CHENNAI: In a bid to resuscitate the art of storytelling and spread awareness on protecting trees, Mary Anne Charity Trust (MACT) launched Bhoomi Tales, a short story book, and an Android app.
The app, Green Shadow, was launched on Saturday at Loyola College along with the book. S Cyril Alexander, executive director of MACT, said that Bhoomi Tales was published in an effort to retain the practice of storytelling and take traditional stories to children.
“Grandparents play a vital role in the development of a child’s knowledge and creativity. This has rapidly changed. In this machine-dependent world, with the robotic lifestyle, the toys that children play with, have also become robotic. This has led to the extinction of the art of storytelling,” he said. After launching the app, Alexander said that the app was a measure to protect trees in the State. “Trees that are essential for the existence of life on Earth are being destroyed in almost all parts of the world,” he said.
He added that the modern world was characterised by the outgrowth of technological advancements and sense of artificial intelligence, and trees had to take the backseat because of that.
Bhoomi Tales was launched by child rights consultant R Vidyasagar. The book is published by the Centre for Social Work and Research. Vidyasagar commended the efforts of MACT in bringing out the book. “It is suitable for such a day an age, when the art of storytelling is dying and not many children are accustomed to the beautiful art. Stories are important for children and it is important to revive childhood through storytelling,” he said.
Green Shadow movement, which is a platform for community participation and intervention in protecting trees from being cut and contributing to increasing tree cover in all districts, was launched by Sowmya Anbumani, president of NGO Pasumai Thayagam.
She said that Chennai had a tree cover of 9.5 per cent and when compared to other cities such as Delhi (which has 30 per cent) and Bengaluru and Kolkata (both having 14 per cent), it was very low. She stressed that awareness about protection of trees should start at the grassroot level and that a Tree Authority Body had to be implemented in Chennai.