Do you feel a writer, a poet, or someone else trapped inside you?

Do you feel a plethora of emotions but are unable to express those the way you want, to your imagination’s full extent?

There’s a simple solution to this – Read.

Read more.

And more and more and more, till you start living those books, those stories, those poems, and you’d find yourself creating your own.

You’d realise how words by accomplished writers and poets create detailed visuals in your mind, how their words transport you into situations about which they have written in a way that you cannot stay a mere audience, but becomes the doer , the protagonist!

Gradually, you’d find your groove as a writer.

It’s a rich world out there and to visit every place, experience each culture, live a different life is not possible, but a book takes you to all places faster than any plane, the stories let you soak in different cultures deeper than any dye and the characters let you live a thousand lives in your one lifetime.

Reading widens your horizon, enriches your vocabulary, enhances your vision and most importantly, it lets you explore your inner self.

It makes you rise above ordinary.

Good books are those leather bound chests inside which words of wisdom, like jewels have been treasured in their frail brittle pages since time immemorial.

These are those glass bottles with messages inside them, which are floating in the vast ocean of life, bobbing on the waves and are found by many , but the life altering messages are intercepted only by those who are truly blessed.

Once this habit is cultivated then finding a good book is quite simple ; the one which defies time periods, geography, culture and language; one which appeals to different genders, ages alike around the globe is a good book or – a classic.

Such books never age and if they do, they do it gracefully.

And, you like them. Forever.

Why, there’s always a place for a Malory Towers term along with Harry Potter’s, ‘The Secret Garden’ blooms under ‘The Room Above the Roof’, Dr. Dolittle, Velveteen Rabbit, are happy beiny partners with Matilda and Anne of the Green Gables, and Alice sitting at the base of the Faraway Tree wonders ‘Where the Wild Things Are’?

‘A Tale of Two Cities’, The Old Man and the Sea’, ‘ To Kill a Mockingbird’ share shelf-space with ‘The Help’, ‘The Alchemist’, and ‘The Kite-maker’, and ‘The Midnight’s Children’, ‘The Birth of Venus’ sit adjacent to ‘The Northern Lights’ and ‘Chocolat’ without anyone of these losing any of their relevance, razzmtazz or respect!

Enjoyed and revered by all generations, these are passed on as beacons of wisdom, bonds of affection, as parts of heritage from a parent to child and at times as piece of one’s soul.

Such is their timelessness, charisma and enchantment that these become an integral part of a reader’s life not just affecting his philosophy and outlook, but at times the nuances of his actions, decisions and perceptions.

So, as parents, educators and elders it’s our duty to introduce our younger lot to these amazing experiences and guide them as they explore the world through these. We must help them in befriending these seemingly mundane articles and make them understand how books are their friends and guides, how paper is always more patient than man and how reading can help them and us all to evolve not just as better writers, but as better humans too.

We have the responsibility to enable the child to understand stories, to enjoy poems and apply the learnings, spread the joyfulness, and practice empathy in real life while making sure that the world of books is to be a part of the child’s life and not the other way round.

We must shoulder the responsibility to nourish young minds with a healthy diet of articles and anecdotes, verses and tales ; early inculcation of which develops patience, imagination, analytical powers, enriches vocabulary enhancing their creative side.

Children who read a lot are more expressive in their thoughts as reading well written stories, beautiful poems coming from diverse cultures nudge their dormant dreams and nurture their budding abilities.

The habit of reading be it Grandma’s tales, Sindbad’s stories, the mythological epics, folktales, bedtime prayer books, or the adventurous saga of Huckleberry Finn, good books help young writers burgeon into sensitive story tellers with excellent command over language, emotions and content. While growing up, the habit of self reading helps such children to visualise characters and situations , dwell in that mental image, feel it and later re-create their own versions of life and surroundings. As they create better versions, they pave way for not just new stories, but inventions and advancements too.

This, reading is the first step not just towards writing, the birth of a poem or a story, but also towards the germination an idea, a hypothesis, an invention – a brave new world.

So, if you still feel that someone is trapped inside you, read.

If you feel you have a lot to say , you have your own version, a different perception, a bold vision but you are unable to express, well read more.

Read diverse. And you might find a writer, a poet, a scientist, a revolutionary, a reformer, an altogether different person bursting out.

Don’t hold back. Read.

By Kokila Gupta

‘Well, maybe it started that way. As a dream, but doesn’t everything? Those buildings. These lights. This whole city. Somebody had to dream about it first. And maybe that is what I did. I dreamed about coming here, but then I did it.’ Here’s an inspiring excerpt from Roald Dahl’s ‘James and the giant peach’.

This is Dahl, this is his world, here’s the magic he believes, here’s the ambitious approach he endorses, a brave attitude one must possess to take the world heads on. Dahl makes us think, makes us imagine and makes us cherish his highly fictitious magical world. Buckle up your shoes kids! A phenomenal adventure awaits you.

One of the greatest children authors of the twentieth century, Roald Dahl’s books celebrate bravery, kindness and warmth. Dahl began writing in the 1940s. His first work named ‘A piece of cake’ based on his wartime memories was published on 1st August 1942. Prior to his writing career, Dahl served extensively in the Royal Air Force (an UK based air and space force). He was also a part of the Second World War. Born in Wales on 13th September, 1916 and spending most of his life in England, Dahl had a ton of life experiences and anecdotes which he came across during his growing up years including his young adulthood and the phase thereafter which provided him with the wisdom, knowledge and confidence which could in turn later help him turn into a master storyteller.

Dahl’s first children’s book named ‘The Gremlins’ was published in 1943. Dahl went on to write numerous bestselling children’s stories later ranging from ‘Matilda’, ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’, ‘The Witches’, ‘The Twits’, ‘Revolting Rhymes’, ‘James and the giant peach’, ‘Danny the champion of the world’, ‘The enormous crocodile’, ‘My uncle Oswald’, ‘Charlie and the chocolate factory’ and many others. He also published his two autobiographical books ‘Boy’ and ‘Going solo’.

The point of view usually used in his books is that of the kids. There’s good, bad and evil in his writings and usually the good triumphs over the evil. And somehow the good here usually ends up being kids with the evil part as adults. When Dahl was a little kid, his mother used to narrate to him mythical stories revolving around creatures. These stories had a great influence on his writing. He once mentioned in an interview “She was a great teller of tales. Her memory was prodigious and nothing that ever happened to her in her life was forgotten.” His books ‘The Minpins’, ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ and ‘The BFG’ contain those influences and references in some capacity or the other. There was also a grandmother character in ‘The Witches’ which as per him was directly based on his mother and was also in a way a tribute to her.

He even made up a few words on his own, the likes of ‘swishfiggler’, ‘snozzcumber’, etc to name a few. The tone happens to be on the funnier side in his writings, characterized with a regular usage of exclamation marks and all caps sentences in between.

Dahl’s other professions as spy, a fighter pilot, a chocolate historian and a medical inventor were also visible in some fictional capacity in his writings, with many of them being recurring themes as well. During his childhood students at his school Repton were invited to try chocolate bars, this memory stayed with him throughout his life and we got the amazing ‘Charlie and the chocolate factory’.

Dahl always encouraged children to imagine as vividly as possible. As one of his famous quotes goes, ‘And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.’ He taught us to believe in magic wholeheartedly and live our days full of life. He wrote in a tiny cottage surrounded with linden trees. He famously called it the ‘Writing hut’. Dahl once said that adults should get down on their knees for a week, in order to remember what it’s like to live in a world in which the people with all the power literally loom over you. How innocent a perspective is that!

In his youth he was highly influenced by literary greats like Charles Dickens, Frederick Marryat, Rudyard Kipling and others. Traces of these influences are also distinctly visible in his writings.

He has dabbled with multiple different forms of literature ranging from novels, poems, scripts, collections, non-fiction, edited books, so on and so forth. Many of his books have also been adapted into successful films and franchisees. Dahl’s literary work has been translated into 60+ languages and he has sold hundreds of millions of copies across the globe clubbing it all together (a bestseller in true sense). A few of the many prestigious awards he has been bestowed with include ‘The world fantasy award for lifetime achievement’, ‘British Book Awards’ children’s author of the year’. And the list would go on and on.

Roald Dahl’s archive with countless number of letters, manuscripts and a lot more has found a permanent home at ‘Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre’ in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire village where he passed away.

He left behind a strong legacy which we all cherish and celebrate. We enjoy candies, chocolates; befriend insects, creatures; and seek magic all around us. If not scientifically, at least emotionally we could achieve it with a Roald Dahl book by our side. Magical places and happy faces go hand in hand!

By Himanshu Nimbhorkar

Let me preface this by saying that I am no expert 🙂 … but rather I am putting out my thoughts on what it means to be a well-rounded person and how do I as a parent think of “well-rounded” when it comes to my daughter!

A simple rule of thumb that I use when it comes to a well-rounded personality is that the person should have some semblance of the following characteristics (in no particular order):

• Knowledge – not just academic or school related, but also about things that one is not taught specifically – either in a school or coaching class
• Humility – because knowledge – when not embedded with humility equals arrogance
• Curiosity – because curiosity creates an innate urge to explore more and more things – and that increases knowledge
• Enthusiasm – the “let’s do it” spirit / attitude – because it signifies a zest for life in general
• Humor – because what point is all of the above if you are not fun to be with 🙂 and how drab would it be to be in the company of a humorless person!

Another thumb rule to check if one is well-rounded is to see if he/she can have a fun or stimulating or entertaining talk with any person on most topics under the sun for atleast 15 minutes. While it may seem easy, it is extremely difficult to actually hold someone’s attention for 15 minutes. Human beings are quick to filter out things that are “boring” for them and in this context 15 minutes is a very long time!

So – when it comes to our daughter (she is 9 years old and hence beginning to soak most things like a sponge; as all kids her age are!) – we make a conscious effort to talk or do activities that expose her to a wide range of topics – from history to space to quantum physics (not that we understand much of it!), but some things she understands and some things she doesn’t.

The ideal ratio that we try to maintain of things she understands : things she doesn’t understand is 80:20 – because we believe this is an ideal ratio to ensure that breeds knowledge, curiosity, humility and enthusiasm.

Any more on the “understands” side and Omisha will become a victim of a “know-it-all” syndrome (and we’ve had those experiences fairly early on in her childhood and it took us some time to dispel that syndrome!)

The 20% mix of “doesn’t understand” ensures that she has the constant urge to ask questions – and the humility to accept that there’s a wide variety of things that she still needs to learn.

What happens if you flip the ratio of “doesn’t understand” to more than 20? Personally, I believe this is equally dangerous – as it rears the monstrous head of underconfidence – and if there is one thing that I personally don’t want any semblance of in my child – it is underconfidence!

One of the biggest gifts of childhood is the ability to be audacious and think out of the box – and underconfidence can set in a rot that can slowly clip these wings of imagination!

So for me – the 80:20 ratio seems to be a good mix to start achieving the things I believe are most important to develop a well-rounded child!

Oh – I did forget one thing – and that is adding a dash of a healthy competitive spirit to the above mix! But let’s chat about that in the next edition of The Kids Carnival (which will also allow me to do a bit of shameless marketing about WKC :p)

What are your thoughts on building a well-rounded child? Please do feel free to share – it will allow us to do better on this – which is one of the most important things for our children in today’s day and age!

Cheers!

Abhishek

“You can make anything by writing”- C S LEWIS

I read this quote long back but I started believing in it when I saw my little girl create her own world of happiness. Two years back when my daughter was four years old we got posted to a different city and that is when I realized that even kids of this tender age suffer from temper tantrums and separation anxiety. When my daughter got separated from her close friends, being merely four years old she wasn’t able to understand what was wrong with her; and as parents too, we understood quite late that she was suffering from emotional distress which had started manifesting itself in the form of physical sickness.

She would most of time remain cranky, became overly clingy, eat very little or nothing at all and then started suffering from recurrent cough, cold & headaches. As advised by doctors, we then tried to divert her mind through many different ways. Out of the many activities we introduced her to; she particularly liked creating stories and drawing pictures. These activities gave her a break from distressing thoughts. The positive mental engagement helped her recover better from physical sickness. She would everyday tap into a “state of flow”- being totally engrossed in her world of colors and imaginary characters from her stories.

It was just then that the world was hit by COVID-19. My daughter loved narrating stories to her classmates and making cards for her teachers but with COVID-19 scare the schools got shut down. Once again a little bit of her world of happiness got chipped. Thankfully through social media I came across wizkidscarnival- a creative platform for kids. I encouraged her to participate in various contests just to keep her creative flame alive and refocus mentally towards online expression of her thoughts in the form of short speeches or stories.

To my surprise she not only enjoyed participating but also got motived to try other forms of art like singing & reciting poems (by looking at videos by other kids). At a very young age she started becoming more focused towards goals and putting extra effort in her art; and wanted to meet deadlines too! Some people may consider this as “stress”; but with my personal experience I can say for sure that this kind of “positive stress” allows kids to build their inner strengths and skills, adapt to changes, face challenges, and gain confidence.

Today my daughter is six years old and it is very seldom that we now hear- “I’m getting bored” and what we hear more frequently is – “What should I draw, what topic can I write a story on, what song could I practice, what poem can I recite…..”

Creativity can create wonders in child development both mentally and physically. It is this fascinating pool of creativity which I wish for every child and my only advice would be- DON’T BE AFRAID TO JUMP IN!

By Namita Karat

Have you heard of the phrase “Health is Wealth”?

If you have heard of this phrase, you surely know that it is an important one. There are many ways of being healthy and fit like eating healthy, getting good sleep, and being hygienic. But for me, the most effective way of being in good shape is -exercise.

Playing sports is an easy way to exercise and is an interesting hobby to spend your time on. There are so many sports you can choose from, for example swimming, badminton, tennis, running, cricket etc.

If these sports seem to be a little too extreme for you or you don’t have time you can try yoga, zumba, pilates, or you can even take a long jog every day. As you know International Yoga Day is approaching. It is celebrated on the 21st of June, so let us discuss a little about yoga.

Yoga is an old discipline of Hindus. Yoga was developed in the Indus valley Civilisation over 5000 years ago. It teaches breathing techniques, exercises, and meditation. It also teaches the concept of harmony between the mind and the body. The meaning of the word yoga is “union” in Sanskrit. The best time to do yoga is in the morning because it boosts your energy and helps you set the tone for the rest of the day. There are various exercises in yoga. Each exercise has a different benefit for our body and mind, let me give you an example-

Vrikshasana (tree pose) improves confidence, alertness,focus and strengthens hips and bones; while Utkatasana (chair pose) increases breathing capacity, builds stamina, calms your mind, helps you to be stabilized, and strengthens thighs and ankles.

If you want to read about sports and gain some knowledge about sports before you pursue them, here are some book recommendations by me –

• WOMEN IN SPORTS – Written by Rachel Ignotofsky WOMEN IN SPORTS-Written by Rachel Ignotofsky
• KID ATHLETES-by David StablerThe previous 2 books are autobiographies of women /Kids in sports and how they became who they are now.
• Salt in my shoes- by Deloris Jordan It is a very Motivating book and also one of my favourite books.Salt in my shoes
  My next book recommendation has rules and regulations for every sport explained
• Children’s book of sports- by DK publications

Ok now let us discuss the benefits of sports. Sports not only increase physical fitness but also mental fitness and teach good sportsmanship. They help to boost your self-confidence and teach you teamwork and leadership and how to gracefully accept failure instead of being a sour loser. By playing sports your focus improves and you learn to be disciplined.

By playing sports and keeping your fitness on track you can avoid any unpleasant complications in your body, even small things like walking every day has its benefits.

And remember “The body achieves what the mind believes.”

Happy International Yoga Day to everyone.

By Nivedita Jayashankar