-Aruna Raghuram (Ahmedabad)

Ahmedabad-based mother tongue advocate-entrepreneur Darsha Kikani is an independent director of several public limited liability companies. She also organises the annual Vartamelo (story fair) in Gujarati language creative writing competition open to class VII-XII students and teachers.

Launched in 2017, this annual storywriting competition held in January-February every year attracted participation from 200 schools and 1,300 students and teachers across Gujarat before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Newspeg. In early February, Kikani concluded Vartamelo’s sixth edition after receiving 642 student and 86 teacher entries. “About 50 schools across Gujarat participated in the competition this year, an excellent response far exceeding the entries of the pandemic year. To motivate interaction with elders in the family, we urged students to write stories involving them,” says Kikani.

History. A polymath lawyer, company secretary and business management postgraduate of IIM-Ahmedabad, Kikani was a practicing company secretary for over a decade managing a client base of 50-plus companies. This was followed by a two-year stint with Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and six years with the highly reputed Ahmedabad-based Educational Initiatives (EI).

“During my stint with EI as vice president (languages), I discovered that neither teachers nor parents were concerned about children’s proficiency in the mother tongue. Awareness that creativity and original thinking in the mother tongue is a neglected area, inspired me to launch Vartamelo in 2016 with a small initial investment (Rs.2 lakh). On principle, we do not charge participation fees. Of the six editions of the competition, three latter editions were sponsored by friends,” says Kikani.

To encourage children and young adults to develop Gujarati language proficiency, Kikani has translated Tuesdays with Morrie by American author Mitch Albom and Iran Awakening by Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi from English into Gujarati. Moreover, she writes a weekly column for Chitralekha, a well-known Gujarati portal with a million subscribers. Last February (2021), Kikani earned an entry into World Records India for compiling a 12,500-page handwritten storybook comprising 2,000 entries she received for Vartamelo’s annual competition.

Direct talk. “I believe that children should receive primary education in their mother tongue as it generates a sense of belonging and fosters respect for one’s culture and heritage apart from developing creative thinking skills. Vartamelo was launched six years ago to encourage thinking and writing skills in Gujarati. While teachers are given specific topics, students are free to write on topics of their choice. There are three rounds of elimination with entries assessed by professionals and Gujarati language experts. Writers of the best stories are awarded cash prizes from Rs.11,000 onwards at a specially organised ceremony. Moreover, about 20 stories are shortlisted and published in book form annually,” explains Kikani.

Future plans. Vartamelo’s website is currently under construction. “Once it is launched, it will enable students and teachers to submit stories online and access our counselling programme on improving Gujarati writing skills. Simultaneously, we will try reaching out to special needs children and students in tribal belts,” says Kikani.

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