Scindia Literary Fest 2017
05 February 2017
The first day ie 2nd February 2017 began early morning when selected students from junior houses, accompanied by Mr Ranjit Lal, went to Suraj Kund for bird watching. It was a great learning experience and the inquisitive Scindians asked pertinent questions to Mr Lal.
inaugurated the Literary Fest. On the inaugural edition of the Literary Fest the Chief Guest was Ms Nishi Misra, Principal, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya. Mr Dhirendra Sharma, Dean of Studies welcomed the keynote speakers of the day. Mr Sharma emphasized that diverse people have come together under the banner of one mega event on the Fort.
After the traditional lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest, Ms Misra the Scindia Literary Fest was declared open. Then there was a scintillating performance entitled, Suryaputra by Mr M K Hojain Gambaji and his troupe. It was followed by a talk by Mr Christopher C Doyle on his books which dealt with enigmatic history. The talk was quite informative and the boys listened in rapt attention. Mr Christopher C Doyle is a bestselling author whose thrillers explore the science behind the enduring legends of the Mahabharata, in an explosive blend of science, mythology, history and action.
Then Mr Ranjit Lal briefed the boys about the nature of birds, their peculiar habits etc. The interactive session was quite lively as the junior boys asked lots of questions. As a freelance writer and columnist over the last 30 years, Mr Lal has had well over 1500 articles, short stories, features and photo-features published in over 50 newspapers and magazines in India and abroad. His areas of special interest include natural history (with a leaning towards birds and birding) photography, (especially birds and nature) and humour on which he writes for both adults and children.
The afternoon session was equally thought-provoking as there was a talk by Ms Benita Sen, journalist, editor, corporate communicator, children’s author and a voluntarist. Ms Sen is also Associate Editor, Fibre2Fashion; Consultant, Limca Book of Records since 1997 apart from being Editor and feature writer for Children. In the evening Mr Ranjit Lal again met junior house students at Astachal and there was one more bird watching session.
On 3rd February 2017 the first session was handled by Ms. Priya Kurien, an eminent illustrator and artist. She enthralled the audience by a crisp introduction to her career as an illustrator and displayed the glimpses of her art work varying from comic books to picture books. Ms Kurien emphasised that everyone must be a keen observer in order to sketch and draw well specially to capture every little expression. Ms Kurien motivated the audience by giving them a task wherein a pair had to draw each other’s face. The entire session brought out the talent of many budding artists and motivated those who wish to draw.
Mr. Satyanarayanan Govind was the guest speaker for the session post lunch. The third session was at Open Air Theatre and it was attended by art students of all classes. Mr Govind felt that Creativity is an abrupt feeling of the mind that triggers off several unexplained emotions. It was a delight to watch promising artists give vent to their emotions under the guidance of Mr Govind.
The session revolved around creativity and imagination which is the very essence of SLF 2016. He drew amusing characters with random ink blots and scribbles as part of the characters and left everybody spell bound. This uncanny art was then tried by the elated audience and later everybody drew various creative characters, for which they had to be very creative and imaginative. Mr Govind told the audience that behind every spoilt paper or drawing lies a secret innovation. This session was appreciated by all.
The first 15 minutes of the session were about cartooning and character designing. It was followed by an interesting activity in which they dropped three drops of ink on an ivory sheet canvas (A-4 sized sheet) and then blew the ink drops in different directions to create an indefinite pattern. Later they used these indefinite patterns to create a character or characters in ambiance. On 4th February 2017 the first session was at Open Air Theatre for all classes. There was an interactive session by Mr. Feisal Alkazi. Mr Feisal Alkazi heads Creative Learning for Change, an NGO that designs, carries out and documents innovative educational projects in gender, environmental and heritage education. He has co-authored 20 books. He is also a well-known theatre person, having directed over 300 plays for adults and children.
The purpose of the workshop was to help the participants discover new ways of enriching their written and visual skills, and also how to look at art the way artists themselves do. In this manner they will be taking a step towards becoming independent, confident viewers and meaning makers. Thus the purpose of becoming careful observers, critical thinkers and curious learners was reasonably solved.
The second session was in the Assembly Hall and it was also for all classes. There was a talk by Ms Roopa Pai, author of the 2015 national bestseller 'The Gita For Children', which won the prestigious Crossword Popular Award for Children's Writing in 2016. The aim of the workshop was to introduce to young adolescents important lessons from Gita in everyday conversational language that they can identify with. The workshop was very interactive as Ms Pai considered Gita not as a serious religious text that he must bow down to but as a lifelong friend he can rely on for comfort and wise advice whenever he is in emotional or moral distress. The moderator consistently used examples from the student's own life to illustrate the Gita's lessons.
The final session was by Ms Meghna Singhee. Ms Singhee started her career as a script writer for feature films and has worked with various production houses like Adlabs and Mukta Arts. She brings the visual sense of writing for films to her books. An hour long interactive session on "how to plot a murder' was indeed thrilling! The junior boys learnt the tropes and tricks of building a story with a few games to guide them. In all the three day Literary Fest was very successful and it offered a great learning experience to the boys.
