Expressions
One of the volunteers (1) I had met and often accompanied to the camps, spent his time only with children. We would play games with the children till they were exhausted. Then, away from the anxious (but by now trusting) parents he would sit and talk to the children. The conversation was unstructured; inevitably it would at some point (not after long) revert to the riots or to the issue of Hindus and Muslims. Before this aspect of the conversation is explored, we will examine the sketches the children drew. Sometimes, they were allowed free expression. Often, were encouraged to draw two groups of things: good things and bad things.
The following are samples:
Proceed to children's verbal expressions and comprehension of recent events
(1) The author thanks Vipin Bhatt, Haq-Centre for Child Rights, Delhi for his permission to reproduce these sketches. Bhatt's analysis and his contribution to this and the following section has been invaluable.