shyamala's world

Transmedia artist  Kavita Singh Kale was at the Just Books library, Nerul to talk about her latest book titled 'My Facebook Friends.' Published by Tulika Books, the book is targetted at children above 10 years. The session started with a  drawing workshop for kids. Travel was the chosen theme.Guided by the softspoken gifted artist, the kids captured the essence of travelling in Mumbai.   

Surging crowds made it impossible to photograph every installation at Kalagahoda 2013. Each installation was  unique and thought provoking.Its heartening to see so much of Indian talent at one place.  The horse was made of cardboard carton material. It stood in the centre of the street surrounded by miniature green benches. Different Strokes By Aasthi Miller and Shovan Shah Have a sheet -Have a seat By Venkatramana L Yerram Shetty    Displayed on the Museum lawns, this installation of Venktramana garnered a lot of attention from kids. Suprisingly no one attempted to rest on the bench even though there was a shortage of chairs. Plastic Rain Coal Blocks by Prakash Bal Joshi Yashas J Patel and team  

Usha Venkatraman's storytelling session with puppets was a big hit at the Kalaghoda children's literature festival on the lawns of the Chatrapathi Shivaji Vasthu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai.  Children watched with wide eyes when every puppet made its entry. Usha Venkatraman told many stories;some old ones with a suprise twist and a different viewpoint, some new ones with engaging plots, some foreign and some Indian. The storyteller performed in rising heat. Even though many fans were placed in the tent, the volunteers were too engrossed in Usha's stories and forgot to turn them on. It was only towards the end of the event that soneone finally switched on a fan and that too a wrong one. All in all a wonderful performance enjoyed by tiny tots, preteens,teens, moms and dads. And that I think is the mark of a good storyteller.  

  A packed audience greeted children’s author and illustrator, Deepa Balsavar at the children's literature festival,Kalaghoda 2013 for the   launch of her new book series, ‘Round and Round’( published by Tulika Books) which was held on the lawns of Chatrapathi Shivaji Vasthu Sangrahalaya. The event was held at 4pm on 9 th Feb, 2013. The new book series is a set of three colourful, wordless books aimed at children between 2-5 years; the books have no beginning or end, a first in India. The compact sturdy books have been designed by book artist, Aditi Babel . Two tiny tots from the audience launched the book series.     Animal caps were distributed to the kids to enact the stories from one of the books in the  series. India’s leading and talented storyteller, Jeeva Raghunath brought the stories alive with her wit, zing and captivating performance.     Sadly the program ended too quickly making the young ones ask for more.

She came, performed and captured the hearts of every child on the evening of 9 th February at the Kalaghoda arts festival, 2013. Chennai based storyteller, Jeeva Raghunath rocked. The venue was the lawns of Mumbai’s Chatrapati Shivaji Maha sangrahalaya (Museum Gardens), Mumbai.         The storyteller performed twice, first at the   launch of children’s author and illustrator, Deepa Balsavar’s book series ‘Round and round stories’ and then at her   own session titled ‘Storytelling with Jeeva. When she took a break, the audience drifted away. A few minutes later when she wielded the microphone to everyone came running back into the tent. The tent turned out to be too small to small to accommodate the overflowing audience. Those who couldn’t make it inside sat on the lawns and held on to every word of the captivating storyteller. A few minutes after the programme began, when she asked the audience to join her in singing a crazy ‘Mosquito song’ the adults in the