A Carnival of Stories

Cubbon Park on a bright sunny Saturday morning, hundreds and hundreds of school children converging on the place and just five groups to tell stories every 20 minutes….Sounds like a recipe for disaster? Wrong!!!!

Hippocampus, spearheaded by Aravinda and Vimala actually pulled off a gala event where everyone, children, storytellers and parents went home reluctantly but contentedly with the fare they had enjoyed.

As for us, we were happy that after many years, Patara was getting a chance to flex its wings and wonder of wonders, could still soar and fly!

Patara was a movement some of us had started way back in 1992 to see if we could re-enthuse children to read and love the wonderful books that are available to the discerning. We had a treasure chest, a puppet weary of reading and a fund of books that we discovered in the box as we interacted with our audience. Invariably the puppet would get engrossed in the story and ask for more! We would weave in activities to further the reading . We travelled around with the chest so it was a fun event when we landed in a location and began our act!

Now that Times of India in the Sunday Bangalore edition of March 9th has featured us, we need to think seriously of reactivating Patara.

Any ideas or volunteers welcome.