My Journey with Tribal Girls of Andhra Pradesh

Last year, after taking a long break of 3 months, when I re-started Anubhuti's journey of sharing Love and Happiness among the girls of remote rural and tribal communities of the country, I reached to a village named 'Kadiri' in Ananthpur District of Andhra Pradesh. The girls I worked with, belonged to 'Tada Tribe' and came from most vulnerable backgrounds and were mostly orphans or semi-orphans. Also, there were some girls who themselves or their family members have been victims of human-trafficking.

In the beginning, I was worried whether would I be able to communicate with the girls or make a connect with them, because the Language was a huge barrier between us (as they only knew Telugu Language). But it had just been two days when I met these girls and started sharing the art of Kathak with them, but in spite of having a huge language gap with them, it was so encouraging for me to see their enthusiasm to learn and explore a completely new art form which will surely gonna help them to expand their horizons and boost their confidence up! 

Initially, for 3-4 days, it was a bit difficult, I took help of a local person from the organisation who used to translate between me and kids. But somewhere inside, I wasn't feeling connected with the translation process, it was becoming so mechanical which was also breaking the flow of the class. But later on, I was able to find two girls from both the groups, who understand English. So I decided to take their help in translation. I found that, in the process, those two girls were also moving towards enhancing their skills of understanding English along with helping me. And the way they translated in Telugu, rest of the girls were really enjoying it. This is how, we were able to understand each other without breaking the flow of the class as the language challenge became fun for all of us, which helped us to stay connected. 😍

Meet Gowthami ..

In the group, there was an 11 year old girl, 'Gowthami', when she first joined the workshop, I could clearly see the shyness and hesitation on her face. I used to give her a smile but she didn't respond on that. She used to sit quietly and stand in the last line during sessions. But the same Gowthami, after about 2 weeks, started leading the class with a great confidence and other than just leading a session, she used to encourage, motivate and correct her classmates. She was the one who became super active in the class and started taking initiatives in each and every activity in the workshop.

With time, all the girls got engrossed deeply in the process. Where on one side, in the beginning, it was a bit difficult and confusing to learn or pronounce the syllables of Dance or any Shloka which was in Sanskrit Language, on the other side, by the end of the second week, Kadiri Girls were becoming more self-disciplined and started finding their own ways to learn which suited them best. I feel, it is just a matter of little concentration and encouragement which we all need to achieve anything!

An evening in Bathalapalli ..

It happens when you explore the un-explored. It was (almost) a surprise visit in the village (Bathalapalli Thanda) of my girls. It was so overwhelming to receive such Love and affection from each and everyone present there. I was there with them for about 2 hours in which I visited each girl's home, their local temples and a lovely walk in the village with my girls which was being joined by other kids of the village as well! 🙂 It was indeed a one of the beautiful thing to meet their parents, talking to them and just be in their surroundings. Although I wasn't understanding even a single word said by them, but I could clearly see and feel their excitement and happiness in their sparkling eyes. They were so deeply grateful for the things their kids were learning, and so was I.

The End or The Beginning ..

It's always been difficult for me to explain the concluding day of the workshop in words. The kids were looking so pretty in the Kathak Attire with heavy gajra in their hairs. The program went so well. I was happy to see that almost each kid's parents attended the program. After sharing their learnings in the field of Kathak and in Life-Skills on stage, It was so so heartwarming for me to bid goodbye to my kids while they had already stared crying. We were hugging each other, sharing chocolates with each others and more on that, I felt that we all were sharing a deep silence within. And that was the moment, when I 'experienced' that you don't really need a 'Language' to understand the other person, if you are really got connected by Hearts. 💕 

I always use these terms 'last day', 'concluding day' ..but I believe that every Ending brings a New Beginning, and the ending of this workshop (which was just another medium to plant a seed of life skills) was a new beginning for them where they took a step forward to feel more confident for themselves and find their happiness while sharing it with others.

On the concluding day of the workshop, Cheruvu Bhanuja Garu (Founder, REDS) shared :

" People pay money to learn Kathak Dance. On the other hand, Annu Gupta gave her Govt. job and gave free classes in Kathak to under-served children in HP, Orrisa and other places. When Kishore Nath garu told me about this, I felt these children of single women from different villages need to learn it. The parents got together arranged to send children by auto to the Kathak workshop for 20 days. Annu ma'am does not know the local language, but through action and with the help of children in the class who knew English who in turn translated it to Telugu - she conducted the workshop."

Rotary Club President Dr. Madan Kumar shared :

" I am very impressed that Annu Madam from a far off place is coming to an unknown small place like Kadiri and teaching the children. She is not from our place, nor from our state. She does not know our language and yet comes and shows her love for our children. It cannot be expressed in words. This is a good idea of getting children together, training them and giving a program. The program was very good." 

Meet 'Kanta Ben' .. :)

कांता बेन, जिनसे मेरी पहली मुलाक़ात हुई 'संवेदना' कैंपस के किचन  में। आँखों में चमक और चेहरे पर सुन्दर सी मुस्कान... उन्हें हिंदी बोलनी नहीं आती थी और मुझे गुजराती, पर फिर भी मैं उन्हें यह समझाने में कामयाब रही कि मैं 'संवेदना' , बच्चों को डांस सिखाने आई हूँ।  मुझे याद है, डांस का नाम सुनते ही कांता बेन की आँखों की चमक दुगुनी हो गई थी, और एकदम ख़ुशी के साथ, खिलखिलाते हुए , पूरी एनर्जी से वो वहीं किचन एरिया में गरबा नाचना शुरू हो गई। इस उम्र में भी उनका डांस के प्रति इतना लगाव देखकर मैंने उन्हें क्लास में आने का न्यौता दे डाला।

उसके बाद से वो हमेशा क्लास के बाहर खिड़की से ही बच्चों को डांस करता देखती, और ख़ुद भी करने का प्रयत्न करती। शायद कोई हिचक थी कि मेरे कहने पर भी वो अंदर नहीं आती थी। और फिर एक दिन (लगभग २ सप्ताह बाद ) वो अंदर आईं और अपनी पूरी ख़ुशी के साथ बच्चों के साथ ही, जो भी कुछ उस समय क्लास में चल रहा था, करने लगीं।  (PS : यह वीडियो उसी दिन का है।) ..बिना किसी judgement के, बिना ज़्यादा दिमाग लगाए, वो बस अपने को और डांस को enjoy कर रहीं थी।  😍

After that, I was just reflecting and realized that Universe gives you multiple opportunities to touch the lives of other people and support their journey, (sometimes knowingly and most of the times unknowingly) and in the process, you support your own journey... I learnt how to make choices, leaving the judgements of other people behind. I mean just simply do which makes you feel happy and helps you to connect to your deeper self while blossoming your whole personality. No matter if it is for a moment, simply following your Heart is worth exploring as Kanta Ben was doing. During my whole stay at 'Samvedana' , whenever I met her or saw her from the distance, she always used to greet me through some of her Garba steps, which was so heartwarming for me. 💕

Later on, I got to know that she has already lost her husband because he used to drink a lot and was suffering from TB. Her son was also lost in a fair 20 years back. But when she could not find him, since then she only eats one time a day and does not wear slippers.

कांता बेन, मुख्य रूप से, 'संवेदना' में साफ़ सफाई का काम देखती हैं और खाली समय में किचन में मदद भी करवाती हैं। 

संवेदना की अनुभूति | 'Samvedana' ki 'Anubhuti' in Virampur, Gujrat

Sometimes beautiful things happen in a way that you just go with its flow without calculating much. The same thing happened to me when I was looking for an organization for the month of December for 'Anubhuti'. Within two days everything got finalized and on the third day, I was in the train, going to work with the Tribal Kids (Dungri Tribe and Garasiya Bheel Tribe) of Virampur Village, situated in Banaskantha District of Gujarat (in collaboration with 'Samvedana Trust').

When I first met the kids, they were extremely shy in speaking to me. But I could see the little tinkles in their sparkling eyes, and a curiosity to talk to me. As we started our workshop, I was amazed to see their discipline, sincerity and dedication towards exploring the dance form and diving deep into it with their full commitment. Within a day or two, we were able to find a deep connection with each other, although there were some kids who were still quite shy and hesitant in speaking in the class.

I still remember about 'Chuna', a kid from 6th std, started crying upon asking his name on the very first introductory session of the workshop. He was so under-confident (because of his name as kids used to make fun of it) that he wasn't able to speak his own name in front of his peers. Another girl 'Anadu' from 6th std, was so shy and hesitant that she did not even make an eye contact with me for the entire first week. 'Nagaji' used to dance by hiding himself behind his batch mates, so that I couldn't see him. 'Malee' used to be very silent during sessions.

But as we moved forward to the workshop, I found that these kids have a tremendous ability to do anything. They were so innocent and pure hearted deep inside that sometimes I wished if I could be like them. They were LITERALLY like blank slates on which you can write anything and they will adapt it wholeheartedly.

I used to encourage them continuously to lead particular sessions, to speak up in their group discussions, to invent their own dance steps (no matter however much imperfect they were in this) and present it in front of their peers, and that's how we learnt how to appreciate and encourage each other and be a support for each other despite of what our names are or how do we look.

In every workshop, I always ask kids the meaning of their names to connect it with the meaning of 'Kathak'. But here, the intention was different upon asking the meaning of their names as when I first heard their names in the introductory session, I found them very strange and found that they were quite hesitant in speaking their names. I personally feel that every name or every word has some positive meaning in it, so I asked them to find the meaning of their names by taking help of their teachers, or parents or me or anybody. The intention was simple, to make them positive for their names. And the next day when they came back to the class, they had the meaning of their names, and they were quite excited to share it in the circle and they shared it without any hesitation as they already started knowing that they are having a very beautiful meaning of their names and they can tell it to anybody without any hesitation.

As the days were passing, I was experiencing the huge changes in the kids. 'Chuna' has started mingling so well with his peers and learning so quickly. 'Anadu' started leading sessions voluntarily and once, she also asked us to click her photograph, that too without any hesitation. 'Nagaji' started standing in the front and dancing with a great confidence. 'Malee' started opening up herself and started helping me during sessions and for multiple other things too.

There was another kid 'Shailesh' from class 6th, who got sick just after 3 days of the workshop and he went home on leave. After about 10 days, he came back and showed interest in re-joining the workshop. The workshop was coming to its end, and after 6 days we were going to have a stage program. I was in doubt whether he would be able to perform or if he can learn everything whatever he missed during his sick leaves. I just casually asked him to learn everything from his friend in a day only and he nodded. The next day the session began, I was amazed to see him dancing while mingling with the whole group so well, that you couldn't say seeing him dancing that he was on leave from past 10 days. The kind of dedication, discipline and commitment he showed, I was so overwhelmed by this gesture of him.

On the final day, as expected, kids gave their best performance. What was more eye catching for me is that, during the experience sharing on stage, 'Shailesh' came out from the whole group voluntarily and hold the mic and started speaking. He was literally shivering while sharing his experiences because for the first time he was gathering the courage to hold the mic and speak on the stage. Another girl 'Rekha' also speaking for the first time, she almost cried as she tried speaking. No matter what and how long they spoke but I was satisfied that they at least tried to come out of their comfort zone and broke their boundaries. As I read it somewhere that "It takes courage to be courageous."

I am hoping to go back to these kids again soon, very soon.. so that I can also learn multiple things from them. :)

On the concluding day of the workshop, Hasmukh Dada (Founder of 'Samvedana') shared :

" जब अनु यहां आई तो मुझे लगा कि यहां नीचे कोई रोड़ा कूटने का कार्यक्रम चल रहा है। यह सब तो मैं मज़ाक में कह रहा हूँ, मुझे पता है कि ये क्या है। मैं भी दुनिया घूमा हूँ , हम भी गरबा करते हैं, और भी डांस करते हैं।  जो हम हमारी संस्कृति के आधार पर करते हैं, वह तो हमें करना ही चाहिए , पढ़ना - लिखना भी इसके साथ साथ करना चाहिए। पर यह नृत्य की खासियत यह है कि इसकी वजह से आपके जीवन में ऐसा परिवर्तन आता है जो आपको दिखता नहीं है। अनु ने सही कहा कि यह जीवन कौशल्य है। फिर इस वर्कशॉप से जुड़ने के बाद बच्चा किसी भी क्षेत्र में जाए, उस बच्चे में एक प्रकार की संवेदना, संस्कृति के साथ लगाव , वह उस बच्चे में देखने को मिलता है। हम सब बूढ़े हो गए हैं, ज्यादातर गाँव में रहते हैं, हमारे भी उस ज़माने में जीवन कौशल थे, हम अपने गाँव में नाचते थे, कई सारे उत्सव थे , उस हिसाब से हम सेलिब्रेट करते थे। उस टाइम पर भी यह कत्थक नृत्य था परन्तु यहां हमारे तक नहीं पहुंचा था। अनु उसके मैसेंजर हैं कि यह कत्थक दूर के बच्चों तक पहुंचे। जब मैं घर पर जाता जाता हूँ तो वहाँ पर उत्सवों के पास (Passes) आते हैं, और हम जाते हैं और देखते हैं कि लोग उसमें कितनी मेहनत करते हैं। परन्तु यह नृत्य यहां वीरमपुर में आया उसकी कल्पना करना बहुत मुश्किल चीज थी। भले ही यह नृत्य समझने के लिए बहुत मुश्किल है, लेकिन मैंने अनु को कहा कि तू यहां रह और बच्चों को सिखाओ , जैसा भी सीखते हैं बच्चे। पूरे देश में घूमती है यह। अनु तेरा दिल से आभार। 20 दिन अच्छे से काम किया। मैं अपनी प्रसन्नता व्यक्त करता हूँ। बहुत मज़ा आया, 20 दिन में हमारी बेटी जैसी हो गई है यह इसलिए इसका आभार भी क्या मानना। "

Shilpa Ben (Director of 'Samvedana') expressed herself :

" यह आपने अभी जो बच्चों का परफॉरमेंस देखा, यह अनु ने सिखाया उसका फल है। और इनमें से जो चार बच्चों को आपने देखा वह कभी पार्टिसिपेट नहीं करते थे, लेकिन इस बार इन्होंने इस डांस में हिस्सा लिया और इनमे इतनी हिम्मत आई कि इन्होंने आज आप सबके सामने बोला है जो कि यह कभी भी बोलते नहीं थे, कभी भी स्टेज पर नहीं आते थे और घबराते थे। मेरा भी पर्सनल एक्सपीरियंस यह रहा है कि इस कत्थक वर्कशॉप के माध्यम से बच्चे बोलने लगे हैं। हमारे जैसे इंटीरियर एरियाज में बच्चों ने कत्थक के बारे में कभी ना तो सुना है और ना ही टीवी में देखा है। तो इसी को लेकर मेरे मन में भी एक डाउट था कि बच्चे कत्थक जैसे difficult डांस को कैसे करेंगे। पर बच्चों ने यह जो डांस सीखा और डांस परफॉरमेंस किया वह बहुत अच्छा किया और इसका सारा श्रेय अनु को जाता है। उनकी एक बात मुझे बहुत अच्छी लगी कि जब भी उनकी क्लास होती थी तो एक भी मिनट इधर या उधर नहीं होने देते थे। 8 बजे का हो तो 8 बजे, 10 बजे का हो तो 10 बजे, वह अपने टाइम से पहुँच जाते थे। एक बैच सुबह होता था और एक शाम को, वह एकदम परफेक्ट टाइम से आ जाती थी और अपने कार्यशाला के हॉल में पहुँच जाती थी। ऐसा उन्होंने 21 दिवस कंटिन्यू रखा। अगर उनकी जगह मैं होती तो कभी ना कभी तो समय को लेकर चूक हो जाती, लेकिन उनसे ऐसी चूक नहीं हुई। मुझे बहुत अच्छा लगा इतने सारे बच्चों ने एक साथ कथक डांस सीखा, यह फॉर्म टेक्निकल है लेकिन बच्चों ने बहुत अच्छा किया। "

'Humari Anubhuti' in Bodhgaya, Bihar

As a part of my initiative 'Anubhuti' that I started a few years back with a view to build confidence and other life-skills among the girls of under-served communities, I fortunately got an opportunity to serve the girls of Maitreya School which is a part of Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, with that I reached to the auspicious land of Lord Buddha in Bodhgaya, Bihar.

It was a 3 week long workshop with 30 Girls (12 to 16 yrs of age) of Maitreya School who belonged to the most vulnerable backgrounds. The parents were mostly into farming, rag-picking and daily wage laborers. With much enthusiasm we started our workshop, and I could see every girl to be immersing in the dance form with much eagerness and determination to learn the nuances. In spite of having their school timing from morning 7am to 1pm, they were motivated and committed enough to stay back till 5pm in the evening and learn the dance form that I had to offer them.  

I remember when one day a girl, Neha, came to me and said, ' दीदी, हमको बहुत टेंशन है, अभी 6 बजे घर पहुंचेंगे, स्कूल से इतना सारा होमवर्क मिला है, खाना बनाना है, बर्तन करना है और डांस प्रैक्टिस भी करना है, कैसे होगा सब कुछ और फिर सुबह 7 बजे स्कूल भी आना है..' (Didi, I have a lot of tension, I will reach home 6pm and I got a lot of homework from school, I need to cook the food and wash the dishes afterwards, and then have to practice dance too. How would I do everything and then tomorrow I have to come back to school at 7am.)

In spite of having a lot of work related to their school and home, they were always present there in the workshop with same enthusiasm. No matter how sick they were or how badly they were having menstruation pain, they were always showing me up on time for the class.

But happy happy or goody goody things not always happen. When one day, I split them into two groups and said to practice in their respective teams. After 10-15 minutes, a girl came to me and said, "Didi, nobody is doing practice in our group. Everybody is fighting with each other." When I went to see the group I found that some of the girls were sitting in their classrooms, some of them were roaming around, some of them were just talking and some of them were practicing individually. I could see that they were not really interested in working as a team. Upon calling the whole group, they started blaming each other for not practicing in the group. I knew that it would always be difficult to work in a group because it requires a lot of patience, good listening skills, a respect for other's opinion and most importantly an intention to develop a good understanding with each other, so that you can come out with a good results as a team. After listening to them and sharing some of my personal stories from previous 'Anubhuti' workshops and showing some examples from another group about how they are supporting each other in a positive way.  I also shared about how important and significant it is to practice more in a group than on an individual basis, then I asked them to work in their group only.

When they came back after 30 minutes, I was surprised to see them become a team. They were quite serious about their dance practice and were supporting each other instead of blaming. Their dance as a group was much more synchronized than before. It was one of the quick change that I could notice in their behavior. From that day onwards, I did not see them fighting or ignoring the group activities. They were now happily ready to make efforts as a team which indicates the success of the workshop.

Time flew in the wink of an eye, and we reached to our final performance day. They performed so well as expected. Other than performing, they anchored few parts of the program, shared their experience of the workshop and inspired their peers in the school. And what was more fulfilling for me to experience, when one of the participant 'Nishi' (who spoke about her experience on stage) came to me after the program and said, "दीदी, thank you so much.. मुझे स्टेज पर बोलते हुए बहुत डर लग रहा था, heartbeat बढ़ी हुई थी, हाथ भी काँप रहा था.. पर आपकी वजह से आज मैं सबके सामने बोल पाई, thank you दीदी मेरे अंदर ये courage और confidence जगाने के लिए.." (Didi, thank you so much, I was so afraid while speaking on stage, my heartbeats were high and my hands were shivering but because of you I could gather the courage to speak in front of everybody. Thank you didi for bringing this courage and confidence within me.) and then she hugged me tightly.

And as every beginning has to come to an end, so our this 3 week long workshop concluded with a great success. I started the workshop with 30 girls and concluded the workshop with all 30 girls. There weren't even a single drop out this time. And then finally, with our teary eyes we hugged each other and said good bye, keeping this promise in our heart to meet again soon.

On a personal level, it was indeed a beautiful journey and one of my best experience of 'Anubhuti' Workshops with Maitreya girls and Root Institute. The vibrations and energies of this place is so pure and strong enough that really helped me to stay calm and reflect more upon the things I (my mind) was surrounded by. The kids and other people I met there were so kind that you can easily learn something from them. Beside this, I feel, these girls, unknowingly have nurtured the seed of commitment and dedication (towards the work that I do) in my heart. ❤

My Journey with Tea Garden Tribe in Assam

When I started doubting myself..

After Dehradun, Assam was going to be Anubhūti's second destination. Technically, it was going to be a first 30 days workshop which I was going to conduct (in collaboration with Jeevan Shiksha, a local NGO of that area) with the kids of Tea Garden Labour Tribe in Dibrugarh District of Assam. To be very honest, the more I was excited about taking the workshop and meeting new people over there, at the same time there were butterflies in my stomach and lots of questions and doubts on myself like how it will go ? Whether I would be able to complete it successfully or not ? Kids will take interest or not ? Whether I would be able to achieve Anubhūti's objectives or not ? ..and so on. And as I was travelling alone for the first time for such a long distance with 2 big luggage filled with 18KG of Ghunghroos and other necessary things, it was little challenging for me to hold myself and fight with my fears. But the enthusiasm and the happiness of following my heart and making my life more meaningful was much bigger than the fears and difficulties that were arising time to time during the whole journey.

But I found myself so calm and relaxed when I reached to Dibrugarh Airport and met 'Jeevan Shiksha' Team who welcomed me with a great warmth. Next day, I was shifted with a local Assamese family in a remote village, Bihlongoni, where I was going to stay for a month. Bihlongoni and Balijaan, these were the two interior villages in Chabua surrounded by beautiful dense Tea Gardens where I was going to work with 40 kids of TGL (Tea Garden Labour) community.

My first conversation with the kids..

It was my first day with the kids and their parents for a formal introduction and an orientation of the program. The energy of that place and the environment around us including the kids and their parents was filled with so much calmness, regards and humility that I felt so contented within. During the conversation with the kids, I asked kids that why they want to learn Kathak Dance and Abhishek, one of the participant replied, "Didi, so that I can become like you." Ah, I was started receiving 'their' love that in just a short span of a conversation.

Workshop started with so much enthusiasm and joy in our hearts..

..which could be seen and experienced easily as kids used to decorate the room with flowers everyday and clean it themselves to create a positive atmosphere of dance practices. We had a morning batch at 6am but kids used to come by 5.30am with self-motivation. In May-June, it was a time for monsoon there and the whole months it was a heavy rainfall and in spite of that, kids hardly took an off from the class.

In both the villages, kids were so sincere that whatever task I used to gave them, they do it wholeheartedly. As our workshop was moving forward, kids were becoming more confident, open and comfortable in terms of expressing themselves in our sharing circles. They started conducting Yoga and Dance Sessions themselves, taking initiatives for leadership in different activities and even started writing and choreographing their own dance pieces which were helping in developing self-discipline, leadership, team work and other soft skills in them. And beyond all this, they were becoming more polite and started encouraging each other to be more confident in what they do.

There was a girl in the group named Deepika..

..She used to indulge in arguments with other kids and got irritated very easily. Also she was little impatient and having an attitude of giving up. Once I observed that during a group activity, she was sitting alone in a corner and not participating in the activity. After asking her, it was found that her group members had kept her out from the group and now she had nothing to do. When I enquired in her group, her group members said that she wasn't practising properly, also creating trouble for them too. After listening to both the parties, I felt that Deepika may needed a lil bit of motivation to continue the practice and to merge with other kids. I had observed that she wasn't good in learning or picking up anything new as her mind was so distracted, she kept on looking to other kids than to focus on her dance. Therefore, most of the time, she used to follow the steps in the class instead of remembering them. I caught this thing of her and consciously started appreciating her in front of all the kids that she follows very well, and she would be able to do good in synchronisation of group dance and so on. Sometimes a small dose of appreciation works like a cherry on the cake which plays an important role to boost the desire and enthusiasm for learning in the kids. That happened with Deepika too.

That day onwards I could clearly see the changes in her attitude. It wasn't that after that she started contributing in the group activities but now she at least had started cooperating with her group, not creating any trouble for other kids. Also the major change which I noticed in her attitude that before she used to argue with other kids but now instead of indulging in an argument, she came to me and shared her problem with a particular kid.

Our enthusiasm was reaching on high level.. 

..as we reached to the mid of the workshop. In both the villages, kids used to come and practised on their own. Where on one side, the Balijaan Kids used to come on Sundays as well to practice, on the other side, Bihlongoni Kids was also filled with so much enthusiasm. I used to see kids practicing hard in the evening around 7pm while coming back from Balijaan Village after completing the sessions there.

Receiving their Love in many forms..

One day I did not went for the class and told the Balijaan Girls to conduct the sessions on their own. Next day, when we met, the girls shared, "Didi, when you did not come yesterday, we were feeling like our mother is not here, we felt like orphans." On that day onwards, some girls started calling me maa (mother). Although it was little awkward for me to listen or consider myself maa, but I could clearly see their love and feelings for me hiding behind this word. These girls used to bring a bunch of flowers everyday and decorate my 'choti' (hairs) with their hands. They also used to bring rotis for me as I was having rice everyday as my three time meal and got bore of it. They taught me their local folk dances, Bihu and Jhumor too, with so much love and patience.

Finally, we reached on the concluding day of our workshop..

..where all the kids performed on stage so well while showing beautiful synchronisation in their dance and give the presentations of their work (which they did in a month) very confidently in front of local audience and some special guests. The last concluding day is tough to express as other than completing a workshop with great success, it was filled with lots of emotions and sentiments. As during our 'experience sharing round' on the stage, every kid burst into tears and hugged me so tightly. I was feeling so overwhelmed when the Bihlongoni Kids presented a poem on me which was composed and choreographed by them only. It was so heartwarming to see them singing, dancing and crying at the same time while presenting the poem. I have never thought that I would share such bond of love and affection with kids. It seemed like we hadn't met for the first time, but we knew each other from years.

But, this did not end here..

..after coming back to home in Bihlongoni village where I was staying, I got the news from one of the volunteer that they have planned a farewell for me in the evening. I thought it would be a general farewell, and reached to the hall. I stunned to see that the whole hall was overloaded by people and children. There were people on the outside windows of the hall and also on the doors. The whole Bihlongoni village was gathered. It was so surprising for me to see the parents (of those kids who weren't part of the workshop) giving me gifts, thanking me, respecting me. Everybody was crying and requesting me to not to go back and stay there with them for few more days. It is very difficult for me to describe the emotions I was feeling at that time surrounded with such people filled with humility and respect. Some of the parents were giving me some money by saying that they did not get time from their work to go to city and buy something for me, so they are offering it as their love but when I refused to take the money and asked to give me their local tea instead, then one of the mother ran towards her home and brought a lots of tea for me. The farewell ended up with a group dance 'Jhumor' which is used to do in a circle holding each others back. 

When strangers becomes a family..

I also got a very strong bond and connection with the family I was staying with in Bihlongoni. They treated me like their own daughter and took care of my every small requirement. Although, in the beginning, it was lil difficult for me to adjust and accept such environment as it was my first time when I was staying in a proper village type surroundings. But at the same time, it was quite overwhelming to experience the purity and love those people have in their hearts for everyone.

In nutshell,

I should say it was a journey of sharing and receiving love, kindness, humility and warmth from everyone (in different forms) present there during my stay which I have never expected or experienced before. We all danced together, laughed together, cried together, learnt together and more than that, we all shared and spend a beautiful space and time together which was filled with a feeling of gratitude for each other.

The actual learnings starts happening when you allow yourself to come out of your comfort zone and expand your horizons. This journey of Anubhūti gave me an opportunity to face my fears and overcome them which ended up making me more courageous, confident and kind towards the people and for myself too.

Anubhuti at Deer Park Institute, Bir, Himachal Pradesh

Every year in January, when mountains are covered in snow, I visit Deer Park Institute in Bir, Himachal Pradesh. A place so serene and beautiful that it indeed rejuvenates your soul. This time of the year, I am back for the third time to share my gift of dance with kids of Indian and Tibetan origin there. Just like every year, this year too, was very significant for me to work with these kids.

This year, I was able to spend more time with the kids as the duration of the workshop was quite longer than before. This workshop was more inclined towards inculcating basic life skills among kids than to just teach them some dance steps. Our Kathak Workshop was a day delayed due to heavy rainfall. But it was so fascinating to see all kids reaching at 9am sharp the next day despite of rain and cold weather, while our workshop was starting from 10am.

Morning batch had more of Indian Kids who reached 'Tara Hall' (a place where workshop was conducted). Their eyes had a glint of shyness and were hesitantly looking at me, but the moment I asked for their help in cleaning the hall, they all ran to bring a broom and started cleaning the floor with so much excitement and happiness. I was amazed to see that every kid contributed their help to make the place more clean. So, this is how my first interaction went with the local Indian community kids who lives in nearby villages of Bir.

It is always easy to connect with Indian kids as they understand your language and you are able to gel fast but when it comes to Non-Indian Kids, it gets a lil difficult for me as I am unable to connect with them due to factors like language barrier. As I experienced in last two years when I worked with Tibetan Kids in Bir only, I wasn't able to make a connect with them so deeply as the kids were more comfortable in Tibetan language. Thus, to teach them Indian Classical Dance which is not something they are used to or have learned before, was a challenging task for me. Also, I found them slightly impatient too which further made it a bit tough nut to crack.

The journey with Tibetan Kids began in the afternoon batch. Although, this time, it was much easier to connect with Tibetan girls and I could get friendly with them without much struggle. The workshop went in a good flow as we opened up and conversed to ceate a good bond with each other. If I compare myself with last two workshops with Tibetan Girls, this one was quite good in terms of building a relationship with them in spite of a language barrier between us.

"I want to become a doctor but I would like to learn dance more so that I can heal or help my patients with dance too." says Pema Bhuti, one of the participant of the workshop. Another participant Sonam Dolma shares, "I won't waste my learnings during the workshop, instead I'll try to teach those who want to learn and have no one to teach."

I certainly cannot compare Indian kids and Tibetan kids, both gave their very best in making the workshop more meaningful with their daily practices and discipline. Other than all the Kathak teachings or assignments, one of the most cherished moment was when we used to talk and share about our lives and families.

I was surprised when one day, Tibetan girls shared that they go to meet their families once in three years as they live so far. Some of them are from Ladakh, some from Nepal and some from Arunachal Pradesh or any other places. One of the girl shared her experience with her unstoppable laugh, "Didi, when I practice Kathak, I step my foot very hard and my home mother (warden) make me Murga mean hen."😄

Shivam shared, "पहले मैं डांस करते हुए शर्माता था, पर अभी मैं smile करते हुए स्टेज पर डांस कर सकता हूँ।" Vanshika the another participant reflected, "जब तिब्बती बच्चों के  सामने हमने डांस रिहर्सल किया और उन्होंने कितनी ज़ोर से ताली बजाया तो उनकी तालियों को सुनकर लगा कि हाँ, हम भी कुछ कर सकते हैं, हमारे अंदर भी टैलेंट है।"

This past year, for me, I felt I grew internally in terms of patience and in spreading love and kindness through Kathak. I gradually learned and experienced that only patience is not enough to face any challenge but patience mixed with love works as a secret ingredient to do justice to your work and also to your own self.

The last few days of the workshops are hard to put in words as it was overwhelming to see two different communities appreciating and encouraging each other, practicing together, playing, working or even eating together. It was the Anubhuti of amalgamation of two communities brought on a single platform through the beautiful art of Kathak.💗 

A Story of Transformation in Sukma, Chhattisgarh

After successfully completing two workshops of Anubhuti, one in Dehradun with the kids who come from extremely impoverished backgrounds and are mostly rag pickers, beggers, addicts, runaways and orphans and another one in Assam with the kids of Tea Garden Tribe, I was so excited and looking forward to experience this wonderful journey of Anubhuti in Sukma, Chhattisgarh. Sukma, a place of which I have heard or have seen mostly in news channels for its Naxalite Movement.

I took a flight from Delhi to Raipur and then an overnight bus from Raipur to Sukma. At the bus stand, I randomly started talking to a woman and asked her about Sukma and its naxalite affects there as I was curious to get to know about it from the local people. The moment I asked her, she started crying and said, "अब मैं ज्यादा क्या बताऊँ इस बारे में, घर में घुसकर हमारे घर के ही दो आदमियों  को मार डाला था उन आतंकवादियों ने।" 'आतंकवादी' (Terrorist), this is what local people calls naxalites. Fear started generating in my mind after listening to this. In the mid night, bus conductor came and told us to put the curtains on the windows as we were passing from a sensitive area. All these things were increasing my fear but at the same time, I was feeling little adventurous too from inside and was expecting some naxalite movement before I reach Sukma. But nothing happened and I safely reached Sukma in the morning. 😛

After reaching Sukma, my mind was completely shifted on work and I was eager to meet my girls who were the very first generation to receive a formal education and are mostly taught to just sit and follow the discipline in the school. It was a place where it was usual for children to witness violence whether it's within their family or community, or between naxalite and police authorities. I was going to spend next 30 days with these girls and as I had just completed two workshops with a great success, I was extremely cheered up and confident to share my skills with Sukma Girls too. 😍

Next morning, I reached Balatikra, a small village in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, a zone highly affected by naxalite. It was a Residential (Porta Cabin) Govt. Girls School with around 600 students. As soon as I got down from auto, I observe that there were some girls who were filling up their buckets, some of them were standing in a queue of an inside shop of school, some were roaming here and there, some were taking bath in an open space, and most of them were looking at me with curiosity. I looked at them too and gave them a big smile but they did not respond . I asked a girl her name who were standing near a small tree, first she tried to hide herself behind the tree but when I again asked her name then she ran away from there. I just smiled and thought they must be feeling shy as I was a new face for them.

In the afternoon, I had a meeting with the girls where I had to select 40 girls out of 150 girls. I personally feel that anybody can learn dance, unless he/she has a desire to learn and is ready to make necessary efforts towards it. And to check this I had to talk to them. But even after trying my best by cracking many jokes just to make them comfortable, the children weren't responding me or talking to me. The only words that they knew to give a response was either a 'yes' or a 'no'. On the basis of what they spoke a little bit, I selected 40 girls.

At night, I had doubts in my mind like would it be possible to make a change in these children's lives through a traditional Classical Art Form like Kathak. Kathak, a dance form that is mostly accessed by Metro and tier 1 or 2 cities, would it work for these kids who do not talk to any unfamiliar person, they hesitate even to listen to that person, even if one cracks a joke the kids will not respond or they would not know how they can possibly respond. I had worked with many NGOs in different parts of the country in the past but these children had just shaken up my confidence to make a change.

I accepted the whole scenario as a challenge for myself and started the workshop. Day 1 started with only 30% kids showing up on time, getting no response from them on trying to break the ice, showing no interest in what I had to say, with almost no motivation to learn, the first session ended with girls (who are 13-15 years of age) wondering about 'Yoga' or 'Meditation' or 'Kathak' terms that they heard of for the very first time in their lives. I thought that just now something new has started here, girls will may take some time to get adjusted, it is okay, keep working with patience.

BUT even after 10 days kids did not start responding or talking to me while generally it takes only a few days for me to build friendly relationship with kids. Kids continued not coming to the class on time, not showing much interest, not asking any questions or practising on their own which is required as a part of the workshop. I tried showing them videos related to Kathak to build their curiosity, it has worked wonder in the past with kids that I have worked with, but here even this did not seem to be helping much. My confidence was shattered and I thought of discontinuing the workshop.

The challenges were endless. On one side where it was getting really difficult for me to work with the kids; on the other I was facing challenges with respect to adapting to the local environment where there is water scarcity, contaminated water with no purification facility, food quality being below par and no markets around to buy packaged products. I was finding difficulty to give proper nutrition to myself, thus compromising with my physical health that in turn was making it difficult for my mind to be a peace.

As I spent more time reflecting and meditating myself in silence, I gained a little courage and confidence to stand back. And then my whole focus shifted to be able to make kids interact with me about themselves without any hesitation or fear.

The journey re-began with more patience and love in the heart, I started sharing more and more about my experiences even if kids don't respond, I continued sharing about my personal journey with a hope that the kids shall open up to me one day. The same trend went on for many days until one day a girl name Santoshi finally shared about what she was thinking during a particular meditation session, "Didi, I was thinking about going to my native place." And another spoke, "Didi, I was thinking when my mother will come to see me, she will bring biscuits." The silver lining was there finally.

During the process, I noticed that the kids feel inferior about their tribal language 'Gondi', So I insisted them to teach the same to me so as to make them comfortable with their local culture and language. Upon getting no response in the beginning, I started telling them about the Assamese language that I had learnt in another 'Anubhuti' workshop in Assam, kids enjoyed learning a new language. Gradually, the kids also started finding comfort in teaching me the basics of Gondi language in an informal way. Then it all reached to a level where during the Kathak practice, whenever it was needed to count some dance steps, they would do that counting in their 'Gondi' language. The purpose was simple to make them feel connected and respect their roots even if they were receiving a formal school education.

As I began spending more time casually with kids even after the workshop hours, sharing about my dreams and my life in Delhi, involving kids consciously to help me in my work so that they find comfort in my company and trying to make them speak by asking many things about their lives. Initially they could not believe that I was interested in knowing about their lives. They were even scared to touch me, as they thought they might pollute me, they were made to believe that black skin people are inferior and they can't achieve anything in their lives, and its only white skin people who can do something worthwhile. I then started deliberately asking them to help me correct me wearing of dupatta, bindi etc. as I didn't have a mirror in the room, I asked for help in things in which they will have to necessarily come close to me.

The time kept passing and then came a moment when I was helping kids doing makeup for a school programme and other kids were serving biscuits in my mouth. :) That was a big change I noticed nearly by the end of third week.

Then one day, four kids entered at 5:30am in my room (while getting ready for a class at 6am) and asked, "Good morning didi, wake up, we have come to take the Ghunghroos, where have you kept them?" I was totally surprised by their gesture. As I went to the class, I saw all kids being present on time. Since that day onwards the kids were my alarm and helped me carry ghunghroos to the classroom. The efforts were paying results. What was more difficult to believe was that when one day, I got up late and as I was rushing to the class, I saw kids practicing Yoga themselves, upon asking, kids told that they have also done meditation on their own. I could not believe that they were the same kids whom I met around 20 days back, they had even started practicing Kathak themselves by the time I entered the room. I was so overwhelmed.

In the coming days as the workshop was approaching its last week, I literally witnessed the power of love and persistence more closely. Kids started coming to the class self motivated, they also started practicing on their own in their free time after school the result of which was reflected in the class next day. It was so relieving for me to hear them asking questions finally. Smita, a 13 year old, interrupted me during one of the sessions and asked me to repeat 'maheshwara step' that I said previously. I felt full of happy emotions when this happened. It looks small from the outside, but for me this was a big shift I was witnessing within these kids. Later on some of the kids showed interest in leading the sessions and soon after they started conducting session on their own and I was just simply observing and encouraging them.

The time flew and the last day of the workshop came, a day when all kids have to perform and share with others about their experiences during the process of the workshop. They had their 600 school peers, their school principal and teachers, a regional political leader and 'Shiksharth' (an NGO, with whom 'Anubhuti' was collaborated) team members in front of them with all eyes on the stage waiting curiously for them to come. All the 40 kids who participated in the workshop not only performed Kathak Dance while showing beautiful synchronisations amongst them with confidence, but also anchored a few parts of the presentation speaking in front of all the audience.

It was not all perfect and the impact was not measured in numbers but that was not needed, they had won my heart or rather I feel I could make some space in their heart. It took me 3 weeks to win their confidence and love but somewhere the innocence and the love from the kids was my primary force for me to be able to sustain here and successfully complete this milestone of ANUBHUTI. I feel, now, I can finally look into my eyes and believe that I have done something meaningful and have contributed a bit in the lives of these kids.💗

# On the concluding day of the workshop, Shiksharth team members shared their experience in this way :

"Today was the most magical day. In Balatikra, Annu's children performed exceptionally. When the sound of Ghunghroos surrounded the hall, applauses naturally followed. Annu's performance, as a gift from her to the children, was magnetic. The Adhikshika, Principal and Political Leaders were overwhelmed that in a span of just a month children can perform so phenomenally and can speak confidently about the experience of learning Kathak. They appreciated Annu's work and repeatedly thanked Shiksharth many times. The children looked so happy and yet I could see the brimming dream in their eyes to do and be good in life. Perhaps it is my most happiest day with my team today. I don't know how can we thank Annu for being such a magic to children and Shiksharth. I hope we keep doing things like this in future for the children of Sukma."
- Neeraj Naidu, Co-founder, Shiksharth

"Indeed an exquisite and an elegant performance by the children. It got intensified and vivified when one of the student and performer affirmed with all the confidence that she would teach her siblings, friends and everyone else. Now that is what I consider as learning! A good event to experience. Cheers!"
- Pavan Deshmukh, Program Manager, Shiksharth

"Indeed! It was Miracle witnessed. It is a clear demonstration of Dedication and Passion by Annu Ji. The smiles on the faces of children while performing today shows the depth and nature of Art they have experienced and found over the last month. Salute! Today's event should inspire one and all to pursue what they believe in!"
- Rajvinit Gumber, Program Team Member, Shiksharth