…Travelling stories for children
I.Why Apalam Chapalam
Technically, like all the best children’s stories, it’s just a nonsensical happy string of words excavated from the old Hindi film song, Apalam Chapalam Chaplayee Re. (From the film Azaad, 1951).
We wanted to keep things on this channel fun and memorable, and this reminded us a little of Sukumar Roy’s ‘Abol Tabol’ or Roald Dahl’s ‘whizzpopping,’ ‘biffsquiggled’ vocabulary.
II. WHY DO THIS?
- Love and Time are valuable currencies.
If there’s one thing that’s become clear in these uncertain times, it’s that money is not the only currency that makes the world go round. If you’ve been wanting to contribute to others’ well-being in some way, this is a wonderful option to explore doing just that.
- It’s a win-win for everyone!
Storytelling is a sacred bond between teller and listener. When you share a story you love, you’re reminding a lot of children they’re not alone, and you’re getting to express yourself in a way that will hopefully leave you feeling lighter yourself.
- You’re serving as an important reminder.
When times are challenging, and particularly overwhelming, it’s important to remind ourselves and the littlest amongst us that there’s no limit to the fun and joy we can find in our own imaginations! Ultimately, we just wanted to expand the vocabulary for what it means to be there for each other.
III. WHERE WILL IT BE HOSTED
On Youtube and Instagram. The former is our main resource for distribution, which will go out directly into the communities we’re already engaging with. The latter is just for a little extra fun, a space for anybody and everybody who wants to connect with their inner child right now and know more about what we get upto this month.
IV. WHO IS IT FOR?
Apalam Chapalam aims to reach urban poor children aged 6-14 years living in low-income habitations such as slums, chawls, slum rehabilitation buildings. Living conditions of these children are characterised by single room homes, many family members, shared utilities such as bathrooms, and water taps.
Social distancing/isolation is a huge challenge for these families. This content is also for children who reside in residential care facilities both state-run and private in urban areas.
V. HOW WILL IT REACH THEM?
Distribution would take place through WhatsApp. Leher would organize the distribution through frontline workers of NGOs that work on education, life skills, child sexual abuse etc. in urban slums and low income private and public schools. Our primary focus would be Delhi and Mumbai. Leher—NGO/networks heads—Managers of frontline workers—Frontline workers—Communities—households.
VI. WHO IS DOING THIS?
Leher is a child rights organization that works on child protection. Their vision is for caring families, alert communities and responsive governments to come together for the rights and protection of all children. Housed in Delhi and Mumbai, Leher works nationally to build community leadership for safe childhoods.
Creator’s duo Mandovi Menon & Aliya Khan thought up Apalam Chapalam as a fuss-free video channel for children to bring a little light-heartedness back into any home we reach.
Together, we’re looking forward to building something collaborative that supports many more creative visions beyond our own. (=
VII. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THESE POST LOCKDOWN?
In case you’re wondering about this, we think good storytelling backed by good intent is a timeless resource in a community like ours. Leher will keep it up as a shared resource, and continue to distribute it to social sector organisations + educational institutes who want to use it in their own classrooms.
Also, Lockdown is longer for children. While we have little idea of when it will be back-to-work for the rest of us, children won’t be able to get back to school till post-summer vacations.
That’s a whole lot of months with nothing to do so it’s the least we could do to entertain them. (=
VIII. OTHER COLLABORATIONS?
If you have other suggestions or alternate ways in which you’d like to collaborate, feel free to write to us at apalamchapalam@leher.org or find us and DM us directly on Instagram. We’d be happy to see if we can integrate the same.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Apalam Chapalam is a travelling story channel for urban, underprivileged children between the ages of 6 – 14. Created for Leher by a community of creatives and storytellers, it encourages collaboration between people from all walks of life and ages to keep children’s curiosity alive while drawing inspiration from India’s rich tradition of oral storytelling. It was born out of the desire to provide some leisure during lockdown, but will live on in the hearts of both the tall tellers and little listeners. To know more about the initiative click here
