Give Them a Future: Educate a Tribal Girl in India

School children love events and workshops which help to break the monotony of the daily routine. In Agragamee School, children also love to report on the events with lively illustrations which make the whole thing more attractive. We give below the translation of a report of a Writers' Workshop by Ranjita, a student of Class V. The workshop was conducted by Dr. Jitendra Das, awarded by 'Sahitya Academy' for his extensive contribution to children's literature. We also attach the image of her original writing in Odiya, along with an illustration: 

About the Story told to us by Jitendra Sir

On Sunday, 19.3.2017 Jitendra Sir, and his wife, Jayanti Guruma came to our school. Jitendra Sir, Jayanti Guruma, Bado Guruma, Director Sir, Kanaka Guruma and other teachers and Sirs were present.

Jitendra Sir asked Namita what was her name. She said my name is Namita. He asked Gita what she liked; singing, stories, playing or dancing. Gita replied she liked singing songs. Jitendra Sir asked Gita to sing a song. Gita sang ‘Sambalua’ (Caterpillar) song. Sir asked us who wants to be a girl and who wants to be a boy? Panjuri, Namita, Sangita, Dolly, Manisha raised their hands. Sir called them to him, Manjuri said that she would rather be a boy. Dolly said she was happy being a girl. Sangita also said she wanted to be a girl, so also Manisha. Sir asked each one of them to tell a story, Sangita told the story of a Mother and Son, Namita told the story of an Old man and Old woman, Panjuri told the story of a Snake and a Snake Charmer. After that Dolly told the story of a Brahmin and a tiger, Manisha told the story of Rabbit and Fox. Namita sang a song ‘Ehi Mati Ehi Pani Pabana’. Situn sang ‘Sango he Chalo Bano Ku Jiba’.

Then Sir made the picture of a log on a road, and asked us what it was. We identified it. Sir told us to return after lunch. So we returned to the big hall after lunch. Sir asked us to write about any topic we felt like. We wrote. Then he asked us riddles. We answered the ones we knew, and could not answer those we did not know. Then Sir asked us to write out riddles we knew. We wrote.

Then Sir asked us to listen to a story about ‘A lizard and a tiger’. There was a village. In that village, there were an old man and an old woman. The old man went to plough his land one morning. He found a tiger, which had a lizard in its nose. The old man was frightened. However, he told himself, I shall be brave, and not be afraid of this tiger. The tiger told him, I will not eat you, my belly is full. There is a lizard inside my nose, please pull it out. The old man said if I pull it out, you will eat me. The tiger said no I will not eat you. The old man pulled out the lizard. The tiger said do not tell anybody that I had a lizard in my nose. The old man assured that he will not tell anybody. The tiger went off to its cave.

The old woman brought food for the old man. The old man laughed out loudly. Old woman wanted to know why he was laughing. The old man said I had gone to plough the fields. There I found a tiger with a lizard in its nose. The tiger was twitching and tossing, so I removed the lizard from his nose. The old man also told the story to the village. In the night when the old man was sleeping, the tiger came. It lifted the man along with the cot, and was carrying him away to the jungle. The old man suddenly found there were trees around him. He looked down, and found that he was being carried away by the tiger. The old man caught hold of a branch, and managed to slip away and return home. The tiger felt the cot was lighter. He looked up and found the old man was not there. Wondering what to do, he went back to his cave.

And so I finish my tale.

Links:

• http://agragamee.org/what-we-do/education/