post news network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 16: Taha, a 14-year-old from Delhi Public School, Bhubaneswar, has taken the centre-stage and the entire 4×4 class room is reverberating with his voice. In his teenage tone, but still firm, he talks about his love for physics and how he developed a ‘metaphorical crush’ for literature. He, like many others of his age group, is participating in a story-telling contest.
In another room, a group of about 60 orphans, aged five and above, are seated with blank sheets and pencils. These children have been asked to sketch their imagination of India for a ‘poster-making’ challenge. The orphans, who live in Nirman’s children home, and Taha are attending the ‘Wordlust’ event in Cuttack organised by a group of students, mostly from Ravenshaw University, Sunday.
Most of the orphan kids are quite shy when approached and do not utter anything more than their names.
One such kid Kaleb Singh, who does not like to talk much about him, agrees to share the idea for his poster that he is about to make. He sounds like he is about to pull an M F Husain as he plans to draw a map of India with the picture of a goddess. However, he is not too sure which goddess is going to fit the profile.
Co-organiser Arya Senapati, a student of Ravenshaw University, says ‘Wordlust’ has come into existence because of the organisers love for literature. Simultaneously, other contests such as slam-poetry, photography and event journalism challenges are also part of the event.
Debendra Sutar is the chief speaker on the occasion. He is the secretary of Orissa Rationalist Society, a group that claims to be fighting against various social stigmas.
He says, “Orphans’ talent remains unnoticed in a children’s home and events like these are very helpful for such kids as they get a chance to put their thoughts on page.”
Another organiser Ansuman Biswal says this is a “first of its kind event in Cuttack.”