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Children’s book fair spellbinds kids, and adults
Bookaroo, the largest ever children’s festival, has reached Jaipur, hypnotizing the city! Literature, books, activities, basically a place for every kid to be at.
Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, proved out to be a pandora box today as Bookaroo, a children’s literature festival, kicked off today morning.The venue and day was a celebration today, celebration of literature, stories, books, workshops, craft… all for kids. With as many as 3000+ children from as many as 17 schools and NGOs from Jaipur and near-by places, the very first day of the festival was certainly a huge hit.Every hour spent at the festival today tingled the imagination of children as parents too were delighted to see them participating and interacting. Activities ranging from interactions with authors and storytellers to workshops on crafts and doodles kept the children too busy, yet relaxed and imaginative even though the nature did show no mercy!
Story-telling activity was the most participated-in, as Kahani Tree saw the maximum number of children with Ajay Dasgupta, Rituparna Ghosh and Ramendra narrating the most interactive stories. After his first story Kaun buddhu and kaun chalak, Ajay Dasgupta was in love with the children as the children, never being shy with this spontaneous story teller, fell in love with him. Other stories being narrated were A tiger’s tale by Sandha Rao, There’s a poem in my brainbox by Jerry Pinto, India its wildlife and its conservation by Deepak Dalal, The serpent hunters in the backyard by Arefa Tehsin, A ghost called fachaak by Ramendra Kumar; Performing Nehru at JKK theatre by Parnab Mukherjee amongst others.
Crafty corner and the Doodle wall saw amazing enthusiasm from kids as they painted away their way to the world of creativity and freedom. Painting the wall, DIY craft sessions, collage making, drawing drew the maximum number of children. Crafty Corner included sessions such as The seven storied house by Debjani Mukherjee and Birdie book by Priya Kurien. The Doodle Wall included interactive sessions on Dancing doodle by Kavita Singh Kale, Happiness is… by Vagmi Raghava, The wonderful world of Phad by Kalyan Joshi and When I grow up by Priya Kurien.
Talking about the first ever children’s literature festival in the Pink City was Jerry Pinto after his session, when he said, “There is no place like JKK in Delhi or in Bangalore or anywhere in India. I urge Jaipurities to utilize this beautiful architectural wonder to its full potential for promotion of art culture and theatre.”
There also was a painting exhibition by collaboration between The Japan Foundation, New Delhi and JKK, Jaipur, where illustrations and painting by the renowned award winning Japanese artist and illustrator of children’s book, Chiharo Iwasaki and the works of other picture book artists from Japan brought several young art enthusiasts.
Waiting for more, see you there tomorrow!