It’s story time for the little caterpillars

It’s story time for the little caterpillars Nivriti Butalia / 27 April 2013 Motivated by the excess of ‘gadgets and gizmos’, Nishi Chatterjee is starting a one-woman campaign to improve children’s reading in Dubai. Mother to 5-year-old Arritro and wife to urban planner Roopak, Chatterjee moved to Dubai four months ago from Bahrain. Since she got here, Chatterjee, who has a doctorate in Education and a post-graduate degree in child development and human studies, has felt the need to further the habit of reading in children in Dubai. “Nowadays children are taken in too much by gadgets and gizmos.” And so in her home, that has paper cut-outs of butterflies in shiny purple and green paper among other children’s wonderland adornments, she set out to gather an audience of children aged between 5 and 10 at her place in Mankhool. Twice a week, for an hour-and-a half, the children sit and listen to stories about Jack and The Beanstalk and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Chatterjee engages with the children to a phenomenally interactive and educational extent. For instance, if she’s reading out, very animatedly, the story of how Jack (of beanstalk fame) grew so tall, she injects a little homily on the benefit of beans and spinach, and why it is essential not to trouble one’s parents and eat this healthy food. The children are, on the whole, attentive. They sing rhymes, mingle with children of their age, and answer all the questions that Nishi quizzes them on as the stories are read out. Chatterjee, sensing that one little girl is losing her battle with attentiveness, might ask her, “Sarah, what kind of beans were there?” and if Sarah doesn’t know the right answer, a little chorus will chime to her rescue: “Magical beans!” At the end of the class, the children are involved in further educational exercises, such as preparing their own pots of bean sprouts. “In the next class,” Nishi promises 
the children who are all called ‘little caterpillars’, “we will learn to make golden eggs.” This is 
followed by squeals of excitement. Parents who come to pick and drop their children are advised to sit a little distance away from the actual carpet space where the children are sitting cross-legged hanging on to Nishi’s every expression and constantly changing intonation. It’s a joy to watch the lady, who originates from Rajasthan in India, skillfully negotiate the temperaments and attitudes of these ‘little caterpillars’. Some are more attentive. Some want to rattle the cage of the lovebirds just to see them squawk. The undeniable common thread seems to be all these children are learning the joys of a good read and are going back asking their parents for more books. nivriti@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International