A story of love, friendship, separation and change
Arushi Ralli 
The Book - Out of Nowhere
We started the reading with some new and some familiar faces. It took a question about friendship, “what is the one unexpected friendship that you have had? What is special about them?” for us all to open our vulnerabilities and dive deep into our lives. We started the reading Out Of Nowhere with the beetle and caterpillar looking at the moon and having chai together to a sudden shift of beetle unable to see his friend. It made us all go into experiences of loss, panic and the hope that sometimes people in our lives do need space and time for themselves. There were tears, smiles with joy, confusion, hope and so many feelings being felt as a community about the journey the caterpillar took to be a butterfly.
“Let us all cherish people while they are here because we don’t know when they will not be there.” - Reflection shared by one of the participants
It was something to witness that the beetle is undergoing a journey of climbing mountains to find his friend and at the same time, the caterpillar was on the journey to become a butterfly. How all of us saw ourselves in both of them at the same time! The story of friendship came as a full circle when the butterfly came closer to the beetle and the beetle just knew - it’s his friend! We all came back to a full circle too, thinking about the friendships that have happened out of nowhere in our lives.
“The book sowed amazing seeds of thought to reflect on the bonds people share… absolutely out of nowhere”. - Reflection shared by another participant
After reading, we did a Metamorphosis Life Cycle Activity in which we explored through different objects about the relationships we have had and the impact it has had on us. While someone drew a circle with a girl and moon, another one showed a tattoo on life with the community.. for someone it was a spiral while another one expressed a tree with fruits being different people in her life.
Impact of relationships represented by some participants in form of their drawings
The activity showed the uniqueness with which we see the cycle of our lives. The community did feel like the right people coming out of nowhere to build a friendship just like the beetle and butterfly!
One of the participants drew a sunflower and dedicated it to the friendships being made at Children’s Book for All
A sunflower made by a participant dedicated to friendships being made at Children’s Book for All
This reading was facilitated by Dr. Denise Rodrigues and Khushi Pahuja