LAHORE: Khalid Anum’s book Bachon Kay Geetwas launched in a ceremony punctuated by banter and concluded by music.

Senator Aitzaz Ahsan was the chief guest, while other eminent personalities were also present.

Moderator Khurshid Hyder, a renowned journalist, said children were naturally musical so writing a book of sing-along songs for them could do wonders. She said the Oxford University Press (OUP) was known more for publishing books for adults than children so this was an important decision by them as children’s book publishing was a huge industry worldwide. She cited example of the Harry Potter series. She also applauded Anum’s effort and said children learn best with music.

Renowned playwright Haseena Moin said Anum was known for behaving like a child on sets.

“In order to understand children one must have a child in him, and Khalid Anum is like that,” she added, highlighting the kinds of poems in the book.

She said animals were a rare subject of discussion and by using them as characters, Anum had opened a world of imagination to children.

Aitzaz Ahsan recounted his childhood and the time when his children were young and said the stories told then had almost disappeared today. He said during the ‘80s, children were taught things like “ bay se bandooq(gun)” in their introductory books instead of an ordinary object or animal.

“If General Zia was alive today most probably children would be learning about suicide bombers,” he said, painting a dire picture. He added that even in history books, the first chapter was dedicated to the Indus Valley civilisation and the next seven or eight chapters to Islamic tenets and history slowly moving to the sub-continent only through Muhammad bin Qasim.

“Our children have been bereft of their own language, culture and history, and it is through these books that they can be brought alive. Books are like a second mother to children,” Ahsan added.

Poet Fehmida Riaz said children had always been discouraged from listening to music and learning through enjoyment, which was not helpful in educating them. She said if society did not support writers, eminent names could still try.

“If Tolstoy wrote for children, I’m sure Intizar Hussain could also try,” she added.

She lauded PTV for being the only channel that thought about children while others only focused on politics.

Ameena Sayyid of the OUP that published the book said it was always important as to how children learnt things. She said the book included rhymes written by Anum and a CD to listen to the compositions and sing along with him. She also said it was important to create an interest among children to read and write, and books like these were essential for their growing minds.

Anum spoke last saying children’s issues were most important for this country. But the approach in the entertainment sector was that if someone did not have the skills to produce a show he or she was shoved into the children’s department only to end up creating trash. He further said although there had been many programmes in the past, including Tot Batot, Kaliyan, nowadays the concept of writing especially for children was dead.

“In that aspect, PTV was excellent and I’m inspired by people like Shoaib Hashmi and Sohail Rana among others,” he said. “Using rhymes to teach children was the best technique as children learn fast and enjoy. I try to use jaunty rhythms of the western folk and blues style so it is easy to catch up with music.”

He remembered great poets who had written for children, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Allama Iqbal, Sufi Tabbasum and Ismail Meeruthi, and wished children could be taught their poems.

Published in Dawn, November 29th , 2014