In search of the next Tot Batot

Story telling sessions aim to spread love for Urdu literature amongst the youth.

KARACHI:

Dheere Bolo — a storytelling project which hopes to collect stories from everyday Pakistanis and turn them into high quality content for children held their first session at The Second Floor (T2F) on Tuesday.

Kicking off the storytelling session with poetry, co-founder of Dheere Bolo Nadine Murtaza hopped from one place to another as on a tune composed by Zair Raza Zaidi .

The eight-member Islamabad-based team played to an enthusiastic crowd of around 25 children. The children aged six plus were accompanied mostly by their mothers seemed avid listeners as well as a very informative and talkative bunch.



The stories were about farm animals and the sounds they make such as the rooster’s cock-a-doodle-doo, a billy goat’s bleat and the horse’s neigh. The crowds favourite was the story of a single-parent bird which was narrated in the tune of a famous qawwali.

Murtaza asked the meanings of words such as jheel and what a rainbow would be called in Urdu from the toddlers. Azlaan Sahibzada, four, was intrigued by Murtaza’s ability to remember every child’s name in the crowd and his personal favourite was the story told about a space-man.

While speaking to The Express Tribune Murtaza described Dheere Bolo as an invention for young children and to help grow their creative minds. She said, “We are an activist publishing house and we are looking at different kinds of stories coming out from Pakistan, which we believe that children need to hear.”

A crowd favourite was the story of a single-parent bird which was narrated in the tune of a famous qawwali. PHOTOS: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

Murtaza explains that currently the content has been designed by Dheere Bolo’s team members but contributors are more than welcome to chip in their stories. “All we want to do is hear Pakistani stories, may they be all the way from Gilgit. Right now we are telling stories in Urdu, later on they will be in English and definitely in all other Pakistani languages,” she adds.

When asked why the company was targeting the younger crowd she said, “For adult Pakistani readers and listeners many people are doing things, however we haven’t prepared our young ones for this society and sadly we are not doing anything for our children.”

Murtaza compares the extensive work being done in Iran and India for children’s literature to Pakistan’s oblivion to shed light on the matter. “We should be bringing out children’s literature and like every civilized society, we need to focus on our children. One needs to make content for children to stress on the issues such as tolerance- — that is a requisite for this society as well,” Murtaza said.



Parents in the crowd appreciated the use of Urdu by the narrators. While many children might have not understood the use of certain words, the session became a language learning experience for them. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th,  2015.

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