a great time giving interviews to the media, signing books, posing for selfies and interacting with my ‘fans’.

The next day the print media covered the festival extensively. Dainik Bhaskar was so impressed with ‘A Perfect Match’ that it carried a gist of the story in its columns!