Strings Attached

This is the story of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhis childhood,the independence struggle and the man turning around the fate of a nation by becoming a Mahatma.

Written by Parul
February 10, 2011 12:06 AM IST

3 min read

Taking Mahatma Gandhi out of books,puppeteers from Rajasthan regaled children with an interesting show

This is the story of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhis childhood,the independence struggle and the man turning around the fate of a nation by becoming a Mahatma. But there is nothing gory about it. This is because our audience mainly comprised children. You have to make things interesting for them, says Mithilesh Dubey who along with his five member team from Rajasthan Samagar Sewa,Jaipur,entertained the children of Strawberry Fields school on Tuesday with Mohan Se Mahatma,a one-hour puppet show. With glove and rod puppets singing and dancing to a medley of songs and effective voices,Dubey and Bindu Singh got the Gandhian philosophy out of the books into the hearts of these children. We just need new ways to spread these philosophies and not confine our social issues and history to text books, says Dubey.

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And it didnt take too much and too long to get the little ones glued to the life and times of Gandhi. Wide-eyed,they gazed at the variety of puppets that danced around to tell them the story of Gandhi how he questions his mother about untouchables and in the years to follow,goes on to lead the independence struggle. We need to create more absorbing ways to reach out to children and share our history and culture with them. Puppetry is a great medium for this,for it is live and interactive, says Pramod Sharma,of Yuvasatta,an NGO,who brought this team of puppeteers to town. He adds that puppetry is a dying art form and these shows are a means to preserve our folk arts. The group has performed more than 1,000 shows of Mohan Se Mahatma all over the country and is in the city for a week to share this story with students of various schools.

The sets,music and puppets some of them life-size,were equally riveting,To share the most important era of our history with children,we depict the prominent people in Gandhis life,who were involved in the independence struggle, says Singh who adds that they have made as many as 80 puppets for Mohan Se Mahatma . Having done extensive research on Gandhis life,Dubey has written the script of the show and has focused on many unknown facets,especially his childhood.

A few years back,the team held an exhibition of Gandhis books outside a movie-hall showing the Sanjay Dutt starrer Lagey Raho Munna Bhai and sold an years stock in just a week,You have to move with the times and make Gandhigiri a hit, smiles Dubey.

The group also used Gandhis original voice in the show to create a unique effect. It is now working on new shows that will bring out Gandhis relationship with children and also one on stories related to the Mahatma.