Clay - Story trail - Madurai Seed

 Kumarshah and Patricia from Clay Movement talked to the children of the Vandugal, Vergal, and Kanavugal separately on 9^th,10^th, & 11^th of November 2021. Drawing and colouring along with stories made the event very successful. For children of all ages, Kumar has known how to get along with them. Kumar is a traveller, story teller, and an artist.

The first day at the Vandugal Arangam was very lively. The curiosity of the children, the chitchats, mischief, and the excitement of the kids were truly amazing. Smiling, laughing, giggling children looked very beautiful. They talked moved freely with the resource person. Children asked Kumar to tell a ghost story. Kumar started to tell with actions, and ended that the story is a dream during his sleep. A boy in the middle is scared and said "Anna, tell us another story". Another girl added “this is not a scary story there are no ghosts”. The conversations developed very interestingly. Next the children were involved in story making. Kumar created a story along with children which involves a lion, a grandma, a snake, and a washing machine. Then papers, pens, and crayons were distributed among children.  The characters of the story were drawn and painted. The day ended colourfully as the joy and interest in drawing is more important than how neatly one draws.

The second day was for Vergal Arangam. The ghost story told on the first day came in a different form here, and the children enjoyed the climax of the story very much.  Kumar is known to capture the minds of children through stories. Stories bring adults closer to children. They sat in a circle and developed a story involving animals. Each person contributed a line for the story. They split the paper into four parts and drew the four scenes in the story. Kumar and Patricia assisted children in drawing, encouraged those who said we don’t know how to draw. Everyone came with nice drawings. Pictures were taken.

Third day was for Kanavugal Arangam who are adolescents. They also listened to stories but not ghost, animal, or fantasy story. It was the story of people, roads, nature and lands. It was the story of Kumarshah as a traveller. His talk was about what travelling teaches, how travelling fills the mind, how we can travel, and how vast the world around us is. Together with Kumar, Karthik Bharathi added about holistic education, how to look at the community, how to find learning in everything, how to link our studies in practical world, etc. Kumar Shah gave interesting answers to the children's questions. He told about his road trip in bicycle through many states of India which was very motivating. Then they drew a road map, marked important places and coloured them in.

Both stories and drawings both are very enjoyable for children. The resource persons linked the two in a joyful, creative manner. The children’s spirit was highly activated. This event was the first event, after the schools were opened after pandemic lockdown. It marked a special place in all of our hearts. Thanks to Kumarshah and Patricia.