Apalam Chapalam

Apalam Chapalam: Travelling Stories For Children

…Travelling stories for children

Fictional worlds built on ink and pages have long been escape hatchets for human beings everywhere. That chance to be somebody else, or live another life–even if just for a few minutes–is one of the freedoms we’re here to celebrate at a time we have too few.

When our future feels most uncertain, it helps to find solace in the wisdom of the past. This is why we decided to create a small, collaborative channel to distribute performative storytelling for children, drawing from India’s beautiful history of oral storytelling. A place to bring back the joys of regional Indian fables and fiction, nonsense verse and forgotten songs.

The focus of Apalam Chapalam is 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 particularly huge challenge for these families. It is also designed for children who reside in residential care facilities, both state-run and private, in urban areas.