'Andhar Nogori Choupot Raja' - stories in the foyer

Click here to view more photos of the foyer activity

At the premiere shows of Andhar Nogori Choupot Raja on 12 and 13 March 2014, the Gyan Manch foyer was transformed into a world where children and adults could encounter, imagine and play with stories. Reading stories, writing stories, drawing stories, telling stories.... all culminating into watching stories come alive on stage.

One activity invited children to write their own stories, triggered by an opening line provided at the top of a sheet of paper. Just a few unedited examples of what can be dreamt up when faced with a cat with a cricket back, the sun and moon as rivals in love, or an ocean in a box!

ENJOY!

 One day in the land of pencils the rubber was very angry…

as the pencils were used more than the rubber. So he decided that he will run away and ran away. But as he was very heavy he could not run. Then he called his rubber group and planned a battle against the pencils. It was a big battle in the history of pencils and rubbers. Many rubbers were cut in half. The pencils got small. Then an old rubber and pencil thought that they will try to make the battle stop. They called all the rubbers and pencils. They said you all are useful in your positions. Rubbers rub the mistakes made by the pencils, and pencils write neatly and make the writers feel proud of their handwriting. So stop the battle and be friends again. All the rubbers and pencils understood that they both were useful.

Divya Asha

A long time ago the sun and the moon both fell in love with a bright red balloon…

The father of the red balloon did not like the sun as his son-in-law – he was too hot and too bright. The moon was also not ideal – he was too weak and shy to protect his wife from any danger. But the balloon was very kind, so she did not like hurting anyone. She did not know what to do. The balloon asked the Wise Bird for advice. The Bird told her to be friends with them. The balloon decided to remain a spinster for all her life. And as per the Wise Bird’s advice, she became friends with the sun and the moon. She still flies in the blue sky – you can find her any time.

Kuhu (Moomal Majee)

There was once a cat who liked to play cricket…

It uses it’s tail to hit and throw the ball. Her name was Kitty, she was black in colour and had blue coloured eyes. One day I saw Kitty holding a bat in her paws and she was trying to pick the ball from her tail, and with her mask she was ready to play. Suddenly she fell down, but tryed to get up again, and yes she started again. She hit the ball high up in the sky, her cap fell down and the empire shouted loud it’s a homerun! She was very happy and she shouted Yeah! Yahooo! Suddenly a group of dogs came and started to bark. Seeing this the kittens ran off, but Kitty the brave one threw the bat and defeated the dogs. Seeing this all of the hidden cats came and cheered hip! hip! hoorah. Oh then I heard a loud noise, it was my alarm clock. It was a great dream.

THANK YOU.

Khushi Tulsyan 

One day Durga Ma suddenly lost one of her ten hands…

But what to do she had no magic left to get those hands back. She had heard that in India there was a fellow whose name was Mr. Willy Wonka who could make delicious chocolates and by eating those chocolates you could get your things which are lost. She was very happy hearing this. But she could not directly go to India and get those chocolates. So she called Narad Muni. She told him to bring those chocolates so when she ate those chocolates she got her hand back!

Vishaka

I found a big yellow box under the bed. I can hear the ocean trapped inside it…

There were many pirates fighting inside it and then when I tried to open it, I myself found that I was also inside it. Though I stopped the pirates some mermaids came and took me to their land. The land was so beautiful that I had no words to describe it. Mermaids were just like the human beings though they were very beautiful and clever than us. My best friend in mermaid land was ‘Sophia’, she was a very cute, intelligent, caring and helpful. Again Sophia got me to the ocean where she introduced me to her friends such as Sea-horse, Octopus, Star fish, Jelly fish and many sea creatures whom we can never meet other than ocean. The ocean was huge and, I saw a trench which was 12,000mts deep. It was exciting to see and experience it rather than reading it in my books. I went around the trench site and Sophia said me to stay far from it. I wish I could have my camera with it that time so that I could click my pictures and experience it with my friends. Then I heard a strange sound and saw my mother waking me to get ready for my school. I wish that it could be real, but when I saw it was a dream my mouth remained open for a while. When I shared this experience and dreams with my friends they started laughing at me.

no name given

[Apologies for not possessing the technical aids required to key in this contribution in Hindi]