Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (MM/NR)
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
 
Mangalore, Jan 11: Writing for children does not mean dwelling in an airy world of fantasy, playfully spinning light-hearted fairy tales. The very nature of childhood is such, that it is a stage of life requiring constant nurturing, guidance and protection. This also means that the stories written for children require some kind of governance and control, declared Deepa Agarwal a well-known children’s writer.
 
Delivering the inaugural address at the international conference on ‘Children’s Literature,’ at St Aloysius college auditorium on Thursday, January 10 she informed that children’s books began to be published in sizable numbers in India, only after the Independence.
 
The birth of a new state meant that a national identity had to be forged and national pride nurtured. It was a daunting task indeed, in a country with a multiplicity of regional languages and cultures. But a start was made and as a result, several children’s books were published at that time, she added.

“Policy makers recognized the fact that nothing unites a nation like its stories. And despite all the linguistic and cultural differences, stories are the link which binds Indians in an enduring web of traditional, through tales, folklore, myths and legends that have spun its way throughout the country, over centuries. To keep this web in prime condition, ancient stories which were re-told again-and-again, dominated children’s books in the early days.” she elucidated.
 
Fr Francis Serrao, rector of St Aloysius institutions, in his presidential address opined that literature has been the tool which has been molding human minds. “We are, what we read,” he declared succinctly.
 
Fr Swebert D’Silva, principal of St Aloysius College, Prof Jean Webb and others were present on the dais. Dr Arputhem Lourdusami, conference chairman welcomed the gathering, while Anto Thomas, the conference organizer made the introductory remarks.