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Friday, January 1, 2021

A Fitting Finale to 2020

 


There could not have been a better ending to this year which was a tumultuous one. An old blogger colleague Manjulika joined hands to do something which made these last two days unforgettable. A couple of weeks back I called her up to see if she could propagate her newfound love to create 'Art Objects' from discarded waste at home. She had been engaged in this activity ever since the pandemic brought many lives to a standstill. My association with a few NGOs where I have been teaching soon took this discussion to take the final shape of a 'Two Day Workshop'.



An idea that germinated, soon got everyone excited to attend this workshop. After several discussions, we homed on the last two days of the year for the event. Several teachers and students from Class VI onwards and the teachers logged into the event. Manjulika in her usual confident style soon had the eyeballs riveted on the artefacts that had been created earlier. She picked up old plastic bottles. old mugs. coffee jars and told everyone that by the next day they would all be art objects. 



The stories of 'Warli Artwork', 'Gond' and 'Madhubani' paintings were cleverly intertwined with the historical perspective. The children asked questions to satisfy their curiosity as they dabbed their paintbrushes to create their own pieces of art. After the first class, we had at least four creative works by these little artists. The pictures of their creative work need no words to express their beauty.



The second day was equally rewarding as Manjulika mesmerised the audience with her creativity of transforming a bottle of stain remover with the picture of a tree with a cherry blossom bloom. A box of tea pack had a pair of fish sparkling in multi hues. 

I am sure that these memories created would stay with the children for a long time and they would one day outshine their mentors to find a place in the society and prosper. I have many teachers, NGO organisations and of course children to thank besides Manjulika who single-handedly steered these workshops to a success

Pics - Pic1- Kind courtesy Manjulika

Pics 2, 3, 4 - Creationsof students

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