CHENNAI: Like many of us, Charanya Kumar grew up listening to stories narrated by her grandmother. She loved — and continues to love — imagining the characters, relating to them and playing out the story in her head.
“There were also a lot of adages used at home. For example, if I were bothering her, my grandma would say ‘Oh, don’t pester me like Nakshatresan!’. Suddenly, that reference would take me back to the story of Harishchandra and make me think. That has been my journey with scriptures,” she says.
An idea in gestation for 15 years, Charanya brought together two of her passions — her interest in scriptures and a degree in game designing — and launched Chittam on January 27 with five games.
In touch with the roots
“I have been abroad for 12 years. I realised how much people outside were paying attention to their history and culture. I was impressed by the way they were marketing it, and projecting it to their citizens and tourists,” says the founder and CEO, sharing the example of The Glass Beach in California.
“It was formed by years of dumping glass bottles; it was just garbage. The way it has been marketed, a lot of tourists flock to that place. So that always made me wonder, why are we, in India, not projecting the rich culture and history that we have?”
While this was the starting point, life took Charanya on its course. “Every time I hit a low, automatically I went back to stories from Mahabharata and Bhagavatam. They gave me strength. I think it was probably the rootedness in me that helped me go back or go in search of coping mechanisms. A lot of the younger children too are trying to escape and be in their world. Social media provides that for them, but not the strength to cope with the realities of life,” she notes.
This is where Indian history and heritage come into play, she believes.
“Most of Indian history, philosophy and scriptures are all shades of grey. It introduces people, and characters with shades of grey. At some point, you relate to a character, draw strength from that, start to understand what you can do differently and apply those learnings in your life. All of this happens subconsciously. That reaffirmed my thought that cultural rootedness is important for people to enhance their character and mental strength,” she says.
Charanya moved back to India in 2017. Working in the education space, she noticed students resorting to two words often — stress and depression. That’s when she found the purpose. “Putting it all together, I wanted to take Indian culture to children in fun ways in relatable ways so that they use this to build their mental strength and character,” she shares.
Play and learn
Chittam makes toys and games based on Indian culture and wisdom. They have launched Sarathi, Bommalattam, Bharata Vilas, Suprabatham and Neivedya.
She says, “We fundamentally make toys and games to take this information to the next generation through fun games. The games are also designed in such a way that the families and generations come together. One thing we observed, and parents agreed too, was children don’t have anything in common to talk to their grandparents. That too we are trying to address.”
The ideas for these games were intuitive. Her love for Lord Krishna drove Charanya to design Sarathi, an activity book. Bharata Vilas, a twist on the rummy game, was a means to unite India through stories and Bommalattam, her favourite folk art, is a puppetry kit.
“The idea for Neivedya came from my four-year-old daughter who loves to pretend-play with food items. But none of those products were Indian. So in Neivedya, there is Gatotkacha and a sheet of boondi."
"At the perforation, you crumble the boondi to make a laddoo and throw it into Gatotkacha’s mouth. It develops a child’s gross motor skills, fine motor skills, throwing, and aiming. And they would want to know more about the character, than the story. In Bommalattam, there is Pancha Pandava. It is based on Yaksha Prasanna, a lesser-known story. It teaches children about karma. It’s a sophisticated philosophy, but I have rephrased it and translated to children in a relatable fashion,” she explains about the games.
Suprabatham is a card game introducing 60 Indian personalities from across fields. “This is the first volume. We are working on a second one,” she adds. While Charanya has designed the games, she has a team equally passionate about scriptures and culture to help her with the research. Experts like Vishaka Hari, a Harikatha exponent, or a friend whose family has been doing tholpavai koothu for 13 generations, give her further insights.
Charanya asserts, “We are talking about all the Indic religions — Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, that have their roots in India. For example, Neivedya teaches children about the concept of offering food to God. Superficially, it is only a ritual. When you dive down, there is symbolism. You’re grateful for the food that you’re eating. In every Indic religion, food is considered sacred. So there is respect for the food. When you respect the food, your wastage is less. This ritual embodies all of this.”
Chittam hopes to explore the digital space. In the pipeline are an activity book for children to learn more about their own family, land and culture, a bilingual game titled Mozhi, wherein you can play the game in English or Tamil and learn the other language in the process.
Chittam’s games will soon be available at retail outlets and on e-commerce sites. For details, visit www.chittam.in.