Around Christmas last year, Habitat World, the cultural wing of Delhis India Habitat Centre, put up its first-ever show for children. Sanskriti Award winner Dadi Pudumjee s puppet play Images of Truth was a runaway success with kids. Thats when Habitat World which has put Delhi firmly on the countrys cultural scene through an interesting mix of dance, music, theatre, book reading and film shows became serious about turning itself into the most happening destination for kids.
What followed were a few sporadic events such as artist Brij Kuldeepaks toy workshop in December, the childrens play The Clown is Crying for the Moon by Khilona Theatre in January, a lecture on Taekwondo in February and educational consultant Sunita Khannas workshop Fun with Marbling last month.
But this summer promises to be an exciting one for Habitat Kids. For the first time, Habitat World has come out with a separate calendar of events for little ones. This is the first time that we could offer a choice to our children the invisible membership of the Habitat World, says Arshiya Sethi, creative head (entertainment and culture), Habitat World. Adds Nina Chatrath, spokesperson, Habitat World, Habitat Kids is not a separate division of Habitat World, but it has a life of its own.
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The Habitat World activities purport to be different from run of the mill childrens events in two ways. Says Sethi, Our activities aim to develop qualities in children that will help them in their adult life. And we are very conscious of making children conscious of the environment. So, Habitat World kicked off the season with Sunita Khannas Recycling Workshop for Children on May 3, where just about anything old coasters, tins, shoelaces, ribbons was turned into candle and pen stands, lipsticks and other useful items.
Environment does seem to be the theme of the season. The Kids World Hindi musical Jungle Book Se Aage performed at the Habitat World yesterday is a fun play that takes on from where Jungle Book left off. The chaddi-clad Mowgli moves from the sylvan forests to discordant Delhi and is promptly marched off to prison for indecent behaviour! The play cocks a snook at many vignettes of civilisation. For instance, Mowgli goes to the disco and is laughed at when he says that he cant dance. Jungle mein to bhalu nachta hai, says a baffled Mowgli.
Says Bubbles Sabharwal who has co-directed Jungle Book Se Aage with Lushin Dubey, The play takes an environment-friendly and animal-friendly look at our lives. Thats the way children like it. They dont want a lecture on moral science.
The other play that is due to be staged this month is Dadi Pudumjees Emperors New Clothes on May 23. Pudumjee, as always, will narrate the popular fable through his highly sophisticated puppets. Emperors New Clothes is part of the Pepsi-sponsored Kids Day Out which has lined up a theatre workshop, puppet-making workshop and fancy dress and painting competitions.
Incidentally, Pepsi is the only sponsor that Habitat World has managed to rope in. Says Sethi, Companies do give out gift hampers and prizes, but getting cash out of them is not easy. That is why they charge a fee for each workshop. The hands-on Pottery Workshop, to be conducted by Sujata and Moosa Sadr in the first three weeks of June, has a steep registration fee of Rs 1,000 but it offers kids the chance to actually work in clay.
The Childrens Creative Writing Workshop by Shravani Dang, which will be held from June 8 to June 17, has a fee of Rs 300. Habitat World has certainly managed to bring together a set of like-minded people. Dang says, My basic premise is that creativity brings about changes in the world. But creativity is stymied by the present system. Her workshops will give free rein to creativity, with absolutely no emphasis on spellings and punctuation. Children are terribly scared of writing because they just dont want to make a mistake, says Dang.
In much the same manner, artist Kavita Jaiswal is emphasising the creative use of art material. Says Jaiswal, I encourage children to be more confident with their strokes. We wont be using a lot of sketch books. We will use different and unusual materials such as kite-paper and newspaper. Jaiswals Art Workshop for Children will be on between May 18 and May 30. Once again, the underlying motif will be the environment. The focus will be on opening little minds to the details of nature, says Jaiswal.
Alkazis feature film for children Khoj Khazana Khoj, starring Raj Zutshi and Pearl Padamsee among others, will be screened on May 9. The script, based on Subhadra Senguptas novel, The Mystery of the House of Pigeons, follows the adventures of three street kids in search of the jewels of Samarkand. And the grand finale to the two-month long programme will be Sanjana Kapoors Face To Face theatre workshop for children in the age group 6-10 and 11-15. Starting June 20, the workshop concludes on June 25.
At Habitat World, it seems, that children have suddenly been accorded royal status. An organising committee member confesses that theres a simple reason: Most of us are mothers who want to keep our brats busy during summer! Adds Sethi, I see a pattern emerging. Every summer, the focus will be on children. Most of us have children and it is easy to anticipate their needs.