…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.
These children are stuck at home with little to do to keep them curious, having to make do with a lack of space, engagement and any activity that leans towards leisure. It’s a gap we felt we could fill with a little time and creative contribution. In this vein, we thought to build a collaborative storytelling channel for children that travels between homes.
Hence we are reaching out to wonderful storytellers across India (like you) to record themselves on video, reading out their favourite short story, poem or family fable from their youth, in a regional Indian language of their choice.
To begin with, we’re focussing on Hindi and Marathi, because our distribution network is largely in Mumbai and Delhi, where we’re working closely with people and organisations who work at the frontlines of these communities. But our hope is that others from other cities will join us in both contributing and spreading the word.
This is a collaborative effort, not a singular one.
When we emerge from this period of impermanence and uncertainty, we hope it will serve as the red, beating heart of a community that came together for its children. An archive of stories that stand the test of time.
Join us on this journey to connect communities with care.
For Children
Did you know you can travel without ever leaving your home?
That every time somebody tells you a story, your imagination is like a magic carpet, ready to take you anywhere you want to go? Scroll through this channel for nanas and nanis, abbus and ammis, chachas and chachis, neighbours and strangers, friends and family from all over the country sharing stories they all grew up listening to, with you. We have videos for children of every age from 6 – 14 so just skip through the options till you find one you like; then pass it on to a friend who’s stuck at home too.
After listening, if you feel like, maybe you can write your own story too!
If you have other suggestions or alternative 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.
Check our FAQ section that delves into more details about the project. You can find guidelines on creating your home videos here.
