Keekli Reporter, 1st June, 2019, Shimla
Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks. In this case, the little members of Keekli Book Club are giving wings to their creativity under the able guidance and mentorship of noted writer-author Meenakshi Chaudhary. Yet another engaging and enlightening session of KEEKLI BOOK CLUB took place at Takka Bench, Ridge, Shimla, wherein the kids proved that no task is impossible for them when it is done passionately. Their assignment was to write an interesting story based on a Wall picture drawn in the Hall Concert in North Oak Public School, during the last session which took place there. Kids who participated in this session were – Udayani, Nargis, Seerat, Aahr, Pritha, Jiya, Prince, Kavya Chauhan, Gauri, Vibhawari, Jia, Baani, Dhruv and Rudra.
What came out was a step into the imaginative world of the kids, and along with that their stories has a moral. The stories, in English and Hindi, shared few important messages such as ‘Save Water, Save Earth, Save Animals’, ‘Unity of Animal’, ‘Cannibles Power’, ‘Zindagi ka Mahatav’ and ‘A Wild Dream’ to name a few. (CLICK TO SEE ALL VIDEOS)
The second part of the session was all about teaching the kids on ‘How to build a character in a story?’ The children were divided into small groups and they were given key elements on which the story was to be based – garmi or heat, tourists and Shimla. The idea was to increase group discussion among children and the characters of the story were to be based from kids in the group itself. The traits, personality or behaviour of the child was to be represented within the plot of the story. Within half an hour what came out was few amazing stories. Each story was further analysed and discussed by the children and their mentor Meenakshi to further develop on the plot, characters and the final story.
Based on this idea the assignment for the next session was to further improve upon the stories and send them to Meenakshi madam via voice recordings. Plus each child was asked to read a story book and write a summary of the same in not more than hundred words.
The day ended on a happy note with a promise of many such engaging sessions and a chance to now participate in the upcoming Keekli Poetry Declamation Competition in Collaboration with the Himachal Academy of Language Arts & Culture, on 15th June during the ongoing Book Fair.
