Last Sunday, at the Connemara Library in Egmore, around 20 children were listening with rapt attention to members of Koodam. Stories draw children, but these kids were listening to stories that encourage reflection and participation.
Koodam, a story telling forum for children founded by Sridevi Subramanian, Shobana Natarajan, Srimathi Jayaprakash and Rhama Shankar in August 2016, comes up with open-ended stories that allow children the space for drawing their own conclusions and developing their own perspectives about issues.
Koodam offers professional storytelling sessions for private schools, corporate foundations and family get-togethers. As a form of service, it conducts sessions for children from an economically-disadvantaged background and also those from government schools, for free. On the Sunday in question, the audience was a mix of these elements. Some of the children were from poor neighbourhoods in the Egmore region and there was also a group of 20 children from a government school in Hasthinapuram. (These kids were listened to a narration of “ Kaatu Raja Kanavillai ” and “ Magic Rooster ”, stories built around the themes of friendship and perseverance)
Every narration is followed by a question-and-answer session that is structured in such a manner that children will have to think critically.
“Our questions are usually structured in this way — ‘why do you think ….?’ ; ‘what would happen if…?’ ; ‘which is the most…?’; and ‘how it could have been…’,” says Sridevi Subramanian, a resident of Besant Nagar who works as substitute teacher at The School KFI.
With such questions, children cannot offer monosyllabic answers, but have to give detailed explanations.
“In the process, they learn to speak elaborately and how to substantiate their opinions. By doing so, children are also indirectly taught to value the freedom of expression. Some stories kindle their creativity and imagination and some sessions expect children to explore ways to solve a problem, take a decision or make a judgement,” says Shobana Natarajan, a resident of Thiruvanmiyur who was a school teacher at Doha in Qatar.
Another interesting feature of Koodam is that the founders themselves create their stories, make puppets and draw Pattachitra paintings which they use to aid their narration. Singing songs, dance, and a craft activity are all part of the storytelling sessions. One of the founders, Srimathi Jayaprakash, entertains the children with her mimicry skills.
“By interacting with such underprivileged children, we realise that a lot needs to be done for them. Classroom education in schools is not enough,” says Srimathi Jayaprakash, a resident of Adyar, who works at The School KFI.
For underprivileged children, Koodam does not charge any fee. Koodam has held sessions for children at the Perumbakkam Panchayat Baalwadi, Medavakkam, a Chennai School in Alwarpet, the paediatric ward at Cancer Institute; and for a non-governmental organisation that works for the cause of children in slums. Koodam has also rendered free services for Vandu Net, an amateur radio club.
Koodam charges fee for sessions organised by private schools, corporate foundations and family get-togethers which provides them with the wherewithal to conduct free sessions for underprivileged children. It also conducts storytelling sessions on the terrace on full-moon days.
“In our for-profit sessions, we make it a point to have at least two children from an underprivileged background,” says Sridevi.
Koodam can be contacted at 9381038341 .
