What is new you may ask about yet another encounter with children ? And you are perfectly correct in making this enquiry because haven’t I written and spoken enough about this ? Somehow it seems not. Somehow I am unable to shed the vestiges of the possibility that children impose upon my being when I engage with them and so write – I must. Bear with me dear readers…
It was meant to be a passive evening of observation. I was excited to see what four newly informed library practitioners would bring to the field through a pop- up library in Santhu, in the Ziradei subdivision of Siwan, Bihar. I rode to the village in a handpainted van and imagined this would be my penultimate joy of the day!
We arrived and settled in the courtyard of a temple. Almost immediately , children began to pour out of the surrounding lanes, coming in pairs and trios . Tremendous excitement ensued and I found a nice spot where – from I could observe all four library trainees and their practice. I felt a quiet nudge and found that I had a partner. She settled near me and seemed content. A number of children from the larger circle called out to her to move but she was settled.
As the children grew in numbers , a total at one point of 59 children, one of the trainees Nita nudged two more children my way. This continued for a few moments and I had a group. All wee ones, not older than 5 years staring at me as if I was a displaced statue from the temple itself ! I had to do something because saying something was mighty challenging. I speak a rather strange form of hindi that is laced with an accent I carry from my English and the children, come from
Bhojpuri speaking homes – so a conundrum was upon us. A smiling at each other match was soon over and I realised a young one had now squeezed himself on the other side of me. This lead to a few minutes of everyone trying to squeeze into me and somehow it felt warm and cosy enough for me to loose all inhibitions, and begin to speak and look for a book to begin.
Now, books were scarce as both the groups were doing book engagement activities and I was looking around wondering where to begin when yet another child comes in to join us – may be all of 3 years if not younger, clutching something between two fingers. I made appropriate cooing noises and on enquiring was handed the partial remains of a baby feather. My wonder and glee lead to the six of them fleeing as if on command and looking amongst leaves, plants and railings for feathers. I was gifted many.
I set them down and asked the children to find me leaves. Oh the bounty I received would make a bride feel naked despite her flower bedecked self. We began to arrange our gatherings into patterns and had a wonderful time of creating shapes each of us making sense of them in our own language and all of us glad. At one point the wind picked up and our assemblage was getting disordered. My original feather gatherer tottered off to a small patch of soil and returned with the tiniest of stones I have ever seen and pressed that into my palm. I felt like I had been gifted a rare gem and I had !
There was so much chatter by this time – about ghosts and ‘chudails’ who eat people . About strange noises that the jackals make and the sounds of baby animals encountered near the fields like kittens, puppies and even a baby bird. Wondrous stories were shared. To hear more about snakes , listen here
What were we to do next ? I began to make patterns with my fingers and we played some games for a while with our hands , including the rain clap and thankfully one grandmother came and took away one or two of the children, as the sun was getting low.
I told the children I had to go now, I would come again and said bye bye. Please bring us pencil one said and then a volley of requests. They went like this ..
Pencil
Copy
Rang
Chudail walli copy
Cutter
Chocolate
10 pencils
5 copy
Colour
Bada paper
Jahaj
Much laughter followed… if one was asking , there was no harm in throwing in a request for a plane, why would there be ? It was a library pop up after all and anything is possible.
Sujata
28th Feb., 2024