By Madhumita Bhaskar
Over few years, there has only been a rise in the number of precious moments I have had with preschool children. These continue to strengthen my direct and personal pursuit to do arts with them. In moments of solitude, as I process complex emotions around making this personal journey, a small part of a much larger vision of ShrotaHouse, here are a few anecdotes; select incidents from last summer; that I am unable to keep to myself.
One evening I was walking on a busy sidewalk, past vegetable vendors and shops, when suddenly a little boy stood on my path, with the widest smile. Before I could guess who, he was, (from amongst the many children I interact with) and recollect him being part of our camp a year ago or so, he smiled and called out Madhu Ma’am and proactively reminded me his name. I was so delighted to see his mother inside a car. After a brief delightful greeting, she shared “We were leaving when he saw you from a distance and wanted to stop and talk!” I was smiling and almost hugging the little boy. She continued “He performed on the stage a song taught to him for the very first time and he insisted I show it to you”. She might not have been able to look for this same clip from the millions of clips on her phone, but he was persistent. She asked if I could wait to which I gladly agreed. After a few minutes of waiting, she finally found the clip, so I wondered if she would forward it to me. But little Evaan insisted I see it right there… so I stood and watched with such pride. His smile grew wider. I can only imagine what the child must have felt for him to express all of this, with hardly a few interactions to back it up.
Two of the purest forms of existence are children and music. You have to be blessed to be able to connect them both.
-Madhumita Bhaskar
A little girl, who I met at a recent summer camp at a nearby venue, was one amongst a bunch of excited children. She came sat next to me and with wide eyes and a sweet smile asked me out of the blue “You are very gentle. I like your earrings; my mother has those too.” She even spelt out her mother’s contact no. she had memorized and told me to promptly call her and visit them. “You are my best friend” she waved at me as we parted.
A young 7year old, gifted this wonderful heartfelt card and a beautiful picture drawn by him, a few days ago. I learnt the value and impact of gratitude that comes from a child’s heart with the support of the best families.
My little child, from last year’s cohort, all of a sudden sent me a very beautiful recording of a song today. His mother shared the following “He misses you – he had a line of tear when he saw you on a video” It looks like he said he missed me and then didn’t speak for a bit. The mother left him alone and later shared a lovely recording of a song in his voice (audio not attached here)
And… I am still speechless.
Listen to another very interesting raw recording from a candid post class moment 02 June 2024:
Amongst the numerous messages about how they wait for summer vacation to get over and can’t wait to get back to our interactions, I am currently losing to this little girl of mine, in a musical challenge she has picked up to follow, and how!
Dedicated to all my children whose love inspires me,
but am having to reserve their stories for the next many posts 🙂