Dirgo-E te Eagle
Dhaka being the busiest city doesn't provide much opportunity for entertainment apart from visiting shopping malls and restaurants over and over again. Entertainment is important in order to maintain a proper balance in life. It is the medium to spend quality time and develop strong bonds between parents and their children.
Jatra, the fashion house is well known for its outfits for children. This time they have come up with an initiative to entertain children. Jatra is conducting a day-long event at their Banani branch for kids who can use it as an opportunity to let their inner artists out. The event is held on the first Friday of each month. Every month they come up with a new theme; with each new theme they are introducing one Bangla alphabet to the kids.
This gets interesting as the kids are learning about one fruit or animal that starts with that letter with the help of the book and a video story. The event has different activities for the children like painting, pottery and making puppets with paper bags. The environment is noticeably happy and optimistic and colourful. Everything has been setup keeping each and every child's safety in mind.
When asked about their motive behind this event, Urmila Sukla, the head organiser explained. “There is not much kids can do during their leisure time apart from watching television or repetitively playing with the same toy. This is just a little initiative from the Jatra team for the kids so that they can enjoy. There is no profit behind it; it's just a way to introduce kids to their Bangla culture. We simply want the kids to enjoy,” she said. Along with the children, their parents are also very happy. “It's a very good initiative as not only kids but we parents are learning new things. This allows us to spend more quality time with them,” Mahdia's mother said. Faiha's father also has almost the same opinion, “It's difficult to keep her busy with one thing, but I'm glad she is enjoying here and we would love to come again. Such events should be held often.
I am sure other parents would agree with me.” After doing all the art and craft work, Jatra prepares lunch for the kids and their parents. “The lunch we are providing is organic. It is a regular complaint that children these days only prefer meat and that's why we prefer vegetables and fish. A little change is good and the kids also enjoy it,” says Sukla. After lunch, there is a puppet show held for children through which they are given more information about the subject chosen as the theme. There is also a small stall for the kids from where they can purchase decoration pieces, hair bands, stuffed toys, drawing books etc. At the day long event, kids are pampered with gifts, consisting of T-shirts for block printing by the kids themselves, drawing paper, books, pencils and many other accessories.
Till date, this has been a successful event and both parents and kids have a good time. “Every child is different from the other and we are glad we could bring all of them together under one roof,” Sukla offers as summation. For further information about the event visit Jatra's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/JatraWorld
By Mehnaj Kabir
Photo courtesy: Jatra
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