Moral of the story

Welcome to the world of Renu Gavaskar — a place where story telling and playing assume as much importance as studying lessons from a schoolbook.

Explaining her tryst with her work,she says,”I began working as a social activist almost 25 years back. Some very personal reasons actually inspired me to take up this profession as I realised that a lot of love goes untapped in this world. A reason why I chose to work with the underprivileged children of society was because this section represents something that I call ‘Children of a lesser God’. They do not have much access to formal schooling but what is truly saddening is the fact that they do not have access to even playing and being children. That is what I am trying to work towards-bringing the innocence back in them.”

A gifted storyteller,Gavaskar was deeply inspired by works of authors Anton Chekhov,Leo Tolstoy and Hans Christian Anderson. It was this deep belief in her own story telling abilities that led her to launch her book of stories for children last year entitled Goshti Janmantarichya. Interestingly the book was written together along with children and also had translations of some very popular children’s stories.

Speaking more about her story therapy she says,”It is important to be able to understand the method in which a particular idea or thought is presented in front of children from these underprivileged sections. The children are always eager to learn new things,and when it is presented to them in a manner in which their innocence is retained and the idea is conveyed at the same time,they learn better.”

On her organisation the Ekalavya Bal Shikshan and Arogya Nyasa she says,”We started our bus project with a simple thought in our mind-let children be children. Let them be able to play laugh and have fun. It is a reason as to why we just drive down the bus to a slum and let the children play to their hearts content. In fact from this June onwards we have also started a night school for dropouts. It’s an archetypical example of how one good leads to another.”

About her story-telling programme,which was recently held at the SM Joshi Hall,she says,”Even though there is a lot of good work happening we need to make people aware of our work,and get them to participate in this. It is a reason as to why we had the programme so that people could not only listen to the works of great authors but also take a cue and join us in our endevour to help sustain our various projects.”

I have maintained this before and I say it even now,it is an unspeakable joy to see a child who has battled against all odds very early in life to find a piece of his childhood in these little joys that we strive hard to give them. Probably this is what providing a good life for others is all about,” she adds.