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