Thinking hard...
Translations Galore...
Me looking flummoxed while the kids are busy at workWriteherewritenow organised a workshop on translation at Disha Foundation, a centre of learning for underprivileged children.
The idea was to ensure that the Writeherewrite now members- most of whom come from very privileged backgrounds, could mix with the Disha kids and work with them as a team. Initially,the Disha children and The Writeherewritenow members (and the new children who attended the workshop for the first time) sat separately,but as they were put in groups of three they realised that they would have to work together and began to interact with one another.
Our first creative endeavour of the morning was a lighthearted one-we gave them words like Nyaka,Paka,Dhishum Dhishum,Chulbuli and Whatever to convert into different languages.We called this the Ice breaker round.
After that,we gave them Sukumar Ray's Ramgarurer Chana to translate.This was a rather difficult poem to translate but Ahaan Ghosh (from Writeherewritenow) and Sujay Tiwari (from Disha) turned out to be the bright sparks in their team and came up with this as their translation:
Ramgarur's Child is a monster
who thinks laughing is a disaster
Telling it funny words is in vain
Everyone laughs at it and yet,it stares
everywhere.
It doesn't want to sleep
and only tells itself
If I ever laugh in my life.
I will beat myself up.
It doesn't go near the woods
as it believes
that the south winds may tickle it
and make it laugh all the time
Its heart is very gloomy
like the dark clouds in the sky
The soul wants to laugh aloud
Yet,it tries to stop itself
With all its might.
At first,the children were apprehensive about translation and we asked them what they thought Translation was. As they were translating , we gave them tips on how to translate.
Next,we gave handouts of a Hindi song called Ma from Taare Zameen Par .We ended the session with an Akbar Birbal story.
Mrs Neena Singh and Mrs Ranjana Roy have been tremendously helpful in helping me coordinate and Organise the workshop. A big thank you to Megha and Richa who calmed my rather jittery nerves (as this was the first workshop that I was conducting.)
Last but definitely not the least,a huge thank you to the Disha kids and the Writeherewritenow kids for making this event possible.
Reeti Roy
The idea was to ensure that the Writeherewrite now members- most of whom come from very privileged backgrounds, could mix with the Disha kids and work with them as a team. Initially,the Disha children and The Writeherewritenow members (and the new children who attended the workshop for the first time) sat separately,but as they were put in groups of three they realised that they would have to work together and began to interact with one another.
Our first creative endeavour of the morning was a lighthearted one-we gave them words like Nyaka,Paka,Dhishum Dhishum,Chulbuli and Whatever to convert into different languages.We called this the Ice breaker round.
After that,we gave them Sukumar Ray's Ramgarurer Chana to translate.This was a rather difficult poem to translate but Ahaan Ghosh (from Writeherewritenow) and Sujay Tiwari (from Disha) turned out to be the bright sparks in their team and came up with this as their translation:
Ramgarur's Child is a monster
who thinks laughing is a disaster
Telling it funny words is in vain
Everyone laughs at it and yet,it stares
everywhere.
It doesn't want to sleep
and only tells itself
If I ever laugh in my life.
I will beat myself up.
It doesn't go near the woods
as it believes
that the south winds may tickle it
and make it laugh all the time
Its heart is very gloomy
like the dark clouds in the sky
The soul wants to laugh aloud
Yet,it tries to stop itself
With all its might.
At first,the children were apprehensive about translation and we asked them what they thought Translation was. As they were translating , we gave them tips on how to translate.
Next,we gave handouts of a Hindi song called Ma from Taare Zameen Par .We ended the session with an Akbar Birbal story.
Mrs Neena Singh and Mrs Ranjana Roy have been tremendously helpful in helping me coordinate and Organise the workshop. A big thank you to Megha and Richa who calmed my rather jittery nerves (as this was the first workshop that I was conducting.)
Last but definitely not the least,a huge thank you to the Disha kids and the Writeherewritenow kids for making this event possible.
Reeti Roy
