I have been thinking about the two day Bengaluru Tree Festival - Neralu happened at Cubbon Park last week; I was a volunteer on both the days and absolutely loved the festival. It is something to look forward to every year from now on. It was a first of its kind, crowd funded festival that brought all the nature lovers together for two days. There were tree walks conducted by some eminent naturalists and tree lovers; tree related films; story telling sessions; journaling workshops; art exhibition; photography exhibition, cultural performances and many more art forms. A lot of visitors took part in the events on both the days and made it a grand success. Many people told us that they would like to see more such events and would like to be part of them. I was also thrilled to meet a lot of people with similar interests and learn from them.
On both the days I was looking after this particular activity called Sketch-A-Tree. This activity involved people to pick up a piece of paper, make a free hand sketch of a tree and color the same. This was not just for kids, but for everyone who walked into the campus. I absolutely enjoyed volunteering for this activity and also seeing so many people enjoying this activity. They came, they asked for paper, they sketched whatever they liked to, colored them and tied them up on the display rope. After tying them up, they enjoyed spotting their sketch and they took pictures with them. The thing that was most intriguing for me was that every picture had a message in it. Looking at all the messages, I thought, if so many young children are caring for our planet, there is some good hope for us for sure and we're on the right side of the history. In two days we got almost 500 sketches tied on long ropes and every picture was absolutely beautiful with a message attached to it.
Also, in the process I overheard and also I was a part a lot of interesting conversations and would like to list some of them that are still lingering in my mind here:
Hey boy! come sketch a tree. Boy: No, dad, I'm not interested, you only sketch it for me.
Mom, I wanna sketch will you wait for me here? Mom: Do it fast, its too sunny here!
A family of three: See baby, so many of your friends are sketching, do you wanna sketch? you can tie it up there, see how nice it looks? you like sketching, why don't you do it here?
No no, you are still too small to sketch, lets go back home, come!
A 3rd standard boy: Are there any other interesting activities here? I say, this is interesting why don't you sketch one more picture? No, I do not like this, I like computers, you do not have any computer games here. I ask - What is interesting in computer? I like C programming. Although this boy ended up sketching 12 pictures, he left his gmail id on every sketch he made.
Can I take back what I have sketched? I say- why don't you tie it up there on the display rope so that everyone looks at your picture? No, no, I do not want people to see my picture!
Come beta, sketch something, I will take a picture and put it up on facebook!
If you do not sketch properly, I will not post it on facebook. Do you want it or not?
Mom to her son who was sketching: come lets go to the story telling session and come back here. Son: I am bored of listening to stories at my school everyday. I am not coming.
See how nicely you are sketching. You should do it at home also. Will you?
wow! It is so nice baby... write 'Save A Tree' on it!
Papa I want to sketch. No no, I do not have time now, lets go home. It takes a lot of time if you start sketching!
I don't want to sketch a tree. I say - ok! sketch a bird. I don't want to sketch a bird. I ask - what do you want to sketch? I want to sketch a computer!
...and many more!
Here are some photographs from the festival:
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| Nature Journaling workshop by Sangeetha, Shilpa and Abhisheka |
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| Huh-A-Tree |
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| Cultural performances by Soliga Pusumale Kalatanda |
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| Moved-by-Trees workshop by Veena Basavarajaiah |
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| Crossword activity |
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| Story telling sessions |
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| Jigsaw Puzzle of an African Tulip Tree flower |
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| Cubbon Park, Bal Bhavan campus |
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| Everything under Neralu |
Srikanth
3 comments:
lovely pics... yeah i actually heard the third standard kid say,i do not like sketching, i like programming in c better , and was absolutely shocked.. wonderful event , definitely some thing to look forward to every year...
Lovely post! Thanks for all the pics Srikanth.
Well, one feedback we did get was.. to use less paper next time ! We will definitely work on a different, yet fun plan for next time!
Thanks for just being there and looking into the activities with so much enthusiasm ! :)
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