First day of the Children’s Literature Festival – Bookaroo held at DPS Srinagar
Bookaroo — the festival of bringing the joy of books to children is being hosted again for the 5th year by Delhi Public School, Srinagar. The festival is designed to enhance the creative skills of children and develop a reading habit in them.
The two-day programme began today on 3rd November 2018 with extraordinary excitement and immense curiosity of the children of different age groups. A select band of experts from all corners of the country comprising of authors, story-tellers, illustrators, creativity experts regaled the children with exercises in creativity.
The exercises ranged from sessions on playing with clay to create clay models, storytelling to expose children to nuances of narration, an imaginative reconstruction of a beach to develop empathy, an evocation of nostalgia for a more harmonious eco-friendly past, forging superhero tales and a host of other exciting activities among other things. Luminaries in their respective fields like Gautam Benegal – Professor Animation at Shristi Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Lavanya Karthik – noted author for children, Bijal Vachharajani, Shabnam Minwala, Siddhant Shah, Savio Mascarenhas and Malavika PC. Sajid Reshi – drama teacher of the school also assisted the guest experts. All the resource persons were enthused by the wonderful response provided by children to the event.
The festival director, Swati Roy gushed that “Bookaroo is completely overwhelmed by the warm response of the students of DPS. This along with the first snowfall of the season has made this edition of Bookaroo the most spectacular ever.”
Naturally, this enthused the Principal Alistair R. A. Freese, principal, DPS Srinagar, who found the experience heartening. He said, “Neither the weather nor the early morning commute through flooded streets could dampen the enthusiasm of the children as they ran excitedly from one venue to another. It was a fantastic first day at Bookaroo Srinagar”.
The Chairman, Vijay Dhar, chairman, DP Dhar Memorial Trust said “The packed audiences show that children are not put off by cold and damp. If students are excited and motivated enough by providing them interesting opportunities, they are willing to beat the odds. The school always lives by this principle.” The event was a grand success on day one, and promises to excel itself on the second day.
