HP-India ropes in Victor Bannerjee to conduct a children’s theatre workshop

Ayyar says that HP-India looks even beyond “bits and bytes”. “We are keen to provide a platform for children to express creatively. We do believe that it is extremely important to nurture young minds and allow space for children to express themselves,” he says.

“Through Theatre Bytes, we hoped to unearth the latent talent and creativity that often lies undiscovered in our citizens of the future,” he says.

Participants at the workshop were required to develop 10-15 minute plays. Says Ayyar, “The element of challenge is far greater in script writing or acting if the duration is of just 10-15 minutes.”

According to Bannerjee, the students took up the challenge very well, and “some of the performances were truly outstanding.”

However, perfection was not the sole goal of the workshop. “We wanted the students to have fun, and yet get them to do what experts do in thisfield,” said Bannerjee during the course of the workshop.

“We sought to make this a fun event with an underlining of seriousness that does not intimidate the creativity of young minds,” he says.

Underlining the significance of the workshop, Bannerjee stated that “art must grow for civilisation to flourish. Not everybody becomes a doctor or an engineer. Some do and must take to art,” he says. Of course, Bannerjee himself was faced with the challenge of handling students who belonged to the X-generation. But, he did it with consummate ease. “Children are growing up much faster today. They are exposed to all kinds of stress, at home and outside. My objective is to play on their basic innocence. I make them laugh and cry. I encourage them to love me back,” he says.

As for HP-India, Ayyar assures that there is no linkage to the company’s commercial plans. “Natural linkage is alright,” he says.

Ayyar believes that creativity is absolutely important in the professional world. “Web designing isperhaps one area that highlights both technical skills and creativity,” he says.

HP-India does have plans to hold similar programmes in future. “But, first we will check the effectiveness of this programme by knowing about it from the participants themselves,” says Ayyar.

Bannerjee on the other hand has no immediate plans to extend this programme. However, he believes that `Theatre Bytes’ was an important beginning and many others will step in to conduct similar programmes. “I do believe that we all belong to the planet of the ape. Surely, this effort will get picked up by someone somewhere.”

He adds, “I have no plans for any formal training. That’s too technical. I’m here for the fun element.” When asked about the future, he says, “Tomorrow will be another beautiful day.”