Colombo-based author’s book on Sikhism for kids

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 29

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Introducing concepts like spirituality, religion, faith to kids could be a tough and often a misconstrued task. While many parents struggle to find ways to teach their kids about concepts defined by our faith, Artika Aurora Bakshi, an author and teacher, has come up with a fun way to teach the young generation about Sikhism.

Her first book, My Little Sikh Handbook, was an interactive one made to introduce basics of Sikhism to children. Her second book, My Little Sikh Handbook 2, will take over from the first one and will engage parents and kids both through activity filled story telling about ‘ardas’ (prayer).

“As a kid, I was introduced to religion or faith through my parents, but not as a procedural education. My mother used to explain every concept to us and then we would understand and follow it up as it we could. So, when I became a parent I tried to do the same with my kids and now, I want to share this with other kids as well,” said Artika. Based in Colombo, Artika is currently visiting Amritsar as one of the participants of the two-day South Asian Poetry Festival being held by the state government and Guru Nanak Dev University to commemorate 550th Prakash Parv. She recited two poems based on Guru Nanak’s teachings and philosophy at the event.

The event had poets from Iran, who recited a poem of Guru Nanak Dev in Persian, and another one from Orissa with a beautiful poem in Oriya.

Working towards ensuring that younger generation understands the concepts of Sikhism in a non-complicated way, Artika also conducts workshops on mindfulness back home in Colombo.