Workshop at British Council

Situation 1

Aloo Prasad Yadav and Ramdev Dubey are names of school Principals. Aloo Prasad Yadav takes a special class for the students. He teaches Bhojpuri. Ramdev Dubey teaches a Pathshala.


Situation 2

A grumpy teacher becomes a loving one when she accidentally breaks her leg and has the children taking her to the hospital.

Situation 3

A young princess with beautiful green eyes and a crown set with precious stones cannot win over her subjects because she is rude and arrogant.

These were some of the things that the young children aged 10-14 came up with at British Council during the October 25 Workshop that was Conducted by Writeherewritenow.

Richa gave the children leads, saying that in order to create a character, one must focus on Appearance, Attire and Personality Traits.

Then, as a kind of warm up exercise, Richa asked the children to concoct characters of a thief, a princess and a school principal, keeping the above factors in mind.

Finally, she asked them to focus on "character growth" telling them how if a character did not grow in a story, it would be a flat character.

This workshop culminated into many interesting stories.

The Red Badge of Honour

The Beauty Inside is the last of a series of plays that I have been writing about. Catherine Filloux has based her play on a real life account of a victim of the tradition of honour killing in Turkey. Yalova is a 14 year old village girl who has been raped by a neighbour and consequently has become pregnant. Her family kills off the man and throws her into a canal to die. But she survives and fights back. Her case is taken up by Devrim, a female lawyer hailing from a rich and educated family of Istanbul. The play traces how Yalova helped by Devrim, defies all odds of family and society to give birth to her daughter in whom we see the prospect of a better future. However it is not a clear victory of right over wrong for as Devrim’s father tells her, the judicial system has merely used Yalova’s case to whitewash the country’s human rights record in front of the UN.

The play has a number of interwoven themes ranging from the conflict between the different value systems of the urban rich and the rural poor, the trauma that the victim’s family has to go through to corrupt contractors building flimsy houses which come crashing down during the earthquake. But at the heart of the play is the grave injustice done to a young girl–first she is repeatedly raped and silenced by a death threat and then when her family finds out they try to kill her to save their honour. How can ‘honour’ be at the root of such a heinous crime?

The word honour goes back to the beginning of civilization when society was in its rudimentary stage torn apart by the constant struggle to survive. Then it was honour that made men aspire to something higher and nobler, an ideal to be striven toward, in short it brought out the best in men. But with time, like every other good thing that has been abused, the concept of honour too came to be much abused. Today it has become representative of all things repressive in society and is binding upon us. And an extreme case is Yalova’s. Filloux has beautifully described the rape in symbolic terms by making it coincide with a solar eclipse. This is based on reality since Filloux was there in Turkey in 1999 when there was a total solar eclipse as well as an earthquake. For those few moments the day turns night–symbolizing an inversion of everything that is right and good. It is as if the entire cosmic order is mourning and protesting her rape by blocking out all the light in the world. If that is the case then how can her family try to punish her for the unnatural crime committed against her? It defies all logic! It seems as if man is capable of inexplicable cruelty. In the play Yalova’s family members are not depicted as unidimensional villains but as hapless victims of social ostracism. Thus some societies not only justify honour killing but also glorify it by saying that the death acts as a ritual cleansing of what is impure and unnatural. This interestingly reminds me of Stephen Crane’s war novel The Red Badge of Courage where the red badge is the wound received in war, a symbol of courage and valour. Here paradoxically the red badge of honour is intended for those who murder innocent victims like Yalova and bring glory to their clan. It seems as if something is rotten deep within our social foundation and it is finding expression in such bizarre but quite frequent incidents. Women are particularly vulnerable since honour be it of the family, caste or tribe is inseparably associated with them. While these stereotypes have been created by men, women too have contributed in nurturing them.

What is cause for worry is that incidents of honour killing are alarmingly frequent in India what with our rigid caste and religious divides. I am perhaps despairing but I cannot see the situation improving given how deep-seated the mistaken notion of honour lies. Till then we shall be occasionally encouraged by the likes of Yalova acting like a shining beacon of the little courage, bravery and right left in this world.

Bal Vividha- Kalam (day three)

DAY 3

This session started with identity forms being given out consisting of name, ages, address, height. Weight etc. After the forms were filled it was explained how one’s identity was not merely formed by these quantitative data alone. One’s identity was this & much more. The form failed to say what we liked, what we disliked, if we loved doing something or not. In other words it was redundant. If the participants felt such then they were asked to tear up the forms and if they did not then keep it. The whole group saving five participants tore up their forms.

At this juncture I read out three stereotype profiles using the quantitative data such as name, birthplace, etc and the group was asked to describe these characters based on their name and information given. The participants came up with the stereotypical answers as expected
Durga Mondol from Murshidabad had to be a factory worker with no education and Mohammad Ansari a ‘goonda’. When the real characteristics of these profile were read out, the participants were surprised ( Durga Mondol, a national swimming champ, Ansari a women’s activist) the remaining four participants also tore their form saying the form did not do justice to the type of person they really were. Only one participant still maintained that the form could be an identity if a picture was provided. Nargis then took out Sahar’s picture and asked him to say what he thought about this woman (birthplace, work, language, etc) when he was unable to make a successful analysis h realised he was wrong and he tore up his form too much to the relief of the facilitators.

A human being was not made up of these forms and the data collected rather it was in his character that we can find the true him. The participants were then asked to think up of an image and using the keys given (colour, smell, sadness etc) describe it on paper and then share it with the rest of the class.

Important and recurring points about the images:
Shapeless
Sounds of birds and leaves
The place becomes flooded when angry
Green place with lots of trees
Waves

All the participants spoke about a green place with trees as part of their image. Only one girl ( Reshma) had a desert place, with cactus, lack of colours, sadness as her theme. When prodded further she said that was how she was currently feeling hence the image.
After this exercise the participants were asked to write a poem titled ‘I Am’ using the keys given in the previous exercise. They were told they could be as experimental as they wanted to be and if they desired they could do without using the keys and write something totally different.

It was seen that many of the participants had made themselves birds of other objects and created a whole new identity for themselves in this poem.

At this point lunch break was announced.

After the break, chits were passed around with a feeling written on them and selected participants were asked to act this out to the rest of the group who had to identify it. After this exercise further chits were given and the group was divided into two people sub groups and then they were asked to write the symptoms of the feeling given in their chit and the group had to identify the feeling. Both the exercises were quite popular and were easily identified.

At this point we spoke about feelings and emotions and how it affects poetry writing. After this discussion, the facilitators asked the participants to pick out any two colourful characters from their neighbourhood and share something funny. This exercise was used to successfully close the session on a fun note.

The participants were then further told about Kalam and what it does and contact details given. Comment sheets were passed around for their comments and suggestions.
The session ended on a high note. All the participants were extremely happy and wanted to come back for more if there was any. Some great works were collected which will be displayed in the fair later on in the year. The facilitators enjoyed this experience as much as the participants did

Bal Vividha-Kalam (day two)

DAY 2

This session started with the participants being asked to discuss why the writer’s notebook was so important and what role did it play if at all to writing. Nargis shared her views on it and said how Melissa Pritchard who had conducted workshops with her had told the writer’s notebook was like a mother and if the writer did not love it then one would not get the enthusiasm to write.

The participants were then handed out blank sheets of paper and asked to draw a map of their hearts. Some of the possible things that they could include were: places they loved visiting, stories they had heard/hear, people you like, happiness and sadness, things one might have lost. Basically things which had left a mark in their hearts.

Nargis then brought out her own sketch of the heart where she explained how some of the things depicted there were such important part of hr life. Her first taxi ride alone, visit to Darjeeling, getting her passport made etc.

The participants were then asked to share it with the rest of the group. Many interesting imagery came up during the course of this exercise- dreams and ambitions, love, hardships, fantasy. House and dead loved ones were a common theme found in most of the participant’s works.
For example, Smriti drew a house and when she explained it she told a tragic story about how a young girl who lived there had been raped. She did not know this girl but the story and the house had left a deep impression in her mind.

The participants were then asked to revisit the five senses we had discussed in the previous session and using those asked to write a poem about the lane in front of their house. The poems were then discussed with the whole group and suggestions and changes were made by the participants themselves.
After this exercise the participants were told about similes and metaphors. They were told how it was important in poetry and how anyone could actually make these similes by comparing one object to another.

A box of crayons red in colour was passed around in the room and using their five senses the participants were asked to come up with at least one interesting comparison between the box of crayons and some other object. I explained this by passing about a green file and comparing it to a thin blade of green grass and the texture to the oil that my mother puts on my sister’s hair.

Some of the interesting comparisons that came up with the box of crayons were:

Smells like soil
Red like blood
Looks like a red rose
Like the colours of the rainbow
Like the red ‘alta’ my mother uses
The sun in the autumn sky
Like a thin notebook
Oily like the leaf of a lotus

At this point the session was stopped for lunch.

We started the post lunch session with the free writing exercise where the participants had to write about their names for at least ten minutes without removing their pens and not taking time to think. Interestingly one participant wrote his name for three consecutive pages since he felt he could not think of anything else.

After this exercise we went back to the similes and metaphors and the comparison that were made. The facilitators used a dead crow as an example and used five different ways in which this dead crow could be seen. Followed by a discussion, a glass of water was brought and placed in the middle of the room. The participants were asked to look at it and then write five ways in which this glass of water could be viewed. The comparisons could be as outrageous as possible but it could not be a common imagery or everyday theme. Some of the comparisons the participants came up with are:

A pond with a boundary wall
A drop of tear
Life
Magnifying glass
An upside down temple
Particle of sand
White sky
The pent up sadness in the heart
Early morning fog.

After this Sandra Cisneros’ poem ‘My Name’ was read and discussed and then the participants were asked to similarly write five lines about their names associating the name with a number, colour, feature, smell etc. the poems were discussed and changes and suggestions made.

Bal Vividha- Kalam (day one)

Bal Vividha

(15th to 17th October)
The theme for this year’s Bal Vividha was Education for Change and a concentration on alternative forms of education. Creativity has been as a mover of change and all the workshops were centred on this theme.
Kalam conducted three full day workshops on poetry and creative writing. The workshop was called ‘Power of Writing’ and facilitated by me and Nargis.

DAY 1
The sessions had fifteen participants from various schools and backgrounds( there were two participants from English medium schools, a few participants from Murshidabad who had problem talking, and the other participants were from various other parts of the city and state. Their ages ranged from 13 to approximately 20) and thus it was one of the most diverse groups of participants I have worked with till now. The participants were asked to introduce themselves after which we played a ‘name game’ where the participants had to associate their names with a place which began with the first letter of their names. This was an energiser round and was intended to break the ice between the participants and the facilitators.
The participants were asked what they had thought of when registering for the workshop. For some of them it was a forum to polish on their writing skills. Others had never written before and thought they could use it as means of learning how to write and for some it was the first time they were participating in a public program like this and had no idea what to expect.
We started the workshop by handing out blank sheets to all the participants and other stationery such as crayons and pencils. The participants were told to imagine that they cannot talk and write and the only way of expression for themselves was through images. They were asked to draw images and share it with the rest of the class.

It was observed that most of the group belonging to the higher age range preferred to just use their pens and pencils and kept the pictures as minimal as possible whereas the participants from the younger age group had colourful pictures and made use of lots of colours and imagery. There were two teachers from the organisations participating as observers and they took part in this activity as well.

After the participants had finished with their drawings, they were asked to exchange their papers and each had to explain the drawing of the co participant and tell what they thought of him or her through the drawings. After which the participant who had made that drawing was himself/herself asked to explain it and share it with the rest of the group.
Bilkis Khatun for example had drawn a tree and a house. Nargis started the discussion by saying she though the tree was where Bilkis had for the first time met her lover and the house was a dream which she perhaps wanted to build some day. Tumpa on the other hand felt theatre was somewhere Bilkis used to hang out with friends. Bilkis said the hosuelike structure was her school which she was very fond of and the tree was in her house courtyard and she felt a strange affection towards it.

Some of the common images that were seen through this exercise were trees, flowers, televisions, house (or house like structures)
Hazara Khatun was the only participant who drew a nurse and spoke about her life’s ambition to become one through her image. Many of the participants also spoke about their dreams through these images.

At the end of this exercise the participants were told how poetry was also nothing but written imagery. Keeping this mind they were each asked to write one line about what they thought about ‘Night’ and compare it to one image. They were asked no to use common images such as darkness. Solitary, etc but to try and think of other images which one might not immediately associate with night. The lines were then read out and a group poem was created titled ‘Night is’ with each of the participants having contributed one line each.

Night Is
Night is a beautiful woman
Night is the drooping eyelids
Night is silence
Night is the light in the darkness
Night is the solitary heart
Night is the dark clouds
Night is a message that like night is followed by day, sadness is followed by happiness
Night is the light of the new moon
Night is watching stars on the lonely terrace
Night is the soft sound of breeze
Night is the moonlight streaming in through the broken windows
Night is the end of all my hopes and wishes
Night is walking through the lonely streets
Night is sleeping in the cool shades of my mother’s sari.

After this poem was created there was a lunch break for an hour after which the participants would return for the second half of the session.


After lunch the participants were asked to play an energiser game where they would walk about the room and a number would be called out and the participants would have to form that number and the remaining few would be out. This would continue till there were two remaining participants.
The participants were then given copies of Al Mahmoud’s poem “Poetry Is” The poem was read out and then discussed by the facilitators and the participants themselves. Some of the key points discussed were: what poetry means to the poet and what it meant to the participants. How poetry talks about everyday life and such. Poetry is not only about having a rhyming scheme.

At this juncture the concept of five senses- smell, touch, see, feel, hear was discussed and using these senses the participants were asked to write a poem of five lines each about what poetry was for them. The poem was titled ‘Poetry is’. After which they were asked to share it with the rest of the group. The poems were discussed and suggestions and changes were made.

Looking back at September

At the outset, let me start by wishing all of you Shubo Bijoya. I hope your Pujas were exactly what you wanted them to be (peaceful/noisy/non-existent...). I had all good intentions of posting this earlier, but then I was hit by the viral, after recovering from which work was quite hectic and then came the Pujas. So after a very long period of virtual absence I'm sitting down to write that post about our visit to Murshidabad and then, a short performance we staged a fortnight ago.

Kolkata Sanved has been trying to involve itself with governmental ventures in the area of social development and one of these partnerships is with a government shelter home in Behrampore. We will be conducting dance movement therapy sessions with the girls and women in this home, once a month. I went with two other members of Sanved for the first session and it was, as I'd expected, enlightening.

Having visited a couple of governmental care giving institutions in the past, I wasn't surprised to see that in terms of infrastructure, the shelter home at Behrampore was not lacking in any area. The home was accompanied by very large grounds and the building itself was well planned -- large rooms with high ceilings that attracted air and were sunny. However, as my experiences in the past had indicated, the maintenance of the facilities left a lot to be desired. The ceilings were overhung with cobwebs and the floors were carpeted with dust. The grounds had become the home for various kinds of weeds and wild grass: unfortunate, because with a little care they could have been made to look quite attractive. Moreover, the girls themselves could have helped with the gardening. Which brings me to the girls. My co-trainer conducted 3 two-hour sessions for 3 groups of women/girls and each of the groups took to the sessions she had conceptualized with marked enthusiasm. They seemed so happy to be given the opportunity to do something creative and different, for want of a better word. They lapped up the exercises that were done and displayed much eagerness in picking up what was being shown to them. It was as if they were starved for creative endeavours. In that sense, it's great that we have been given the chance to provide them with this space where they can explore their creative impulses. While I didn't conduct any session with them this time round, I certainly hope to in the course of our subsequent visits.

The other development that I wanted to write about concerned a short performance Sanved was asked to put up for a programme that Anjali was organizing. In case you're not familiar with Anjali, it's a human rights agency that works to rehabilitate mentally challenged persons. This programme took place on the 1st of October, when nearly all our staff members had gone to Nepal for a regional workshop. So the responsibility of devising a performance lay with the few of us who had not gone. Six of us were involved in the performance and all of us helped with the concept building, script-writing and direction (our piece dealt with issues pertaining to mental health care). I really enjoyed this process and it did make me realize how much I miss directing. I do hope I get the chance to work on developing more performances with Sanved in the coming months.