Have you checked this library yet?

With schools shut and outdoor playtime considerably compromised childrenrsquos routines had a significant overhaul On the other hand many artistes who perform live found themselves out of work The School Library Project which brings free content to children daily came as a blessing to children parents and artistes alike It is the brainchild of Shaizia Jifri head of design at Theatre ProfessionalsldquoDuring the pandemic Tasneem Fatehi and I thought about what we can do for our community We had to do something that wouldnrsquot cost us anything since we didnrsquot have any money at that point We approached a team of instructors who wersquove been working with over the years with the idea of creating content for children for free We chose the social media platforms YouTube Facebook and Instagram because we wouldnrsquot have to pay anything to use them Luckily they agreed to do this toordquo she explainsThe theatrical adaptation of When Ali Met BajranbaliKrithika Ramakrishnan Annie Ambily Srividya Srinivas from Bengaluru Kriti Tiwary from Delhi and Shaizia Jifri Manekshaw from Mumbai designed and executed fresh content for children every day Alumni from The Drama School Mumbai have also been contributors ldquoAt a time like this children donrsquot have access to a physical library At a library you can pick out a book on any subject and choose from a wide variety of interesting topics Thatrsquos why we chose to call it The School Library Projectrdquo shares ManekshawBut what about this adding to childrenrsquos screen time considering their online schooling routines Manekshaw admits that itrsquos a valid concern but looks at the brighter side ldquoKids watch content despite online school so why not have content that is interesting and informative and something that makes them think I do a series with a Muppet called Francois and the current one is called Flora and Fauna Therersquos a set of videos on the environment too So itrsquos not mindless white noiserdquoAnnie Ambily and Krithika RamakrishnanThe content covers a wide range of subjects for children from three to 12 years Therersquos storytelling in English Hindi and Marathi with illustrations apart from musicbased artbased and fitnessbased content including an ongoing series by Capoeira India The duration of each sessions ranges from between a little over a minute to 30 minutes depending on the subject and the level of interactivityEightyearold Rahini Saigalrsquos mother Shinibali Saigal loves the fact that her child is exposed to stories from across the world by watching these videos Khushboo Shah has also been watching these videos with her sixyearold son Zian ldquoThe videos have inspired him to be more creative When he watched a video with shadow puppets he played with light and created his own shadow puppets Today when he stands on our balcony he observes the birds and the trees outside They were always there but wersquove begun to notice them nowrdquo says ShahSrividya Srinivas Shaizia Jifri Manekshaw and Kriti TiwaryThe group had also presented a prerecorded play called When Ali Became Bajrangbali adapated from Devashish Makhijarsquos book by the same name ldquoThe play is recorded but we make it seem like itrsquos live and also have a live interaction after the play Itrsquos about a little monkey who is trying to stop a man from cutting the tree where the animals live by pretending to be Hanuman The play is a ticketed show and sometimes we take it to schools as wellrdquo says ManekshawNext up is an initiative called This is the Day with Meghna Singhee where kids write in with an anecdote from their day She responds to these and writes one back to them This becomes a physical exchange of written pieces A year later and with the city cautiously opening up Manekshaw believes the nature of their content will change ldquoWhen we started online we knew at some point as soon as we could we would offer offline aspects as well like a festival where contributors can create together Maybe then we wonrsquot need to post every day but we can still use the digital medium in a meaningful wayrdquo she signs offLog on to httpswwwyoutubecomchannelUCU61Z_vxf92DeXTYZwJeTjQ