Bal Vividha-Kalam (day two)

DAY 2

This session started with the participants being asked to discuss why the writer’s notebook was so important and what role did it play if at all to writing. Nargis shared her views on it and said how Melissa Pritchard who had conducted workshops with her had told the writer’s notebook was like a mother and if the writer did not love it then one would not get the enthusiasm to write.

The participants were then handed out blank sheets of paper and asked to draw a map of their hearts. Some of the possible things that they could include were: places they loved visiting, stories they had heard/hear, people you like, happiness and sadness, things one might have lost. Basically things which had left a mark in their hearts.

Nargis then brought out her own sketch of the heart where she explained how some of the things depicted there were such important part of hr life. Her first taxi ride alone, visit to Darjeeling, getting her passport made etc.

The participants were then asked to share it with the rest of the group. Many interesting imagery came up during the course of this exercise- dreams and ambitions, love, hardships, fantasy. House and dead loved ones were a common theme found in most of the participant’s works.
For example, Smriti drew a house and when she explained it she told a tragic story about how a young girl who lived there had been raped. She did not know this girl but the story and the house had left a deep impression in her mind.

The participants were then asked to revisit the five senses we had discussed in the previous session and using those asked to write a poem about the lane in front of their house. The poems were then discussed with the whole group and suggestions and changes were made by the participants themselves.
After this exercise the participants were told about similes and metaphors. They were told how it was important in poetry and how anyone could actually make these similes by comparing one object to another.

A box of crayons red in colour was passed around in the room and using their five senses the participants were asked to come up with at least one interesting comparison between the box of crayons and some other object. I explained this by passing about a green file and comparing it to a thin blade of green grass and the texture to the oil that my mother puts on my sister’s hair.

Some of the interesting comparisons that came up with the box of crayons were:

Smells like soil
Red like blood
Looks like a red rose
Like the colours of the rainbow
Like the red ‘alta’ my mother uses
The sun in the autumn sky
Like a thin notebook
Oily like the leaf of a lotus

At this point the session was stopped for lunch.

We started the post lunch session with the free writing exercise where the participants had to write about their names for at least ten minutes without removing their pens and not taking time to think. Interestingly one participant wrote his name for three consecutive pages since he felt he could not think of anything else.

After this exercise we went back to the similes and metaphors and the comparison that were made. The facilitators used a dead crow as an example and used five different ways in which this dead crow could be seen. Followed by a discussion, a glass of water was brought and placed in the middle of the room. The participants were asked to look at it and then write five ways in which this glass of water could be viewed. The comparisons could be as outrageous as possible but it could not be a common imagery or everyday theme. Some of the comparisons the participants came up with are:

A pond with a boundary wall
A drop of tear
Life
Magnifying glass
An upside down temple
Particle of sand
White sky
The pent up sadness in the heart
Early morning fog.

After this Sandra Cisneros’ poem ‘My Name’ was read and discussed and then the participants were asked to similarly write five lines about their names associating the name with a number, colour, feature, smell etc. the poems were discussed and changes and suggestions made.