Written by Stephie and Velanky
In early October, a time when Goa usually receives very little rain, we set off for Cacra, a site where we have MOP (Mobile Outreach program) sessions twice a week. While going down the slope we could feel the breeze picking up and the sky turning gloomier. The sea waves could be heard crashing in the distance and leaves rolled behind the car, gliding with the wind. We were looking forward to our session today.
On reaching there, the library room felt warmer and the art work that hung all around, fluttered in the breeze. As we entered, some junior children rushed into the room, and returned their books which they had taken home to read. Meanwhile, Aparna, who is part of our senior group of children, showed us her journal which was about her celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi. As we went through Aparna’s journal, the younger children found book partners, and readily sat down to read.
We thought we would go and join the juniors as they may need help to go through their books. But we paused just before we entered their space, and something kept us from interrupting their interactions.
Leaving everything and everyone aside, these young children had chosen books, started browsing through them and were caught up in a world of their own. Piles of books that they had selected, with colourful and eye catching illustrations, lay in front of them.
One group had Tanvesh taking leadership to read the books. He is a 1st standard child and has always been very expressive when it comes to acting or making sounds. But this was the first time we caught sight of him, browsing through books so actively.
Here is a short glimpse of how they read 🙂
By observing the children engaged in their books, we learnt how their shared reading interest brought them together, and how comfortable they were in sharing the books that they liked, with each other. As they read, the characters from the illustrations were brought to life by them. There was a creative flow of expressions and reactions from each of them. We could see the bond that they had, both with the books that they read so enthusiastically and with each other.
For us, it was a unique encounter where we saw an innocent and innovative side of reading. The rest of the session flowed along with this level of energy. The sudden rain and thundering outside didn’t affect our session one bit. We finished the session at about 6:30 pm and stepped out to a sudden storm brewing outside. The sea was rough, the trees danced in the wind, and the street was dark and devoid of light. The children disappeared one by one, into their homes. And we went our way, with the darkness of the weather, contrasting sharply with our day’s experience shining in our hearts and minds.