Freedom tales

Gandhi Jayanthi was celebrated with a difference. Kids came to know a lot more about the man and his message through music, games, dance and stories.

Time for fun and games :

This Gandhi Jayanthi, the students of Gurukulam School, Madhakovil Street in Kovalam, took a journey to pre-independent India through interesting stories, dance , music and games. What better way to pay tribute to the great leader than to learn the value of hard -won freedom and the struggle and sacrifices made by the Indians to achieve this?

The workshop titled ‘India and I' was presented by the Storytrails team. Around 140 students from LKG to Std. VI participated in the workshop. Lakshmi, Anuradha and Sandiya of the team succeeded in keeping them engrossed throughout. The interactive session gave them every opportunity to express their views and ideas. Children proved their talents in role play, games, music, dance and also came up with imaginative answers each time a question was put to them.

A simple game with strict rules easily conveyed to the children, the feeling of frustration that we experience when unnecessary restrictions are imposed on us. The stories of children that the students could relate to flavoured with tints of humour made the session appealing. When asked what is a ‘

vanarar padai ', many translated it correctly as ‘monkey

padai '. With this introduction, the story tellers narrated the role played by children in the freedom Movement.

Messages were hid in lotus petals and even food to evade the eyes of British soldiers and to circulate it among the freedom fighters. When they noted that the British didn't bother to check children, the elders took their help to convey messages to people in the nearby villages. Children walked long distances to deliver these messages.

The students found the story of the brave little girl who boldly accepted a lift in a British police vehicle and got down in the next village to deliver the message, very interesting. They cheerfully listened to the story of little Joyce who on his way to school came across a group of freedom fighters burning foreign goods as part of the Swadeshi Movement. Joyce boldly removed his clothes, threw them in fire and walked back home almost naked.

The story tellers succeeded in their efforts to make these unknown stories from history known. Captain Kaliyappan — a sarcastic disciplinarian, enacted by Lakshmi, was a hit among the audience. Children promptly start shouting the answer as the story tellers started with the tale of a shy boy who was not very good in studies and had even stolen money from his father; but grew up to become an inspiring leader. Students empathised with the miserable little boy who was denied entry to the class just because he was born into a lower caste family and this time too they guessed it right — the little boy was B R. Ambedkar.

The session also gave them an idea of what a Constitution is, and when asked to come up with a few new guidelines for their school, they wanted piano class, more books in library and many new things to be introduced. The enthusiastic kids also danced to the tune of ‘ Vande Matharam' and ‘Jai ho'.

The storytellers were impressed by the active participation and quick response of the students. The Gurukulam Trust is a non-profit organisation that provides education to the underprivileged children.