Anjali brings colour to lives of Vidyasagar students

Yellow, pink, blue and all the other colours from a box of crayons were laid at Prasad’s feet as he took each after another and put them to paper. All set to create another masterpiece for the world, Prasad and his three friends came  from Chennai’s Vidyasagar School to the Anjali Children’s Festival.  They were accompanied with four teachers of their institute two of which were also mothers of these children. This was Prasad’s first time out of his hometown and into another state and his mother and himself thanked Anjali profusely for such an opportunity.

Laxmi Prabhakaran, mother of ten-year-old Dharmesh, says that each year from the last ten years, four or five students attend Anjali with their escorts. “They come back home with happy faces and great experiences from having met with so many people and participated in so many activities that each one of us gets in queue to take our children the next year,” she says. Her son nods in agreement from his wheelchair, monitoring his artist friends on the ground.

Prasad’s mother flaunts with pride his latest artwork titled Jungle mein Pongal and another one of his escorts, Bharti says that there are around 350 odd students associated with Vidasagar School but only a few five are bestowed this opportunity to be a participant in this festival. “It is very difficult to travel for such long hours in train with these children. We had to travel almost a day and a half, during which two of these fell ill,” she adds.

The staff is also a good 120 in number but even then managing these many students is already a 24/7 task.  “We don’t have anything to complain about because Anjali is the only place where these children can come out of their homes and visit a different place and people, Otherwise we have to make do with our in house activities,” says Bharti.

For Sruti Mohapatra, Chief Co-ordinator of Anjali Children’s Festival, the main objective is to get the disabled children out of their immediate surroundings and expose their talents to the world. This ambition seems to be realising with such examples as the story of Prasad and his friends from Chennai. 

Finding a friend in paper dolls

 The area smells like a furniture shop, from the heavy use of Dendrite. Foam cuttings are strewn all over the place and the children are busy making something with their dexterous hands and keen eyes. Anjali Children’s Festival was witness to several workshops on November 12, one of which was on ventriloquism, conducted by veteran artist Prabir Das of Kolkata. He attends to every confused child struggling with scissors, foam or glue.

This is Das’s second time at Anjali and says he’ll visit every year with the permission of health and time. “To meet these children is a great experience. I conduct such workshops throughout the year but the enthusiasm and the ambience at Anjali is unmatched,” he says.

For Das, the inspiration to approach ventriloquism as a career came when he was in Russia in 1968 where he watched the Russian Circus in its full flair. “When I came back, I realised that ventriloquism owes its origin to India” he says. He claims it is registered in the Vedas how sages and hermits who claimed to talk to gods were nothing but well practised ventriloquists who created illusions of conversations with God.

When asked how such a workshop can prove helpful to the differently-abled children, he says that with regular practice and stern heart, the children will gain confidence and learn to put words to their thoughts. Apparently even the kids had similar views on the efficiency of the workshop. Jerin Shifani, a student from Kanyakumari seems pleased with her decision to choose this workshop over all others. “I like making and playing with dolls and Sir is also very sweet and patient with us,” she says. A smile spreads over Das’s face as he sees his students feeling content with the product of two hours’ labour. A face of foam and paper smiles with him too.  

Tête-à-tête with Sruti Mohapatra

Founder and Chief Executive of Swabiman and Chief Co-ordinator of Anjali National Children’s Festival shares her definition of success, her dreams for the future of organisation and her love for the differently-abled children in a conversation with Soumya Srivastava.

What pushed you towards working for special children? Did your own experience have any part to play?

I had a spinal cord injury in 1987 and traumatic as it was, I had the support of my family to drive me through it. I was educated and had a strong financial background, unlike many. When I came here after working with Disabled People’s International, I found that the situation here was far worse than I could ever expect. I travelled through Odisha and what I witnessed was baffling. These children were confined to the four walls of their home, not given access to school. Even the special schools were far from helpful. I wanted to break this notion that disabled children are worth nothing.

Why is Anjali so intent on bringing all children together? How is this interaction beneficial to them?

I believe that children are the future. We need to let them understand and appreciate the plights of those unlike them. The hatred or the alienation has to be dissolved and apathy has to be replaced by empathy. It is essential for them to know that these differently-abled children are also creative, curious, loving and kind.

Anjali promotes group activities more than solo acts but don’t you think that if a child stands victorious on doing something on his own, his confidence will grow even better?

The world and its people are growing to be more and more self centred these days. They only want to have achievements as individuals and not as a team. We, at Anjali, are trying to dissolve this outlook. We want more participation as teams, so that the kids know how to put the welfare of all before the welfare of oneself. The concepts of I, me, myself must be done away with.

Is this year a greater or lesser success than last year? The head count is definitely low.

I agree that the footfall this year has been much less than last year but I also know that Phailin is to be blamed. Many participants withdrew their names which I believe is nothing but reasonable parental concern. The real picture escapes them that Bhubaneshwar is not even distantly harmed by the perils of the cyclone or the floods. We know that it is not a failure or mismanagement on our part rather an unfortunate turn of events. Also, I would never judge the success of this event with headcounts.

Then what should be the parameters to judge Anjali’s success?

When I could see the joy in the eyes of children here, when they tell me they don’t wish to leave the camp, I know I have done my bit and this initiative has been a success. The children and their parents keep coming and telling me how disappointed they are that the festival has been cut short to four days from five. If we could make even one child smile then success is already ours.

The Tale of Two Temples

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This opening line from a Dickensian novel is perhaps most suitable to describe a trip to the Konark Sun temple and Puri’s Jagannath temple. Two completely different experiences just 50 kilometres apart.  One is the beacon of early Indian artistry while the other is the holy grail of spirituality for millions. Both are two of the few gems of Odisha and are usually visited by many in a single day owing to their proximity with each other. The onlooker is left comparing and contrasting the dual experiences and this piece of writing is no aberration.

Konark Sun temple is a time machine. You travel through hyperspace and reach an era that was 800 years ago. The time machine is a chariot drawn by seven majestic horses of the sun god-Surya. Each of 24 wheels is carved intricately by the dexterous hands of 13^th century craftsmen. The wheels, the walls, the halls and the galleries, all tell a story of their own. One tells of the ten avatars of Vishnu, another tells of the daily rituals in the life of a woman. Distinct and different yet echoing the same thought of what the life and society used to be like. This is when the time traveller realises that her own time and age is a resonance of what was the common thought of 13^th century. In the stone carvings, she sees a woman waking up at dawn, then getting busy with her shringar rituals, going out for shikar, coming back home to cook and later spending quality time with her husband and family.

                 

The Maithunas tell of the widely explored territory of sexual passions and desires. The various ways of pleasing the partner and with the act of love making, reaching a force stronger than you. The scene in Jagannath temple is entirely different. One is supposed to cover heads, cut sleeve dresses are a strict no. The people ogle at women who ‘dare’ to dress themselves in western clothes and ironically, lustful eyes are often seen. Our predecessors were perhaps more liberal in their idea of sex and gender.

The issue of hygiene is another point to ponder upon. Of all the places in the world, a temple is the one place which is expected to be most clean and tidy but the Jagannath temple of Puri will prove you wrong. It is one of the Chaar Dhaams of Hinduism yet the attention paid towards cleanliness is negligible. The daily footfall in the temple is in thousands and therefore the risk of contamination and infection is large. The dining area is in shambles. Cockroaches, lizards, centipedes are frequent pilgrims and are entertained with equal considerations as their human counterparts. The flies invade eatables, surf on plates and dishes. Contaminated and filthy water is put to use again and again until it runs black. The administrators of the temple are seen to be taking “reuse and recycle” much too seriously. The temple’s worst competitor, Konark on the other hand is running ahead in the race. No roaches, pests, reptiles to be seen in near vicinity. Clean and chilled water available free of cost with a clean and tidy kiosk for snacks and eatables. The bushes are well maintained and all the artwork is regularly cleaned and polished.

Now the real question should take the centerstage. Why indeed does this disparity come to play? The same state government, the same kind of people yet such different experience? The answer is ‘religion’. One of the most intriguing facts about Konark Sun temple is that it has no concept of worship and routine rituals of pooja. There are no priests, no idols inside the chambers, no daily aarti, no prasad distribution, no daan-dakshina and also no corruption and profiteering.

The audience that gathers in the Konark Sun temple is there only to experience the true aesthetic heritage that we have behind ourselves. A rich past and a culture of gifted intellectuals and ancestors. In Puri though, the corruption and business mindedness is so rampant that they do nothing to conceal it. The police officials watch with stony eyes while the pandas carry out with their money making manoeuvres in broad daylight. One will ask you for Rs 25 for a closer access to the holy trinity in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. One will hit you with ashirwaad wali chari (the stick of blessings) whether you ask them or not and will later push you to give him money. They charge incredulous amount of money from the oblivious outsiders who are unknown to their cunning. Bhog committee, Daan Committee, you name it they have it.  A fully fledged business has sprouted from what is supposed to be a selfless job.

This opinion might stink of prejudices and biased viewpoint to some and perhaps the allegation does hold some truth. But the calm, the spiritual exercise, the peace and tranquillity and that connect with the supreme power was felt in Konark rather than in Puri. The outrageous corruption committed by his worshipers lessened the calming effect of Jagannath.

The Exceptionally Random Raingods of Dhenkanal

The Angel of Hindi Cinema

Cinema is known to us as a world where we can escape from the realities of our life and into the life of the unreal. It provides a relief from the monotony of life and is also the most easily accessible mode of entertainment. But like all forms of media, it does a lot in forming our ideology and generating our opinions. In this essay, I have tried to put the Hindi cinema under scrutiny in its portrayal of women. How have the women been represented in movies? Has there been a change in their representation in all these years, is it for better or for worse? What kind of a woman is the heroine? How close are they to reality? Is she independent or is she weak and feeble? Does she need the male to get her through the adversaries in life? And most importantly, how far has the new age cinema succeeded in erasing these stereotypes. These are some of the questions that I have tried to raise in this essay.

According to Louis Althusser, media is one of the many ideological state apparatuses that come into play in shaping our ideas and thoughts. We think in the fashion that the media teaches us. We create stereotypes, we develop favourites, and we accept something and reject something else. But how does cinema respond to the issue of gender? Instead of transcending the stereotypes, it seems to have made them even stronger. Yes, indeed the portrayal of women is very close to reality but that portrayal, that reality is accepted with open arms and not contested. In our cinema, we seem to be in support of the treatment that is received by women all over the country and the behaviour that is expected of them. They are expected to be docile, timid, loyal beyond belief and submissive to the males. They must keep their desires and dreams secondary to the needs of those around them.

In movies like Dahej(1950), Gauri(1968), Devi(1970), Biwi ho toh Aisi(1988) the women are depicted as extremely loyal and complying figures. They follow the word of their husbands like the word of God and are ready to lay their lives at his feet if he demands. The Indian patriarchal values never found a better medium to institutionalize themselves in the minds of the people. They are the ‘angels of the house’, ‘tulsi’ in the ‘angan’. They are selfless beyond belief and they do not think twice when it comes to choosing between the family and their dreams. In Abhimaan(1973) Jaya Bacchan’s character  gave up her bright career as a singer to feed the ego of her husband, played by Amitabh Bacchan. Though the selfishness and the egoism of the husband are criticized in the movie, it is not enough for the wife to leave him. The conventional values of duty to the husband and the house are adhered to and that gives the story a happy ending.

It is not like the women in Indian cinemas were not depicted to be smart and intelligent enough to work, but at the same time, the family and not the self was held to be of primary importance. Even in blockbuster films like Hum Apke Hain Koun(1994) where women played very important roles, they were not accepted as working women.  Madhuri Dixit in her very first scene is introduced as a computer engineer and yet when Salman Khan day dreams about their future together, he sees her sending him to office with a goodbye kiss while herself staying back to take care of his family and cooking for them. In Hum Saath Saath Hain(1999) Sonali Bendre is playing a shy, timid doctor but the ‘doctor’  part of her personality is never shown to the audience. Are the heroines intelligent and smart for the namesake?

The leading lady of the Indian cinema is either white or black in her character. She is the wife or the other woman, a heroine or a vamp, Madonna or a whore. The middle path is never found. In Aa Ab Laut Chalen(1999) Akshay Khanna leaves the wayward NRI Suman Ranganathan for the angelic, loving Aishwarya Rai. She is shown to have forgotten her Indian ‘sanskars’ for having lived too long outside the country. On similar lines is David Dhawan’s Biwi No.1 (1999) where Salman Khan gets seduced by Sushmita Sen, a confident, career oriented model. Karishma Kapoor calls Sushmita Sen ‘the other woman’ and blames her for all the chaos. She is looked at as a house wrecker and a demon all through the movie and Salman Khan is forgiven at the end after a very childish attempt at apologizing to his wife. It has been one of the first movies that irked me for a very long time. Even I, as a child of seven, could feel something wrong in the treatment of the issue of adultery but apparently the movie was a huge hit among the Indian audience.

The movies did not digress from reality in their assumption of the physical ability of the woman either. They are feeble, they are weak, and they need a man to protect them from the bad, bad world. The frequent “bachao” in the cinemas is usually a call for man by a woman to save her “izzat”. Whatever happened to the women of substance? Where are the women who are able to live life depending only on themselves? In stories like Seeta aur Geeta(1972) Geeta is a strong, cunning woman but somewhere in the movie there has to be a scene where she will require the help of a hero. The ego of the male audience must not be fiddled with.

The cinema that is being made today is trying to break free from the earlier stereotypes but only for the worse. A new version of bold, audacious and skimpily clad actresses has surfaced. They perform cheesy item numbers, show off their body without restrain to feed the male gaze even further. Surely they are nothing like earlier portrayal of women but at what cost? This attempt at getting a new identity reduces them even further to the level of an “item”.  And not just some random B-grade actress but the big guns of mainstream Indian cinema are also participating with full heart in this venture.

The only thing which seems to bring a little joy to the feminist fans of Indian cinema is the kind of work being pursued by the likes of Vidya Balan and Konkana Sen Sharma. They are trying to work with the movies that catch the true spirit of womanhood. Movies like No One Killed Jessica (2011), Chameli(2003), Ishqiya(2010), Paa(2009) are not all centred on women issues. They just have powerful women characters which are not like what we have read in the above paragraphs. These movies have helped shift the focus of the camera from the body of the woman to her identity as an individual. Paa was about a child suffering from progeria and not about any women related issue; even then R. Balki was able to give the audience one of the most well defined female characters in Indian cinema. Vidya Balan played a strong mother who managed her work and son’s responsibility together.

One of the first movies that I remember to have impressed me in its portrayal of a woman was Ghar Ho Toh Aisa(1990). It was not a very famous movie but the way Meenakshi Sheshadri acted out cunning, smart, and intelligent and yet a good hearted daughter-in-law, caught my attention. She was a social worker who was asked to come to Anil Kapoor’s house as his fake new wife who would help him in curbing the ways of his cruel mother, played by Bindu. In stark contrast to Meenakshi’s character was Asha Parekh’s. Parekh played a tortured, extremely docile and subjugated ‘bahu’ who lived at the mercy of her ‘saas’. Meenakshi was able to get some sense into the mother-in-law’s head through her many manoeuvres. Where at one instance Asha Parekh easily takes a slap from Bindu, Meenakshi Sheshadri catches her hand before she could be slapped. For her, the old order of taking absolutely anything from elders doesn’t hold any ground. She is employed and powerful. She is independent and not arrogant about it. There are more such female characters in the Indian cinema. All we have to do is dig deeper to find the gems.

The Noor is Lost

*One of my science fiction pieces as an entry into Kalindi College Creative Writing Competition.

 It won the first prize.

-The theme provided was that we had to begin with these particular lines...

“ The palace was in turmoil. Noorjahan, the power behind the emperor, had gone missing...”

image courtesy- wallpoper.com

The palace was in turmoil. Noorjahan, the power behind the emperor, had gone missing. Emperor Jehangi was looking out of his palace windows and at his kingdom. It all seemed so peaceful. Peaceful for now. He knew very well what this meant and he knew that his reign was taking its last breaths. Noorjahan was the only reason he rose to power eighty years ago and was able to keep the throne all this while. A man of almost a hundred years now, he felt young enough to rule another eighty. Yet he knew that that wasn’t a possibility anymore.

He fondly called her Noorjahan because the legend said that there once ruled a king whose name was much like his and he had beautiful wife called Noorjahan. His Noorjahan was no less than a wife to him.

He watched the airjets run across the sky amidst the tall buildings when he started to think of the first time he laid eyes upon her.

The year was 2114. He entered her dark chambers where a huge screen zoomed to life and soft, sweet voice greeted him, “Welcome, Master. I am NOR-342. I am a Type 3 mega-computer. I can assist you in gaining access to the plausible events of any action frame with my second degree beta permutators.  In simple words, I can tell you the outcome of an action in short or long runs. I can tell the future”, it said.

Jehangi was amazed at the beauty of the human mind. We were doing something that wasn't thought possible by anyone who ever lived. The feat was extraordinary.

 He asked her several things, she answered them all. With her by his side, he took control of the world, created an army and slew some. He was invincible. With her by their side, science and technology went on a hyper-drive. In just a matter of eighty years, medicine, infrastructure, space travel, information technology saw a thousand-fold development. People were living to an easy one-fifty years old. Tours were taken to the far ends of the galaxy, cars ran not just on the streets but also in the skies, on moon and even on Mars. The humans were able to restore ecological balance to the world as well. It was truly a golden period, the best that humanity had ever seen. But Jehangi knew how soon it will see its ruin.

He was removed from his moorings when he heard someone’s footsteps approaching. He knew who it was and didn't bother to turn around. “Yes, Kazal?” he asked.

“All praise to my lord, the Emperor! I am afraid, Your Majesty but the royal Guard has still not been able to trace the whereabouts of the core”, said the faithful servant.

Jehangi was hoping for better news.  He felt so broken that he couldn't even muster enough anger to throw at his servants.  “I thought so”, said the Emperor still looking at the jets flying in and out of the town. “Look how peaceful it is right now. It will be only a matter of days when this city will lie in its own ashes.”

“Forgive me, Your Grace but I think you are a little too disheartened. The humans used to work just as well even before Noorjahan. Not as good a life, I agree but it was a life nonetheless. You are a great king my Lord and you will be able to maintain peace with or without Noorjahan”, said Kazal.

“My dear Kazal, you don’t know how bad the situation is. We have no hope of survival. I will be the first one whose throat will be slit but that doesn't concern me in the slightest. What concerns me is the ruin of my kingdom. The kingdom that I built with my own blood and sweat”, said the melancholic Emperor.

“But master, who will bring the ruin? We had eliminated all of our enemies when we gained power over the throne eighty years ago. I fail to understand what worries you so”, said Kazal, visibly confused.

“Apparently we didn't. Noorjahan didn't die, she was taken away. They took the core, without which she is as good as dead. They are powerful enough to kill us all with the core matter by their side. It is just a matter of days my friend”, the Emperor’s words were soft and lifeless.

Kazal was petrified on hearing this. He cursed himself for ignoring a matter of such great importance and didn’t know what to say to the Emperor. “We are doomed then.”

“Indeed we are, Kazal. Indeed we are”, the Emperor murmured and without looking at Kazal, walked softly out of his chambers. He wanted to walk for a while. If only he could just walk away from this mess, he thought. He had no idea where his feet were taking him until they started to trace a familiar path. He knew that going there was of no use now but his heart could not be helped. His feet stopped in front of a dark screen which until some days ago would flash with the brightest colours as soon as he entered the room. It was dead as a stone now.

The Emperor fell to his knees and started to cry bitterly at the floor of the chamber. It was nothing more than her tomb now.

“I don’t know what to do! Please help me!” he knew it was pointless but kept sobbing and talking to her corpse.

“They are coming Noor! They are coming to get me! Please save us!” his words were followed by silence as he cried in her lap waiting for her to wake up and put her hand on the back of her lover and tell him that all will be well. Nothing could be heard except silence.

Cleanse the country, hang the corrupt?

*written 2 years ago as an article for the college magazine

Every few years, a country’s image changes for the world. Once Egypt was the land of mummies but now it’s the home of protesting citizens and falling governments. Our own country, India, was a land of spices, mughal architecture , curries, colorful lives, and now it is known to be a country where people, irritated and fed  up of bureaucratic corruption , followed a man in his struggle to rid the country of this devil .The man was Anna Hazare and millions of Indians supported him, blindly perhaps. Recent movies like ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ had the patriotic blood pumping in our veins. We needed a change, we wanted to realize that dream and that is most possibly the reason we joined Hazare in his ‘revolution’. We agreed and bobbled our heads to everything ‘team anna’ bellowed into the microphone. He said “the corrupt should be hanged” and we raised our fists in agreement. We termed him the new Gandhi but little did we realize that Gandhi had been against all kinds of violence, even against the enemy.

Why does corruption infuriate the common Indian man so much? Well, as we know, India is a developing country and like every other developed country we are also facing a series of troubles to achieve absolute development. Poverty, illiteracy and corruption are the major ones. To make a country powerful and peaceful, the government and the citizens need to work together and when this does not happen, the citizens become agitated. What follows are the revolutions and demonstrations, strikes and dharnas. The people watched it over television and were manipulated by the media which is a lot more than just biased in today’s date. The media portrayed the government as the biggest evil and prosecutor of all freedom that one deserves. Nobody seemed to question the naked barbarism that was flowing from Hazare’s speeches. Hanging the MPs or the MLAs doesn’t quite fit with the image of ‘second Gandhi ‘ I had created in my mind. Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement due to the Chauri Chaura incident. He couldn’t forgive his own followers for such a gruesome act of violence against the police officials. The blood rush and the excitement had got their good judgment blind.  Somewhat like our own at the moment when we cheered in unison about hanging the corrupt.

Gandhi had a policy “hate the crime, not the criminal”. He believed that the guilty must always be given a chance to repent and corporal punishment is never a solution. Though it might create terror in the hearts of those who will try to engage in corrupt practices in the future but will the risk be worth taking? Moreover, what is the reason that a person lets himself take advantage of another person’s helplessness? Are they his own difficult circumstances which make him helpless himself? Are the officials being paid well enough to suit their needs or is it that their thirst for more money can never be satiated? Also there are cases where taking bribes is acceptable to both the parties and no one complaints. I personally believe that prevention is better than ’cure’. Close monitoring is needed to keep tab on the workers and officials. They must not be given any chance to take advantage of and the problem will find a solution itself.

We do not live in the post French Revolution Reign of Terror where men were guillotined for stealing lambs. Many developed countries have ruled out corporal punishment and for us to go back to the ways of medieval ages and yet dream of becoming developed country ourselves seems an obnoxious idea. We live in a democratic society where punishments are decided accordingly, giving full chance for the guilty to repent and not with boiling blood and hot heads which cannot judge righteously  in the heat of the revolution and activity after a long period of stagnation.