Baghi’ the tiger or the bagh in Hindi is an image etched on the child’s mind easily. It has a mix of vibrant colours, a rich golden brown texture with thick stripes of rich black, glowing emerald green eyes, a majestic gait often in a background of lush foliage with hues of green and brown. The parent who shows the child the image often throws in a deep gurgling growl and soon the crawling child goes on to play ‘Baghi’ and identify and learn his first words outside mama and papa. The only way a child starts relating to legible adult conversation is by image recognition. It was the way modern speech and script evolved initially, evident from
looking at the stone age caves of Drakensberg mountains where the early nomadic tribes communicated with one another etching 40,000 rock art paintings depicting the movement of animals and men over vast territories. Closer home and in real time there have been the illustrations at Ajanta and Ellora caves and the learnings from the Madhubani paintings that talk of a way of life at ancient Mithila.
Visual and illustrated forms
GBO’s Jumpstart 2014 promises to relive experience of visual and illustrated forms of learning at India International Centre New Delhi on 25 and 26 August and at the Goethe- Institut Bengaluru on 28 August 2014. Its theme is play as you learn. Writers, illustrators, artists, designers, animators, editors, publishers, and transmedia enthusiasts will gather at the event from all over the world to
bring to book lovers the unique experience of witnessing how things happen in the magical world of children’s publishing.
Nury Vittachi née Jam the founding chairman of the Scholastic Asia Book prize, the Asia Literary Review, the Man Asian Literary prize and the Australia-Asia Literary Award will be one of the key speakers at the Jumpstart master class. He is one of Asia’s most successful and widely translated children’s book writers having hosted several TV shows, and penned more than 30 books, ranging from non-fiction to novels including the much-loved ‘Feng Shui detective
series.’ There will be Ralph Möllers,
trans-media expert from Germany, who will hold a master class on trans- media. He will help publishers bridge the gap between conventional and digital publishing by demonstrating how to use apps and other digital tools to enhance the learning experience.
The animation master class will be held by Shilpa Ranade, noted illustrator, animator and film maker, to give the audience a feel of basic animation techniques and understanding of its limitations, besides sharing industry experience. Author, illustrator and designer Sophie Benini Pietromarchi will show the use of a wide range of substrates, coloured paper, fabric and pearls to design and illustrate books and create new individual compositions with universal appeal.
Activity-based learning
There will be Asha Nehemiah, illustrator and author, who has written picture books, short stories and children’s mystery books which have been translated into Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Assamese and Bengali. Also will be present Anshumani Rudra, author, game designer and screen writer who predominantly writes in the speculative fiction genre. Among the educationists will be Amkuta Mahapatra an independent consultant who has been involved in school education and the Committee that is reviewing ‘activity- based learning’ in several states including Karnataka.
EK Shaji the founder member trustee of Jodo Gyan which has conducted over 1200 workshops on Math, EVS curriculum design as well as on school mathematics policy for principals, parents, teachers, and teacher-educators across the country, will also be there. The festival, conference and master class sessions are paid sessions with a fairly reasonable tariff and the details are available at the
GBO website.
