Sandhya Taksale, Editor, Pratham Books, writes about a storytelling session that took place in Pune …
The storytelling event at Pune, based on Milind Gunaji’s book (My Unforgettable Trip) on Forts received a good response. Around 30 kids and 12- 15 parents attended the event. 10 children were from Pratham, Pune, were also able to join this event. As children like storytelling better than a book reading, we decided to narrate the story in the book.
I told the ‘Fort’ story and it was accompanied by visuals of forts in the Sahyadri ranges. The visuals of these grand forts created a sense of awe amongst the children.
The best part of the session was when the session became interactive. Children eagerly shared information and stories about forts. There is just a reference to ‘Hirkani Buruj’ on fort Rajgad in the original story. I asked if anybody knew the ‘Hirkani’ story. Sanika, a third-grader, stood up and narrated the story to the audience. Her narration was similar to the narration in the book and the little storyteller received a big round of applause from the audience.
Later, one of our translators, Shruti narrated two stories from Gijubhai Badheka. We used these stories as it was a varied audience and folk tales work well with all age groups.
This storytelling was conducted as the part of Heritage Week that was being celebrated by Maratha Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, Pune.
