Bookaroo in the City (Day 3) : Jose Louise and Ranjit Lal

Volunteer Jit Banerjee writes about the storytelling session conducted by Jose Louise (via Bookaroo blog) …

For the first time I went to a private school as a Bookaroo volunteer and there was a marked difference in the experience. My talent for the day was Jose Louise, who has been the most interesting person I have accompanied so far. Mr. Louise trains forest guards to combat wild animals for a living! 

I picked him up from his Noida office at 8 in the morning and headed for Rohini and the Venkateshwara Global School. It was a long journey from one end of NCR to the other but I wasn’t complaining. Mr.Louise was endlessly entertaining and freely shared his experiences of belonging to the beautiful symbiosis of nature and development that is Kerala and his experiences rescuing snakes and training wildlife personnel in the densest of jungles. 

On my way I called the Principal who gave us precise directions to the school and inspite of a minor traffic situation and a major crazy-driver situation we reached the School on time. 

Venkateshwara Global School has the plush appeal that is typical of schools of its kind. It was a pleasant experience meeting the staff there who welcomed us and accompanied us to the children who were sitting in neat rows in a room on the third floor. Mr. Jose Louise’s credentials and professional interest in snakes was enough to hook the children to the session. 

Mr.Louise was charismatic and informative at the same time. He referred to his friend Janki Lenin’s book on King Cobras and enthralled the children with his fun facts about snakes. The children were exceptionally responsive and grilled him with incessant questions. Finally, we had to request the teachers to announce that we were out of time. A quick goodbye to the Principal and handing over of posters and fliers neatly wrapped up the session.

Iswarya Subbiah writes about the session conducted by Ranjit Lal (via Bookaroo blog) …

Every kid who has ever read a story has at some point wondered what it would be like to write one. The children of KV Lawrence Road, Keshavpuram had the delight of listening to author Ranjit Lal on 11th November on precisely this topic. Mr. Lal spoke to the children about literature and the importance of reading in every child’s life. He insisted that a good reading habit and a wild imagination are the cornerstones to every author. The children listened in rapt attention as he described to them what went through his head while writing his own books, detailing everything that an author needs to take into account like the ending, a plot twist, the title etc. 

After the session, Mr. Lal was met with many enthusiastic questions. Though it took some time for the children to open up, once the ice was broken, the children had one question after another for Mr. Lal, who was only too happy to oblige. 

All in all, the session was a major success, with the kids learning much about the nuances of writing. Something which I’m sure will hold them in good stead all their lives.

You can read all the Bookaroo in the City blog posts here. You can also view more pictures here.