My brother is like a star
but he likes little stars
He loves me a lot
But he doesn’t like my bad things

I like grape trees, my brother says
But I don’t like the grape seeds, he says.
I like the taste
but I don’t like the peel
-Gauthami

My mother loves me a lot
But she doesn’t like useless things
I like rose flower trees
but I don’t like the thorns
I like the smell
But I don’t like the useless tree smell
– Angel

My friend is like a newspaper
She loves gossip
I love to read her
When I read her
I read myself
-Hajera

Look closely. Two Face: A beautiful sketch from Mubeen

“Sir, I love drawing. Look at my art. But there is no time. Look at my school. Look at where we are. What can you expect. I will do a drawing for you, only one. Okay, maybe two”

-Mubeen

Good fun. Excellent poetry. All around, the past week has provided more insights into the students’ creative writing abilities.

At Nalgonda, the boys have been behaving much differently in our class than in the other classes. Their creative work is paralleled by physical movement; ideas for films are acted out, memories are recounted with a storytellers mastery of body language. Even when answering a simple question their bodies are in an excess of motion: When asked if they are eager to use the cameras each raised their hand, then two hands, then all ten toes and ten fingers went up into the air as the boys jumped out of their seats.

But this free movement in class – both of ideas and of bodies – is not easy to manage. There is a hard balance to strike between lenience that encourages creative work and discipline so that work can be produced. There is also a second issue about teaching at Nalgonda. The boys only see us twice a week. We have a great time together. They always ask us to stay longer and help us get rickshaws back to the bus stand. But there is a distance I feel between teachers and the students. Why shouldn’t there be? We only see each other twice a week (for students with regular attendance). Some students do not come to school on a regular basis and we see them even less. Perhaps because of this distance, students are a bit reluctant to share certain emotions, insights, or details about themselves in their creative work. Understandably so. I feel close to them personally, but when I wonder about the impact of the lessons I keep going back to Mubeen’s comment, “Sir, I love drawing. Look at my art. But there is no time. Look at my school. Look at where we are. What can you expect. I will do a drawing for you, only one. Okay, maybe two.” His comment points out at something that has been gnawing away at me. To be effective our class might do better if we were there more days a week or the lessons did not feel as peripheral to their overall curriculum. At Railway, the opposite may hold true. The staff are actively engaged in using our skills to showcase the school’s talent. At Railway the girls are more disciplined and the staff more ready to instill computer literacy skills. Yet, this perhaps takes place at the expense of that devilish mischief so valuable to poetry and storytelling.

Some of the boys are doing extra homework to deal with the difficulty of expressing themselves through conventional digital stories on Powerpoint.. They are drawing illustrations in preparation for a short graphic story that deals with issues in their lives such as religious tensions, coming of age in a boarding school, estrangement from home etc. These issues are then set to fictional characters. Reservations about divulging certain emotions may be more freely painted onto their characters. The boys are both practicing story boarding for their films and also using a different platform of  illustrated fiction to practice their poetic license. See some initial sketches on flickr: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/21955629@N03/sets/72157622797101614/)

Past fellows have used Powerpoint to organize these students’ stories and develop their photography skills. We are too. It has become apparent that more classes than expected will be required to put their stories onto the computers. And yet, watching the clock tick by I feel the students are asking for class to return to our lessons on the art of the story. I do not know if there is a standard, or appropriate, balance between computer literacy education and lessons on story telling but the students seem to hint that there is something more unique about learning the art of the story. Maybe its just me. But I am reminded of the following quote from the Center for Digital Storytelling:

Technology has added a new twist to storytelling, although we must always make sure that the content is the driving force behind any project. What our students are saying should always be more important than how they are saying it. That said, the use of technology can pique interest in a variety of students with a story to tell. Digital storytelling uses the available tools of the computer and Internet, and morphs it with words and narration, with the final outcome being an interesting multi-media mix of images and voice. Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights.
– Leslie Rule, Center for Digital Storytelling

A sketch by Mubeen for a villain in his illustrated story

Demonstration of beautiful student calligraphy

As we begin to prepare for our digital stories with the video cameras the boys have pitched a few ideas for their film projects:

“Sir, I want to do a film on the builders of Nalgonda. You say that the headmistress wants us to do a film on the new housing developments here. I want to do a film on the builders asking ‘Why is this not my house?’ While they are working on the housing project why should the rich people have the big building. Our neighbors also want buildings.”

-Patan

“Sir, let’s do a film about an all-boys fashion show. This will be funny.”

-Salu

“Sir, let’s do a film about India and Pakistan. But drama. Lots of drama. There will be war. There will be cricket. There will be a Sir in a classroom instructing Indian students with humor. Lots of jokes. This fighting, what a joke.

-Baba