Narrating water’s origin and its importance to children in TN

The Thar Desert in Rajasthan sees only 40 cloudy days in a year and the villagers living along the desert have a name for each cloud in their local language. For the people of the Thar, sighting clouds and rain are events and they celebrate it. This became an inspiration for volunteers behind Cuckoo Movement for Children to start a project called Thanneerin Mannippu (water’s forgiveness). The project aims at creating awareness about water, its origin, and importance to students across Tamil Nadu.

Cuckoo Movement is a volunteer-run initiative that works with children from rural villages in the State. Children will be introduced to nature, books, movies, photography, traditional folk arts, music, martial arts, theatre, and also engage them in discussions on socio-political and environmental issues. Talking about Thanneerin Mannippu, one of the volunteers Kaushik Kumar says, “There is no proper awareness about water and its importance in our country. We were inspired by stories about water conservation done by individuals and groups across the country. The story of Thar Desert clouds, Ganga crusader GD Agarwal, Gandhian environmentalist Anupam Mishra, etc moved us deeply. The country is facing one of its most serious water crisis and it’s high time we taught the next generation the importance of saving our environment.”

The inspiring stories made the Cuckoo Movement teamrealise that there are a lotmore things associated with water much beyond the understanding.

“There is something more about water as an element in all different spectrums. We need to understand water as an element that transcends time and space. If we could teach children about it, they will have much more awareness on the usage of water,” he adds.

Ramesh, another volunteer of Cuckoo Movement, shares about Thanneerin Mannippu project. He says, “It’s a 45-day project where we will be visiting schools across Tamil Nadu, meeting students and teaching them the importance of water. We are doing this through street plays, photo and art exhibitions, and talks. Also, we will be giving postcards to children and asking them to sketch interesting things about the water. Once we collect all the postcards, it will be sent to other schools across the country.” The team has designed various posters that show the current state of the water crisis. “We wish to bring out the inherent spark in every child. Let them understand reality and move forward in life.”

So far, the team has covered various schools in Chennai, Thiruvannamalai, Coimbatore, Madurai, and Kanniyakumari.