Monday, October 29, 2007
Exhibition...
We did an exhibtion in 17 sector plaza on 25th of October...the planning and action of this event was all very spontaneous and a lot of people showed up to help us at the right time...here is an email sent to all volunteers...
Hi All,
It was amazing the way we were able to get going with our exhibition. Till Wednesday afternoon we had no idea as to when were we going to have this show. We wanted to do it this weekend but with no formal permission, we were a little uncertain.
And then I got a call from Harleen that changed everything. Channi Uncle had invited the UT advisor to our exhibition which was going to be held on Thursday (how the Home Secretary - Krishen Mohan and Vivek Atrey got invited is a different story altogether)!! A decision was taken by default - we were going ahead with this exhibition with Seva’s expired license and the UT advisor would be there as our permission.
We didn't have much time for planning or assigning duties. But everything just fell in place - the kids and Baljeet started working on the unfinished items with fervour, Amit and Manisha came up with lovely banners, Gaurav took the initiative to tag and categorize the items according to price and quality, Sukhmani was there making calls and co-coordinating "God knows" how many things!! Volunteers from CEVA (center for education and voluntary action) were running around doing various things like loading cars, packing stuff etc.
Jassu and Vandana as always were there for us and arranged for the tables in no time...not to forget that the tables wouldn't have been possible without the intervention of Jaspreet and the kindness extended by Hot Millions in providing the tables to us at no cost. Rajni (my Bhabi) was there with food to feed our empty stomachs!! And when the State Office people rejected our *expired* license...it was our dear inspiring Channi Uncle and Amit who saved us and gave us an important lesson - "the show must go on"!
Finally, all of you were there to support us in what ever ways you could!!
Isn't it amazing team work … all born of spontaneous action!!
Love and gratitude,
Liza
It was amazing the way we were able to get going with our exhibition. Till Wednesday afternoon we had no idea as to when were we going to have this show. We wanted to do it this weekend but with no formal permission, we were a little uncertain.
And then I got a call from Harleen that changed everything. Channi Uncle had invited the UT advisor to our exhibition which was going to be held on Thursday (how the Home Secretary - Krishen Mohan and Vivek Atrey got invited is a different story altogether)!! A decision was taken by default - we were going ahead with this exhibition with Seva’s expired license and the UT advisor would be there as our permission.
We didn't have much time for planning or assigning duties. But everything just fell in place - the kids and Baljeet started working on the unfinished items with fervour, Amit and Manisha came up with lovely banners, Gaurav took the initiative to tag and categorize the items according to price and quality, Sukhmani was there making calls and co-coordinating "God knows" how many things!! Volunteers from CEVA (center for education and voluntary action) were running around doing various things like loading cars, packing stuff etc.
Jassu and Vandana as always were there for us and arranged for the tables in no time...not to forget that the tables wouldn't have been possible without the intervention of Jaspreet and the kindness extended by Hot Millions in providing the tables to us at no cost. Rajni (my Bhabi) was there with food to feed our empty stomachs!! And when the State Office people rejected our *expired* license...it was our dear inspiring Channi Uncle and Amit who saved us and gave us an important lesson - "the show must go on"!
Finally, all of you were there to support us in what ever ways you could!!
Isn't it amazing team work … all born of spontaneous action!!
Love and gratitude,
Liza
theatre workshop...
a lot has been going on since i have come back from the US. The kids were extremely happy to know that people in the US really liked the stuff that they had made...that their bags and files were being used internationally was a real matter of pride and of course, the real thing was that they got to earn a lot of cash!!
Since then we have been doing various different things - two weeks back Channi Uncle (a very well known theatre personality of chandigarh who happens to be Sukhmani's Dad) started a theatre workshop with the children and sometimes i also participate in the daily exercises which are simply awesome!! Initially, when Uncle agreed to take this workshop, i was a little skeptical as to how the kids will react to it...would they be able to listen to Uncle for more than two hours at a stretch, would they participate in different exercises that Uncle would ask them to do (actually, we had tried different theatre games with these kids about a few months back and it was quite a disaster). Inspite of all these fears we decided to go ahead with the workshop and the kids amazed me the first day. They participated in the first exercise with full fervour and i was sitting there amazed...wondering when did the boys changed so much...they not only listened to Uncle and played the theatre games, they happily listened to Uncle's feedback and incorporated that feedback in the subsequent game!! It was simply lovely to see them that day and i immediately picked up my phone and called Amit to share that moment with him :-)
Anyway, since then the workshop has been going on...and i personally think that everybody should go through such workshops even if there is no intention of doing real theatre...it really opens you up and makes you more expressive. The exercises are such that you have to come out of your shell and learn to express yourself freely. One of the exercise that they start with is the "mirroring". Two people go into the circle - one person will act something and the person would just copy whatever the first person is doing (basically be a mirror) and then the roles are revered. In another exercise, we are told that we all are "pagal" (mad) and we have to prove that “i am the biggest pagal in this world”...it was so much fun doing that!! infact, we also came up with our own "pagal" song :-) Another exercise that i have loved is the one in which Uncle took us out on a street and divided us in two teams. He asked one team to stand on one side of the road and the other team on the other side of the road. Then, we had to talk to each other across the street…it was a little embarrassing with all the people staring at us but at the same time it was fun and exciting!
More later…
Since then we have been doing various different things - two weeks back Channi Uncle (a very well known theatre personality of chandigarh who happens to be Sukhmani's Dad) started a theatre workshop with the children and sometimes i also participate in the daily exercises which are simply awesome!! Initially, when Uncle agreed to take this workshop, i was a little skeptical as to how the kids will react to it...would they be able to listen to Uncle for more than two hours at a stretch, would they participate in different exercises that Uncle would ask them to do (actually, we had tried different theatre games with these kids about a few months back and it was quite a disaster). Inspite of all these fears we decided to go ahead with the workshop and the kids amazed me the first day. They participated in the first exercise with full fervour and i was sitting there amazed...wondering when did the boys changed so much...they not only listened to Uncle and played the theatre games, they happily listened to Uncle's feedback and incorporated that feedback in the subsequent game!! It was simply lovely to see them that day and i immediately picked up my phone and called Amit to share that moment with him :-)
Anyway, since then the workshop has been going on...and i personally think that everybody should go through such workshops even if there is no intention of doing real theatre...it really opens you up and makes you more expressive. The exercises are such that you have to come out of your shell and learn to express yourself freely. One of the exercise that they start with is the "mirroring". Two people go into the circle - one person will act something and the person would just copy whatever the first person is doing (basically be a mirror) and then the roles are revered. In another exercise, we are told that we all are "pagal" (mad) and we have to prove that “i am the biggest pagal in this world”...it was so much fun doing that!! infact, we also came up with our own "pagal" song :-) Another exercise that i have loved is the one in which Uncle took us out on a street and divided us in two teams. He asked one team to stand on one side of the road and the other team on the other side of the road. Then, we had to talk to each other across the street…it was a little embarrassing with all the people staring at us but at the same time it was fun and exciting!
More later…
Saturday, September 15, 2007
change....
change is always welcome but sometimes difficult to handle. and i don't mean in an overwhelming way but just that its different... we're so used to one way of doing things that a step outside of that leaves us ... well...blank.
so choti si asha has moved to the new place. as liza mentioned, its a great space! lush green lawn, swings and plenty of space for the younger kids to play and run around in. the older ones also ahve their own space to work in... they are becoming more and more responsible for their own work and are learning to make their own decisions.
i mentioned change earlier because now we're also trying to look at new designs and products. with liza not being there, the decision making becomes a little difficult. this is where i go blank. so here is what i put forward to you all... i tell u the kind of resources we have at hand here and if you ahve any suggestion about what all we can make out of all that, please write in.
we have a lot of bits of card board. its the left over from the files that are made. so what is left are like pieces of a width of 2-3 inches and variable lengths. coasters covered with leftover bits of jute cloth have been crossing my mind- what do u think? and then i go blank again!
i've been thinking of mobiles as well... like wind chimes.. only that these won't be chimes. but i worked with bobby, one of the younger kids, the other day and we made a mobile of five different things... a bird, a house, a tree, a flower and a star and looked great! he did all the decorating and stuff... he was great. but to sell we can't really do the house and bird. what else can we hang? maybe something made out of wire and beads?
a girl kinda bumped into us while she was looking for someone who would teach some kids computer for free. she didn't find computers but she found us lazily trying to work after a scrumptious lunch. she saw all that we were making and met all the kids and was so excited to find us that she wanted to teach embroidery to the kids. she's already taught 2 kids a very basic stitch. but she was a little disappointed from the not-so-excited response from the kids. i had expected that so i told her not to be discouraged. i told her that the best way to share her skills would be to work practically with just one or two kids. teach while she works on a bag or a file. she must involve them in the process and not turn the whole experience into a classroom. i think it would be a very good experience for her because a classroom attitude is something these kids would never accept. one has to bring oneself to the same level as them and then start from scratch, making one unlearn and learn so many things. and yes, she's a social work student at the punjab university. so much to unlearn!
a thought keeps coming into my mind again and again, that there is so much these kids teach us 'educated' lot! learning is never one way, and at choti si asha, we like to do it just like that!
so choti si asha has moved to the new place. as liza mentioned, its a great space! lush green lawn, swings and plenty of space for the younger kids to play and run around in. the older ones also ahve their own space to work in... they are becoming more and more responsible for their own work and are learning to make their own decisions.
i mentioned change earlier because now we're also trying to look at new designs and products. with liza not being there, the decision making becomes a little difficult. this is where i go blank. so here is what i put forward to you all... i tell u the kind of resources we have at hand here and if you ahve any suggestion about what all we can make out of all that, please write in.
we have a lot of bits of card board. its the left over from the files that are made. so what is left are like pieces of a width of 2-3 inches and variable lengths. coasters covered with leftover bits of jute cloth have been crossing my mind- what do u think? and then i go blank again!
i've been thinking of mobiles as well... like wind chimes.. only that these won't be chimes. but i worked with bobby, one of the younger kids, the other day and we made a mobile of five different things... a bird, a house, a tree, a flower and a star and looked great! he did all the decorating and stuff... he was great. but to sell we can't really do the house and bird. what else can we hang? maybe something made out of wire and beads?
a girl kinda bumped into us while she was looking for someone who would teach some kids computer for free. she didn't find computers but she found us lazily trying to work after a scrumptious lunch. she saw all that we were making and met all the kids and was so excited to find us that she wanted to teach embroidery to the kids. she's already taught 2 kids a very basic stitch. but she was a little disappointed from the not-so-excited response from the kids. i had expected that so i told her not to be discouraged. i told her that the best way to share her skills would be to work practically with just one or two kids. teach while she works on a bag or a file. she must involve them in the process and not turn the whole experience into a classroom. i think it would be a very good experience for her because a classroom attitude is something these kids would never accept. one has to bring oneself to the same level as them and then start from scratch, making one unlearn and learn so many things. and yes, she's a social work student at the punjab university. so much to unlearn!
a thought keeps coming into my mind again and again, that there is so much these kids teach us 'educated' lot! learning is never one way, and at choti si asha, we like to do it just like that!
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