Families visit us to see the display of dolls that Viju has been arranging for the last two years. We have children accompanying their parents. We have to literally pull children off their computers to visit and see this display! Only some parents understand the purpose of the display and that does not feel nice. My wife is happiest when children play with the dolls and parents tell them the fable/story/legend. Dolls are arranged in a established hierarchy and the purpose as I understand it is to use the festival milieu for socializing as well as passing on some legends/stories to the kids. The story of Rama is about ethics as well as about making a personal choice about right /wrong rather than being taken in by what the 'dhobi 'says. Similarly every doll can be used to tell a story, explain a concept or value. While it is great that this tradition is coming back in a big way, sadly the purpose today looks like it is not at all about children having a good time and learning some things, but about competing adults.
0 comments:
Post a Comment