Tuesday, April 14, 2020

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." 


Friday, March 27, 2020

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। 


Thursday, January 23, 2020

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। "