Children need freedom to explore, says Amala Rai

Amala Rai, daughter of veteran master painter H. C. Rai, is a theatre professional and alumnus of National School of Drama, New Delhi (NSD). In this video, she talks to the children and their parents about the need to have freedom to do things that the children wish to explore, try out new things and ideas and how Khula Aasmaan can facilitate this process of creative expression by the children. She laments that due to extreme competitive pressures on school children, parents seem to discourage children from pursuing their other interests. Amala talks about her childhood and how her parents gave her the freedom to explore many fields and choose her path.

Creative expression by children

She builds a strong case to allow each child to have an avenue for expression. It could be it in the form of art, music, theatre, sports, science experiments or anything else of their choice. Children’s inner feelings and emotions need to be expressed. If that does not happen, it could lead to unhealthy situation.  Each child has a tremendous source of internal energy. This energy needs to be channelised for constructive ideas. She further says that this is getting critical as the families have become nuclear, parents are unable to spend adequate time with their children and that very few of them have pets at home.

Khula Aasmaan will have conversations with several personalities from different walks of life. These conversations will be made available to the community of children, college students, parents and teachers. This will ensure that they get to listen to distinguished persons from diverse fields. We are sure that this process will enrich their thinking, expand their horizons and give them new insights. Many of these conversations are bound to be inspiring and will urge them to do things that they had not thought of.

See other conversations with Khula Aasmaan :

Kathak dancer Prerana Shrimali talks to Khula Aasmaan

Architect Sudhir Jambhekar talks to Khula Aasmaan

Geologist Dr. Suvrat Kher talks to Khula Aasmaan

Cartoonist S. D. (Shi Da) Phadnis talks to Khula Aasmaan

Dr. Jaya Vedamony narrates the story of her daughter

Here is a link to all videos