Author, Activist, Mentor, Cartoonist - Children speak with Mr. Rohit Kumar

At the end of a long and exhaustive online school day, I always prefer a nap to rest my eyes and mind.  But the meeting with Rohit Kumar was scheduled at 4 p.m. I decided to miss that serene siesta as I really wanted to meet the person with multiple talents - author, cartoonist, mentor, activist, writer and positive psychologist. I heard so much about him from Aneesa, I wouldn’t have missed such a precious opportunity of getting to meet him albeit virtually.

It was indeed a very insightful session for the children as well as for me as an adult although it was very short. Or was it really short?  It ran for an hour but felt like a blink of an eye.

It was interesting to learn about someone whose mother aspired to make him a scientist but there was a greater calling he had to attend to – of reaching out to people trapped in the abyss of their misdemeanors.  Tihar jail, a gloomy place was where a light was shown to his heart and he understood the path he needed to traverse in life.

What a sublime thought – why wait for people to commit a misdeed to reach out?  Rather help them before they commit a crime so they can be saved from the crushing guilt, suffering and misery. And provide a break for the children and families trapped in a situation for no fault of theirs.

There was a lesson for me in his recital especially when he spoke about practicing positive psychology, to focus on the strengths and goodness in a person and reinforce it to help them look forward in life despite the errors made in the past.  After all, who doesn’t make mistakes? To err is human and in a moment of weakness or impulse, the sin is committed but the consequences turn out to be a nightmare which were unanticipated.  The will to repent and set right the wrong done need to be appreciated and supported. Essentially it requires a lot of empathy and kindness to bring back the soul lost in the wilderness of guilt and sincere remorse.  It’s natural to be scared in such a situation but to keep a stranglehold on fear and to behave with friendliness with even the most difficult people reflects his positive attitude towards all. 

It’s a blessing to have friends who replenish a weary soul after such an exhausting task and Rohit has nurtured that fountain of friendship. In this again wass a lesson for me.  It is the bond with friends and family that we need to foster in this fast paced, elusive life.  In the end we are all human. When life throws challenges beyond our capacity, we bow down and call out to the supreme Master for a miracle. Indeed He never returns us empty handed when we stretch out our hands towards heaven for His eternal mercy. Peach and help descends encompassing us.

Making cartoons, reading and writing are ways Mr. Kumar rejuvenates himself before undertaking another arduous charge.  Writing, something very close to my heart, and I appreciated his sincere counsel to aspiring children and teachers to write, write, write  despite the inner critic which tries to kill self-expression.

His experiences are a testimony to the positive psychology he practices.  As teachers and parents, the onus is on us to reinforce the good in the children and to bring them up as kind, empathetic, confident and compassionate human beings.  Again, easier said than done as we falter a million times on that slippery path but with focus, mindfulness and backed with the tribe of like-minded people, it should get easier to keep at it.

The takeaway for me from this session is to practice kindness and impart it to the future generations to make this world a better place for all.  I wish to conclude with a saying of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

When kindness is found in anything, it beautifies it and when it is withdrawn from anything, it becomes defective.

- By 

Naqeeb Sultana, Middle School Faculty 

Supernova STEM fest - Day 2

Day 2 of Supernova, the Al Qamar STEM interschool fest, proved to be really exciting.

The high point was the talk by Mr. Gowri Shankar, President of Mensa India. Mr. Shankar explained that Mensa is an international high IQ society. Membership is through a exam. He talked about the work being done by Mensa India with tribal and underprivileged children.

Mr Shankar gave out the medals to the toppers in the Asset Talent exam. Congratulations Hanan, Khadijah (Gold medallists), Safwan, Fawziya (Silver medallists) and Hajira (Bronze medallist).

The Maker fest event challenged participants to build a device which  would propel a ball the furthest. In 3 hours. With a fixed set of materials. And a condition that they had to use a trigger, not themselves, to start the action. And then, they had to clearly identify and explain the scientific principle behind their design.

The children rose to the challenge. All teams based their device on a trebuchet. Using a paper cup as a nest for the ball, they niftly used safety pins for locking down the opposing arm.  The kids had to do three runs to demonstrate their device's working. Unity Public School won the competition and MWA came second.

The Mathlympiad was a Math marathon. With 5 teams clearing the prelims, the battle started for the top positions. The questions were designed to stretch the children's thinking and included logical thinking.  Children were given 10 minutes to work in teams on each problem. Sana Model School emerged as the winners and MWA School took the 2nd position.

Al Qamar, as a host school, was a non competing participant.

The prizes were kindly sponsored by LKS Gold House. JazakAllah khair

Kudos to the children, teachers, staff and parents whose enthusiastic participation made this event successful.

Supernova STEM fest - Day 1

What an exciting Supernova Day 1 today. Supernova is Al Qamar's annual interschool STEM fest.

The Strategy games involved pencil and paper games - the logic being that kids should be able to go back home or to school and play the same games.

Participants played variants of Tic Tac Toe. One version was a 5x4 grid where kids had to get as many rows or columns of 0 or X.

The semi finals had yet another variant. Kids played across 3-4 grids. They had to work out strategies for winning in the multitude of games they played.

The Science Quiz was a gruelling event to say the least.  After a moderately difficult prelims, 7 teams qualified for the Finals.

The Bounce and Pounce method of answering levelled the playing field and kept the interest levels high. With rounds on Science concepts, Scientific process, famous science personalities, the participants were fighting for points.  The special feature was the Local Flora and Fauna where kids had to identify a signature spider, birds at Pulicat Lake, Jaws of the Croc Bank fame and a Russel's Viper. Clearly kids need to bone up on this - by taking advantage of the varied activities in Chennai like Nizhal's Tree Walks and SSTCN's turtle hatchling release.

In the afternoon, participants were given a science investigation to conduct. This involved them figuring out experimental procedure, record data and draw a conclusion. This also was quite hard for children who typically study science out of textbooks only.

Prizes were won by Unity Public School, Sana Model School, MWA School snd Sana Smart School. As the host school, Al Qamar was a non competing participant.

All in all an exciting day.

Workshop on Teaching Creative Writing

Al Qamar Academy conducted a workshop on November 16, 2019 on creative writing and I was looking forward to attending it. 

The facilitator Aneesa Jamal was very warm and welcoming, listened and acknowledged contributions from the participants and efficiently guided the discussions and was flexible, working well with emerging ideas.  It was great to learn the techniques on creative writing, the content being highly informative and the facilitator was well informed about the workshop subject. 

The workshop was led capably challenging the participants to think and get out of their comfort zone in a safe environment which helped us discover new ideas and getting new insights on the things we already knew.  The workshop also provided opportunities to interact and learn from others.

The workshop was engaging and interesting with useful exercises and the group size was appropriate for the purpose of the exercises.  The entire training was well structured with the exercises building on previous learning from the activities providing us opportunities to reflect and consolidate what we learned.  The session was well paced without any boring lags.

I appreciate the insight provided which is easily and immediately applicable.  I can't wait to teach my own students what I learned in just a few hours. 

It would have been better to have the workshop as a 2-day session providing more time for the different exercises, more discussions, debriefs, and asking good questions to facilitate more learning but on the overall it was a very knowledgeable workshop.

- Naqeeb Sultana, Teacher

Talk on Artificial Intelligence

"What is intelligence?" asked Sajjad Malang, during his talk on Artificial Intelligence for students of Grades 5-7.

Br Sajjad, a parent at Al Qamar, is an IT professional working in the area of AI.  He spoke about the ubiquity of AI. Kids were fascinated to learn that the Customer Service chat at Amazon is AI in the background. He explained how  AI is being used to predict forest fires, disease outbreak, to create driverless cars and is aiding in medical diagnosis. He explained how humongous amounts of data are rapidly analysed to make predictions and decisions.

The children were quick to cotton onto the myriad issues of privacy invasion. They expressed discomfort with the idea of a machine delivering medical care.  They could relate to how AI is able to analyze relationships between variables in data - their Spark classes came useful here.

As usual many many questions and comments kept the talk lively and the audience engaged.

JazakAllah Khair Brother for taking the time to come give this talk.

Storytelling workshop - A Parent's Point of View

When Al Qamar Academy announced Smart English Academy's Storytelling Workshop on 'Power of Storytelling', I was really elated and overjoyed. This was a workshop I'd been waiting for for a long time. I'd heard and read so much about storytelling and its immense benefit, especially in parenting. And, I was just waiting for an opportunity to learn this invaluable skill.

On the day of the workshop, as I walked in, I had set my expectations high. I knew it would be good, because I've attended many of Sister Nazreen's English trainings. Three and a half hours later, when I walked out, I realized that I was wrong.
Dazed, my head swirling with all the inputs and insights, tips and techniques, discussions and demonstrations, I realized that the workshop didn't just meet my expectations, It far exceeded them.

The concepts of storytelling were vividly explained by Sister Nazreen. The science story narrated by her was very powerful and it grabbed everyone's attention. She showed us how to use similar techniques for Mathematics as well. The techniques which she taught would definitely help me to engage better with my children.

We also brainstormed the benefits of storytelling and got so many perspectives on it, and had a lot of fun while doing all these activities. Everybody pitched in with full involvement and complete enthusiasm.

When the workshop was about to close, my eyes glanced at the clock and I really wanted to stop the clock. But I knew it was impossible. Returning home, my mind was reviewing and processing all the techniques; ideas that I just couldn't wait to implement.

And as a bonanza, I got to learn how to narrate my experience as a story like how I have narrated here.

What an Amazing, Enlightening, and Awe-Inspiring Workshop!!!

- Aysha ( Parent of Grade 6, 4 students in Al Qamar Academy)

Workshop on Storytelling

How would you like it if you tried to explain a point to a child, or teach a topic to a student, or convey a message to an audience, and have them listen to you with rapt attention, complete concentration and a lot of interest?

This was the question that set the agenda for the Workshop on 'Power of Storytelling' held at Al Qamar Academy on October 26th, 2019. The Workshop was conducted by Nazreen Sheriff, a British Council Certified CELTA Qualified Educator and Founder of Smart English Academy.

It was a half-day workshop to understand and learn-

• The impact of stories
• How to communicate through stories
• Elements of Storytelling and
• Techniques of Storytelling

All put together with a hands-on experience at STORYTELLING.

Heads of educational departments and institutions, teachers, social workers, businesswomen, homemakers and others from various professions attended the session with the primary aim of understanding storytelling and enhancing their communication and presentation skills.

The Workshop started with the participants introducing themselves with a ball game, stimulating them to shed their inhibitions and break the ice.

Various inputs were given on the power and impact of stories. It was demonstrated by a powerful narration of a story of an African woman, by the facilitator, Nazreen Sheriff, to drive home the message of the importance of water conservation.
At the end of the story, there was pin drop silence. The tears in some people's eyes and the anguish on others' faces said it all.
The power and impact of a story was experienced by all.

Drawing encouragement from the inputs and confidence given in the training, the participants took their first step and attempt at Storytelling.

A participant’s story that had a woman's husband give her his credit card and tell her to go shopping in Dubai, drew a witty response from one of the ladies in the audience. She said 'Now I truly understand why stories are supposed to be imaginative and a fantasy'

Storytelling as a teaching technique was discussed in detail. Addressing the problem and difficulty of the non-English teachers' perception of not having scope for stories in their subjects, the facilitator Nazreen Sheriff demonstrated a Math and Science story. The teachers were visibly excited at the prospect and possibilities and looked forward to implementing them in their classroom.

Handouts were given to help sum up some of the learning done.  Physical activities were interspersed with the discussions and demonstrations. The ladies thoroughly enjoyed them and plunged into it with gusto and enthusiasm.

The session ended with the floor being opened up for questions and feedback from the participants.

Altogether, it was an interactive and dynamic session, drawing appreciation from all the participants for the valuable insights and learning achieved in the Workshop.  The verbal and written feedback was very positive with many of the participants summing it up as-
"Excellent workshop conducted by specialist, Nazreen Sheriff. Benefited greatly. "– Social Worker

"Amazing tips and techniques on Storytelling. "– Teacher, IMAX SCHOOL

"Useful and Informative. Plan to use this to introduce concepts in the classroom" – Vice Prinicipal IMAX SCHOOL

"Before coming I was very nervous about talking in front of people. Thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience. "– Homemaker

Entrepreneurial spirit..

One more successful kids' entrepreneurial venture. Sales at Moms meetings.

Al Qamar Academy kids routinely design and set up their own businesses at parent events.

From sales of homemade cookies, pizzas, juice, organic produce and many other delicious items, artistic kids also make their own crafts for sale.

Kids as young as 6 years are busy thinking up of more business ideas.

The school simply provides the space. Teacher involvement is nil, zilch.

Why is that important?

Children need the space and freedom to create and experiment with their own ideas. Once adults get involved, kids start backing off, shutting down. They become glorified puppets - showcasing adult ideas. Which is poor foundation for real life.

For Al Qamar kids, running a business provides a plethora of learning. From planning, pricing, costing inputs, (aggressive) marketing to finally doing (informal) accounts. Language skills, Math thinking, economics, food safety - its all in there as an integrated project unit. Real life stuff!

Having no stress through homework or exams allows children's minds to be uncluttered and focused on highly creative ideas.

The Al Qamar way....

Workshop on Impact of Punishment

Discipline and consequently punishment are hotly debated topics for most parents. Do you lean on the side of permisive parenting or should you be a strict disciplinarian? The answer perhaps lies between the two opposite poles and is supported by latest research in neuroscience.

Parenting Matters,  an organisation which works with parents, conducted a talk for parents on Discipline and Punishment at Al Qamar Academy today.

The speaker, Sujata Dewaji, a certified Parent Educator from Echo Parenting, Los Angeles, began by talking about what all constitutes punishment - and delved into some of the reasons why parents punish their children. She shared some common justifications parents offer in support of their stance. "However", she said, "brain research shows how punishment activates the 'Fight,Flight, Freeze' response in children. They actually stop processing any message we are giving them, however pertinent or relevant.

The better way is Positive Parenting, which acknowledges the child's feelings, doesn't make judgements and helps to actually modify behaviour.  She showed a video with examples of both styles and invited the parents to comment.

The Question Time had queries on parenting teens, resolving sibling issues and the universality of this approach.

"Helped me put my faith back in positive reinforcement.. Wonderful reminder how much as a parent we need to change before trying to change our kids .." was one parent's feedback.

Parenting Matters conducts various workshops for parents and educators.  They may be contacted at parentingmattersindia@gmail.com.

Learning History through Ads

We were delighted to have Sriram Nanganathan come and give an absolutely fascinating talk on History.  Sriram used old advertisements to drive home the point that history is just as much about common people, values, lifestyles and mores as about kings, wars and conquests.  He showed different ads to kids and asked them thoughtful questions - "What does this ad convey?" "What was the shared assumptions in those days?" "Would you see such an ad now?" 

Here is a blog write up about the talk by a student:

On the 27^th of September, we had a class all about History. Or more specifically, how it has changed.

Now it’s easy to look at a really old civilizations and compare it to how we live now. But what we didn’t realise is that even our more recent history can vary from the present.

Old documents such as newspapers and advertisements can help us learn what it was like back then. We can identify old articles and advertisements and ask ourselves would these be published in a newspaper now?

An example of an ad that you would not find nowadays is one titled “Shikar”. The ad basically invited people to come to India, shoot tigers and KEEP them as if they were some type of trophy.  By looking at the bottom of the ad we can see that it was published in multiple places, most of them being from the West. So, we can say that this ad was directed to other people from the West and was inviting them to shoot a tiger and take it home. Hurting an animal was not really punishable back then, so people could easily get away with it.

By looking at old ads or pamphlets, we can also say that things that are affordable and easily available would have been a lot more expensive and rarer back then, such as radios and record players and weddings. However, there’s another side of this spectrum, where things that are a lot more expensive now, would have been a lot cheaper back then. Such as train tickets and flights. Things such as air-conditioned trains with breakfast, lunch and dinner service were considered a luxury earlier. This is why they chose to highlight those luxuries in this ad.

Of course, we couldn’t have found out things such as sweets – when consumed in large amounts – are not good for us without trial and error first. Before we had done scientific tests proving that sugary items (when consumed in large amounts) can affect us badly, you could find ads encouraging people to eat more sugar – with the headings like “Put more sugar in your tea!” Ads that encouraged parents to make their children watch television could also be found. However, once you read the ads, in this context, it’s not as bizarre as you would think.  Basically, the ads explain how parents can used a child’s urge to watch TV to their advantage. For example, “Mona Kausar! Do your homework and you’ll get an extra half hour of TV Time!” Some parents still do this even though it creates the mindset for the child that “Oh!!! Do my homework because I want to watch the telly!” Ad they forget that this is not good for their future and well-being.

So history isn’t always old civilizations and ancient artifacts. It could also be any thing or idea from a little earlier that has evolved. We humans are always coming up with ways to find links to our past.

- Ishaal Azeez, Grade 7

Talk on Indigenous Cotton

We were delighted to have Swaminathan Vaithilingam come give a talk on indigenous cotton at Al Qamar Academy. He narrated the history of indigenous cotton, explained how a group of people are trying to revive this crop and the difficulties being faced.  The children got to see natural cotton, the yarn and some gorgeous clothes made out these using natural dyes. The children understood the key point that life shouldn't be about unlimited choices, but instead about  sustainable choices.

 Here is an account by a student of his talk:


India used to have a wide and vast variety of cotton, yet, here in the present, only 2% of our cotton is "Pure" Indian. So, how did this happen? Let us find out..

HISTORY OF INDIAN COTTON

As of current, our vast varieyt of cotton has been replaced by American cotton when the British colonized India. The reason being that, Indian cotton was getting popular - with audiences outside India as well. The British were afraid that this might affect their sheep wool industry. So they started to experiment with American cotton and growing it in other places.

The problem with this is that different varieties of "Indian Cotton" are made to fit different Indian climates. The term for this is called agro climates.

HOW FARMER SUFFER FROM NON AGRO CLIMATIC COTTON

The companies provide cotton seeds for farmers to grow. The farmers have to pay back using the money they make from the cotton. In some places, the seeds won't grow well, so the farmers are in debt. This forces some people to commit suicide.

TOXINS THAT GO INTO MAKING CLOTHES

Honestly most of us are aware of this problem - factories making toxic dyes which pollutes the area around it. Despite thi, we turn a blind eye and say "Its not that bad.". Little do we know that the clothes made in factories are "wear and throw away". So you constantly buy more making the environment a toxic and polluted area.

WHAT TO DO TO IMPROVE OUR SITUATION

It might not seem big, but if you cut down on buying from big companies that profit from the wear and throw away clothing and switch to more eco friendly sources and encourage other people you know to do so as well.

- Ishaal Azeez, Grade 7

Student Businesses on PTM

Children's businesses on PTM day.  Students set up stalls every PTM and sell yummy food, drinks, craft items and even have game stalls.

This time there was pani puri, cookies, brownies, kesari, rose milk, black tea and sandwiches.

Kids did brisk business and made a whole lot of money. Great way to learn basic entrepreneurial skills in a hands on manner.

Communications Class for 4th graders

Communications Classes have started up for Grade 4 with Future Impact.  The year long classes will help children develop the basics of communication.

The first class had the children warming up to the young and enthusiastic instructor.  She divided the children into groups. Each child had to introduce his/ her teammates and narrate an interesting anecdote about them. Kids discovered facets about their friends they hadn't know before. When it came to speaking, they came up enthusiastically and spoke.

In the second class, chidlren had to choose a favourite sport or hobby and speak about it to the group.  The inventive fellows even decided to demo kho kho, much to the amusement of the instructor.

Talk by Ratheesh Krishnan, TED & INK curator

Kids were thrilled to interact with Ratheesh Krishnan, People Scientist, Curator, Mentor, Storyteller and much more.  Involved with both TED and INK, Ratheesh is passionately spreading ideas and reaching out!

Ratheesh talked to the children about communication - how effective communication has to ensure that the message is received. He demonstrated his point by getting children to play a lovely game - where they had to communicate without using words or gestures.  In the first round it was touch, then sound and finally air!

The room was full of raucous laughter and children wriggled and writhed in merriment. However, his point got through - communicators have to celebrate their receiver, encourage and egg on. They have to control feelings of frustration and rethink how messages can be communicated better.

It was wonderful having you over, Ratheesh. Your interaction surely changed the kids!

Mr. Ketu visits from Cameroon

We were blessed to have a visitor from Cameroon come talk to the students about his country.  Here are some accounts by the children:

"The visitors name is Ketu; He is from Cameroon Africa.. His father was a subchief of a tribe. He was removed from Math class by his teacher; he learnt math in his home by textbooks.He came tenth out of 600. He told about Muhammad  Gaddaffi  ruler.  In his place there is no normal schooling  kids learn from hearing stories of wise people from generations. I really enjoyed his talk especially about food clothes, Also about coat that is passed through generations"

Tawfiq, Grade 5

Cameroon was named after a certain shrimp..there was river that had a lot of shrimps and so it was named after that..

Cameroon is also known as mini Africa as it has many different weathers/topographic places in one country..like snowcapped mountains, plains, deserts and tropical forests..

They have interesting ways of playing old games like hide and seek..except here it's police and thief.... something about how here thieves get multiple chances after they're caught. 

They have more of a Kingdom system of ruling rather than governments..Their soldiers are very strong and that when they go to war..it can take years to finish..

The flag of Cameroon and it's stars have a significant meaning..they depict unity and victory both day and night..hence the yellow stars in the blue..and vice versa..

Ishal Abdul Azeez, Grade 6

"Cameroon lies towards the north of the country. Most of the area are deserts and they have the world's biggest desert "The Sahara" They grow a fruit which they boil and it's squeezed through a sack to extract an oil which is red in color.A nut's seed is dried and taken as a medicine for pregnancy, stomach upset which is only grown in Cameroon . They have the world biggest frog. The people aren't dark because of the sun but due to 'something' present in their body. (Melanin - Ed). Their cuisine includes togo, rice with beans and achu.They make chains with mango seeds. They are more than 500 tribes.

- Amna Hawwa, Grade 2

The visitor's name was Ketu Monah . His dad was a subchief and he is from Cameroon ,Africa . Firstly I thought Cameroon was a state like in India . Cameroon has a largest Mountain also ketu shared about clothes ,food , and kingdom of Cameroon . He said Cameroon supplies water to all the nearby land areas . Also shared about Mohamed Gaddafi who worked for the development of Cameroon.

 Ketu was low in math and sent out from class by his teacher and after with the help of his sister he scored up and got money from his teacher. Finally he appreciated all the students on their active participation during the talk.

Saleem, Grade 5

Today one uncle from Cameroon came to our school.. His name was ketu.. he was from Africa.. he was very tall .. His dresses were different.. in India palm oil is in yellow colour but in Africa it's in red colour.. Egypt , Libia , Algeria was desert countries .. there were different types of foods in Africa..

Shahana, Grade 3

"He said that in his time there were no proper schools wisdom was passed from one generation to the other by story telling all the words ,spellings ,punctuation, definitions, and wisdom was in their head . They did not have dictionaries or thesaurus they had old people .

 

Then he asked us to name some African states. He pointed Libya, Egypt, part of Sudan (North Sudan) Mali &Tunisia and some more.  Then he said that there's a very big desert. "What desert is this?" he asked. We told him that it was the Sahara desert. Then he asked "What is a desert?" The answers popped up like "It's a dry place", "a hot place" etc.  He said that the answers were right and told us the proper definition of a desert: "A desert is a place with no vegetation and when there is no vegetation there is rarely any rainfall so it becomes scalding hot."  Next he told us that Cameroon is the heart of Africa. 

A student asked why is Sudan parted into two parts? This was the most effective part of the talk.  He told us that he was going to tell a very nice thing.  He told that if you are good at something which the other person is not, you should speak and stand up for him.  And maybe the other person is good at some thing that you are not, then he should do the same thing you did to him. Not say "Oh ! I know this better than you or I am more stronger than you so I'm not going to be your friend."

He said if you are in the same class, then treat each other like you are in the same family. People from the same family don't argue with each other instead they support each other.  

He told about the traditional dishes of Cameroon and how they were prepared. Next he talked about the dresses of Cameroon and the specialities of the dresses.  

Then he told an incident which happened in his life : One day he asked his math teacher a hard question and she thought that he had asked that to bring her down so she told him to get up and go out of the classroom and muttered that he would not pass the exam.  So he went home everyday and studied maths . When the results came he passed ! When he came to collect his certificates the first person he met was his math teacher. "You passed the exam" she told him and handed him over some money. 

We played a game called concentration concentration. Then he told us about Muhammer al Ghadafi who did not want Africa to be separated he wanted it to be United. 

After that he talked about the Cameroonian flag.  The green stands for unity while the red stands for bloodshed the yellow stands for victory in the day and the star for victory in the night .

Khadijah, Grade 5

Author Visit - Nilanjana Roy in conversation with kids

One interesting way to encourage young  readers is to have an "Author Visit". We were delighted to have Nilanjana Roy (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilanjana_Roy) visit via Skype.

Ms Roy, winner of the Shanti Bhatt First Book award, has authored both fiction and non fictional works, including the "Wildings" a wondeful children's book. She writes for the Business Standard, BBC, The New York Times,  Huffington Post and others.

Children brainstormed a bunch of questions they wanted to ask an author - including "How does your writing flow?", "How do you create characters?", "Where do you get inspiration?" and other fairly deep questions.

Ms Roy talked about her books, how the hardest book for her is always the book she's currently working on, how her characters have a life of their own, the challenges to translating a scene in ones mind onto paper.  She patiently answered their questions in depth giving them pointers on how they can work on their writing.  

On a lighter vein she spoke about the cake and coffee which all authors need. And the happy dance when all is finished and done. 

She was quite impressed with their questions and their patience to sit through an hour long session.

It was a brilliant session, despite technical glitches.   Have invited her to do a workshop on creative writing for the children sometime next year, InshaAllah.