CHENNAI: Rajavel Sundar and Avanti Natarajan inquisitively look into the screen and nod their head as they listen to JoAnne Saldhana, library educator, who, on the other end, is talking about picking the right books for children. JoAnne was recently part of the husband-wife duo’s live sessions on their Instagram page Lil Trails, where they have been interacting with parents and kids. “Raj studied for 14 years in a boarding school and he knows what it’s like staying away from parents.
I’ve been involved with Teach For India. Both of us are fond of kids and have handson experience with them. When we had our own, Dira Paavai Rajavel, four and a half years back, we decided to share our lessons with others. There’s no such thing called perfect parenting but all of us can contribute something to the community,” shares Avanti, an artist and entrepreneur. Lil Community is a pet project created under the banner of Lil Trails, which became active after the lockdown was announced. Making space for parents to share their experiences, the first edition of conversations was open from April 9 to April 13, on alternate days.
“Janaki Sabesh, founder of Golpo Tales, is our chief ideator who brings with her a wide experience with children, parents and educators. We brainstorm and curate a list of people. These are 20-25 minute conversations that are available for people to watch later on our page under the IGTV option. It doesn’t restrict to parents, and includes all age groups. Some discussions are impromptu while some are planned question-andanswer sessions depending on the speakers.
The last five minutes is open for viewer interaction,” says Raj, engineer and entrepreneur. “Both of us are equally involved in putting together these sessions. Our parents have been our role models in collaborative work. Right from parenting to work, we believe in working in tandem. Our viewership and followers shot up after these video sessions. We’ve been getting an overwhelming response from parents from different regions. We will move beyond the Internet after the lockdown, and reach out to all communities with lectures and workshops,” shares Avanti.
Lil Trails also collaborated with Golpo Tales for storytelling and fun interactive sessions. Apart from this, Avanti has also been engaging her followers on her personal Instagram page through variou s colourin g
techniques. It has indeed been a productive lockdown for the duo. The second edition of these conversations commenced on April 16 and will conclude on April 24. One of their latest was with Dushyanth Gunasekar, creative curator entrepreneur, from Crea Shakthi, on theatre in education for children. He explained how theatre can be used as an important tool for holistic education in school curriculums. He highlighted the significance of it in terms of cognitive and language development skills among children; and how it’s a misconception that theatre is not given importance at schools.
“Each session has a takeaway for us — be it juggling parenting and work, introducing kids to the right books at a young age, giving them a balanced diet, keeping them physically engaged and fit. We’ve been personally exposed to an array of topics required for holistic upbringing of our child. Parents have also been reaching out to us and sharing their feedback,” shares Avanti. The talks will be held at 4 pm on alternate days. The speakers are Sharanya Dilip, co-founder, @Breadcrumb- HQ; Shoba Viswanath, publishing director and co-founder, Karadi Tales Company; Sharmila Ribeiro, author; and Seema Wahi Mukherjee, storyteller. For details visit, Instagram page: Lil Trails