Literary Week at School- April, 2018

The portals of The Indian School welcomed many a renowned writer during the literary week which commenced on 23 April 2018 and concluded on a high note on 27 April 2018.

The theme being Literature and Crime, our School had the singular honour of playing host to several prolific writers and authors: Maxwell Pereira (The Tandoor Murder), Kulpreet Yadav (Murder in Paharganj), Bulbul Sharma (My Sainted Aunts) and Ranjit Lal (The Deadly Royal Recipe). The wide spectrum provided by these doyens of the writing world awakened the creative impulse in the students, encouraging them to explore their natural competencies as budding writers. The week-long celebration got underway on 23 April, with the high profile cop of Delhi police, Mr. Maxwell Pereiras candid discussion on his latest book release Tandoor Murder with the senior students. He shared the chilling details of the crime which shook the conscience of the nation in 1995. The young audience was held captive as he revisited the twists and turns that plagued the investigation. Many were inspired to tread the path of the honest and upright police officer, who was indefatigable in the face of several challenges, to help deliver justice after a long wait of 18 years.

Next on the roster was, Mr. Kulpreet Yadav, who interacted with the students of class X on 24 April. He discussed with them the five core elements of writing a story. He encouraged students to take up writing as a career and motivated them to read as much as they could. He then talked about his book 'Murder in Paharganj' and explained the complexities of the main protagonist, Vicky Menon. The interactive meet wrapped up with a signing session of his book.

On 25 April, Ms. Bulbul Sharma enthralled her young listeners with an excerpt from her story, The Spook. The audience was tickled by her comment on the family as a great source of entertainment and was inspired to maintain a diary. She encouraged the young writers to come out with a book of their own and to enhance it with illustrations, a tableau or by painting the set.

[gallery link="file" order="DESC"] Dr. Shatarupa Sinha and Dr. Veena Sharma, assistant professors at the University of Delhi, conducted creative writing workshops on 24 April and 26 April, respectively. Their dynamism evoked verve among the keen learners as they grasped the finer nuances of writing detective and other stories.

Dr. Sinhas whodunnit, a complex, plot-driven version of the detective story, in which the audience is given the opportunity to engage in the same process of deduction as the protagonist throughout the investigation of a crime, was a huge hit with the students of classes VII and VIII.

Dr. Sharma helped the students of classes IV to VIII weave a story in Hindi on An Ant and an Elephant. She provided the participants with guidelines to base their stories on. It was interesting to see how students picked on the clues and constructed stories. Their enthusiasm was infectious as they wrote a story on a topic of their choice. They were also asked to provide a title to their respective tales. Dr. Sharma took all the stories with her for evaluation and feedback.

Mr. Ranjit Lal interacted with the students on the morning of 26 April. He shared with them his journey to becoming a writer. How his love for nature inspired him to write stories for children where characters were mostly animals and birds with human qualities; for example, he used a monkey to introduce a notorious character in one of his stories. He gave tips on how to write good stories, how to make people become real through our imagination. He had a simple mathematical formula, "character plus situation is equal to a story". According to him, anything and everything can be the starting point of a story. A bag and a window could be the entry point to new worlds. You just need to let your imagination flow freely.

Ms. Nusrat and Ms.Ainee were mesmerizing as they engaged in Dastangoi - 13th Century Urdu oral storytelling tradition revived by Mahmood Farooqui, director and writer. We thank Ms. Madhavi Diwan who made it possible for the Dastangoi session to be held at School.

The renowned graphologist, Mr. Rishi Mathur, held an intriguing session on 27 April. He spoke on how graphology can be used to get people to perform to their optimal levels. The children were impressed to know that handwriting was controlled by the mind and not the hand. Hence, it may well be called Mindwriting! He asked the students to be good listeners and absorb everything like cotton. He screened a short movie, Dort Duvar Saraybosna / Four Walls Sarajevo by an Iranian filmmaker, on how fear affects the mind.

The pre-primary and the primary levels had their share of the literary bonanza with role-plays of their favourite characters and storytelling sessions.

The Special assembly by Primary featured the recitation of limericks, skits on The Louse and the Mosquito (The Beastly Tales), The Tummy Beast; the soulful rendition of Kabir Ke Dohe resonated soulfully in the auditorium even as the audience listened in rapt attention.

The Showcase assembly by Senior School touched a chord with the assembled students. The Paigam Theatre Society of The Indian School presented an electrifying debate between Shakespeare and JK Rowling! No prizes for guessing who emerged victorious in this war of words. The extremely talented actors also put up a thought-provoking adaptation of Aadhe Aadhure by Mohan Rakesh in Hindi, The Refund by Fritz Karinthy in English and Shikwa Shikayet by Premchand in Urdu. The Literary assembly by Middle School included a hilarious skit The Seven Cream Jugs by Saki. The learners of French took the students on Tour de France in a powerpoint presentation even as Rishas singing thrilled the gathering with its tempo and tenor. The value-based storytelling in Sanskrit with a Hindi translation was gripping in its simplicity.

Colourful Book jackets, bookmarks, newspapers published by students, slogans, the life-size tree of quotations, etcetera adorned the corridors and the reception area of School - a vibrant testimony to the literary event which focused on celebrating all languages and their literature.

One cannot but be grateful to the vision and presence of our vice chairperson, Dr. (Mrs) Nayana Goradia who graciously gave of her time to attend each and every event. We are truly gratified by her untiring and remarkable efforts to enrich and ennoble the souls of her impressionable wards; to bathe them in the light of great works and help them embark on a journey in the fascinating realm of books.

Ms. Navreet Shergill.