Teenage prodigy

He is all of 17, or maybe even a few months less than that. He has started on an animation project, all by himself — from generating idea to drawing the storyboard, among others. The other day I was floored by what he conceived: a story of migrating birds. Thousands of migratory birds visit Santiniketan, where he lives, every winter. In fact the track of the birds is just over his home at Tagore’s abode of peace. It’s his keen observation that prompted him to start on his maiden adventure in the domain of animation.

A male bird and his female counterpart come to Ballavpur, the nesting site of the birds, a village about 3km from Santiniketan. The mother bird lays egg, and in about a month or so, a chick is born. Now, when scorching summer sets in the laterite-rich picturesque landscape of Birbhum, will the chick be able to fly out, like its parents, to the northern part of the globe? Or will it suffer alone in the heat and dust of Santiniketan and its surroundings?

This concept is unique. So is the situation Dipu, the teenager, could think of. Dipu was orphaned when he was five/six years old, and has been staying at Sisutirtha in Santiniketan since then. About six years ago, he enthralled a packed hall in Calcutta with his rendition of Rabindrasangeet. Later, a cassette and CD were also recorded with his voice and his fellow inmates at Sisutirtha. Now Dipu is into animation. Whatever little I saw of him, made me think that he is a prodigy with a sharp mind.

At present, he is working day in and day out on the project, which needs support from us. Support not only financially, but also mental too. I visited Sisutirtha recently and asked his instructor-cum-warden-cum-whatever-not Rabi da — he is one of the principal forces to make Sisutirtha running for years — what help I could render to them, especially Dipu. They only need to upgrade the RAM of the new computer — it was gifted a couple of months back — to 2GB so that Dipu and others can work on the animation project, and the future ones, fast.

A 2GB RAM I can gift him anytime, but can we give them something more?
© Supratim Pal