Randeep Mand takes children in Jalandhar to gardens and holds story-telling sessions

For seven years, she was a teacher at Mayor World School in Jalandhar. But the 8 am to 2 pm job was not what Randeep Mand thought she was made for.

One fine day, she quit her job and came up with what she called ‘The Fable Garden’. “As a teacher, I had always felt that the kids were getting too engrossed in the digital world and needed something for detox. So, I decided to take them out in gardens for story-telling sessions. I shared the concept with some parents in my circle and they were all in,” she narrated how it all started.

Mand started with the classics. “Most parents told me that the kids won’t like stories, which were from our times. But I was adamant. I started with Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. To everyone’s surprise, the kids really enjoyed it. I followed up with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. The kids were so receptive,” even as the creative bee in her kept yearning for more experiments.

Fascinating tales

Mand did not stop there. “The lockdown days came in and we did these sessions on Google Meet. During those days, kids had a lot of time. So, I encouraged them to write short stories. I told them that stories with interesting plots would be published in a book. So, they all started jotting their thoughts and weaving stories. To my surprise, these kids, aged just 8 to 14, had such fascinating tales to tell—adventure, treasure hunts, battle and bloodshed.”