The eagerly anticipated Lit Fest was organized by Ekya Schools on 21-22 Dec. After a common inaugural session, the event was structured into class-specific activities. Students explored and discovered the fascinating world of literature through the real-life experiences of renowned authors through interactive sessions, workshops on filmmaking, creative writing, and exciting competitions.
I was honored to be asked to give the welcome address and introduce the invited speakers in the inaugural session. The three guest speakers, Ms. Varsha Seshan, Ms. Anushka Ravishankar, and Mr. Srikrishna Ramamurthy are eminent professionals in their respective fields and spoke about various facets of reading and writing through their personal experiences.
It was a joy to hear them speak so passionately of their literary experiences and advise budding and voracious readers. The wonder in a world of words couldn’t have been better conveyed.
On 21st and 22nd Dec, students enthusiastically participated in the sessions and workshops conducted by various writers and authors. The talks specific to my category were informative and illuminating, adding to a complete literary experience. I especially enjoyed the workshop, ‘Unearthed’ by Ms. Meghaa Gupta, the sessions by Mr. Rajesh KK and Mr. Rakesh Godhwani, and the talk by Ms. Vrunda Bansode on ‘How to become a Junior Entrepreneur’.
All in all, the Lit Fest was an event that was enriched in the content providing me an experience that I hope to build on in the days to come.
Finally, I would like to affirm the organizers for visualizing, planning, and organizing this event in such an admirable manner and thank the participants for taking the time and making the effort to speak and interact with the students of Ekya schools and providing them an unforgettable literary perspective.
Many ways to remind us of time,
Mobile, clocks, watches ring each time.
Yet, Do we turn in at the right time?
Or wish we had more of it each time.
Packed schedules. Umpteen chores. Collapsing boundaries between work and home. To top it all, the COVID 19 pandemic. Time has never been a precious commodity before. Yet it is “time” that is most violated by us.
How often have you heard of this humour “We follow IST”? IST - “Indian standard Time”, implying that Indians do not turn up on time to events, meetings, parties, marriages, and even for job interviews. So, is being on time becoming a dying etiquette? Yes and No.
Yes, because, I constantly see people around me fighting with time. I hear sentences like:-
It does not stop with these sentences. It is also accompanied by a lack of ownership of the problem. You see, it is the demon named “ TIME” over which we have no control. So, what can we do anyway?
Well, we can. That’s where I also think being on time is not a dying etiquette. I see several people around me who stick to time like they are “digital clocks” tuned into the nanosecond precision. They plan their tasks with such minute precision that they are always on time. They are micro planners and more importantly, well-disciplined. They do not procrastinate. For them, time is not a “ demon” to be fought against. It is a “ resource” to be utilized effectively.
Yes, all it requires to be on time is a shift in the mindset(from viewing time as a scarce resource to viewing it as a resource to be utilized effectively) and loads of discipline. Planning helps a lot in matching the time on hand with the tasks to be done. It also helps to work backward: Say you need to reach a place at 10 am. Work backward: Leave home at 9 30 AM, eat breakfast at 9 AM, and so on.
Many ways to remind us of time,
Mobile, clocks, watches ring each time.
Why not utilize the resource called time,
Effectively and be grateful for enough of it each time.
By
Mathangi, Ekya J P Nagar
Social Science Educator -Grades 5 to 8
Ekya Book Nook’s first virtual literary fest began with the inaugural ceremony at 2 pm on 21st December 2020. The session began with a couple of prayer songs in English and Hindi respectively; this was followed by a student speech on experiences at Book Nook. The highlight of the event was the guest speakers who took time off to be at the fest. Ms. Varsha Seshan spoke on the importance of cultivating a reading habit, Ms. Anushka Ravishankar addressed student writers and encouraged them to write as much as they can. Mr. Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, one of the Founders of the Bangalore Literature Festival shared his views on the importance of literary fests for children. The Chief Guest, Dr. Sabitha Ramamurthy addressed the gathering and shared her views on the significance of reading and the advances in technology that has given us ease of access to books.
The second part of the fest consisted of four sessions that happened parallelly between 3:00-3:45 pm for the four separate sections- pre-primary, primary, middle, and senior school.
The pre-primary session was conducted by Ms. Renu Chamarthy, a professional Storyteller and Creative Puppeteer. The session was streamed live on our social media platforms. Ms. Renu did a warm-up activity and prepped the students by singing a song. She narrated the story ‘Crocodile and Monkey’ from Panchatantra Tales using props and puppets.
Ms. Asha Nehemiah was the speaker at the Primary session, she is a children’s author and has written picture books, chapter books, short stories, and mystery novels for children of all ages. about her latest release, 'The Grand Chapathi Contest.' She narrated the story to the students. She also read out a poem ‘Roll, roll, roll the chapati’ based on the story and later asked the students to write the poem and add new words to it. The students participated in the activity with great enthusiasm.
Mr. Arjun Talwar facilitated the session for middle schoolers. The author spoke about his book “Bim and the town of falling fruits”. He read the first chapter of the book. He showed illustrations in the book. Ms. Anushka Ravishankar was the speaker at the Senior school session and she spoke about her latest book called, ‘Ogd’. She also spoke about her books and what it is like to write nonsense verse.
The third part of the session was held between 4:00-4:45 pm as four separate sessions. The pre-primary session was facilitated by Ms. Subadhra G K, who brought forth an ancient art form of story narration, puppetry, to animate and communicate an amusing story titled, “Elephant lost his tale”. In this story, students explored the importance of friendship and how to be helpful to others. This was followed by a show and tell competition wherein students had to showcase their favorite book and speak about it.
The Primary session was conducted by Ms. Megha Gupta has authored articles for TerraGreen, Careers360, and The Hindu and she has contributed to WWF-India's One Planet Academy. Ms. Megha works in children's publishing and 'Unearthed is her third book. She illustrated a story of India and our environment from 1947. She spoke about movements like Hugging trees and Save the Seeds. She also threw light on how development added to the environmental problem. She showed a short promo video of her upcoming book ‘Unearthed’. She conducted a fun quiz ‘Guess the Name’. Students participated very well during the quiz and they thoroughly enjoyed her session.
Students thoroughly enjoyed participating in these interactions and contributed with vibrant and fun-filled conversations.
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