Day 11 – Theatre & Music

Wednesday, July 6^th, 2011.

Today we woke up at 8.30am, at 9.30 am we started our planned activities. For us, the theatre group, the plan was going to Darpana, an arts institution with the vision of how the arts can change the world, it has 65 years of history and now it uses Indian dance, puppetry, music, theatre and television to educate, empower, and raise awareness about the critical issues of today. We spent all the day with the Darpana for Development department head, Jignesh Patel. The time before lunch, we watched some films about DFD’s (Darpana for Development’s) various projects; they were Shakti, the Peer Educators Project, Majama Chho? and the Anandshala Project. After watching this videos, we discussed all the issues and topics that were treated in the project, the explain us their methods and how was the process for creating and making their projects. After lunch, we did a theater workshop, which included various theater exercises and improvisation. Then, in groups of 5 or 4 people we created short performances based on a specific issue our own around and present the plays with a plan to go along with these project. With this we reflect on how to engage in such a process our knowledge on how to make a change with the arts. We finished the day with a really good discussion in which we compared all the days we had spent on Ahmedabad, it ended with the conclusion that there is not a right way to make arts. After these we had some free time and had dinner at Sevas café.

Theatre group.

Vale, Colombia

Day 10 – Food

On Wednesday we went to Ajit’s house in Ahmedabad. He belongs to a Punjabi family, thanks to whom we got to sample simple Punjabi cuisine. We made aloo-gobi, chappati and lassi with his mother. She then ordered the same dishes from a restaurant they owned and we were asked to compare restaurant food and home food. The restaurant food was spicier than the latter. It seemed loaded with masala. The restaurant lassi was made thick using corn flour and was colored orange, while the home lassi tasted the same but was lighter to the stomach since it was thinner. I noticed that restaurant foodis a lot more unhealthy as, just thinking of all the extra ingredients they put in to make the food seem better, thicker, more presentable does ultimately take a toll on your stomach.

In the afternoon we went to the utensil museum. We saw ancient utensils, some dated more than 1000 years ago. They seemed more practical than the utensils we use these days. We spent the rest of the day in the city shopping. In the night we went to SEVA café. Only volunteers’ work in this café, there’s a set menu and instead of a bill, you decide what the food is worth and pay as much as you want. SEVA café is funded by the Gandhi Ashram and the money they make goes into the rehabilitation of slums. I found the philosophy of this café pretty interesting. I think I’m going to try something like this in the future. J

Sharanya

Day 10 – Music & Theatre

We  went to Bbhudan library.  And after the introduction

We saw movie on  madari community

They performed their music

Which is composed by themselves

Also they performed drama on their community

Which is an ignored part of the city

And this is a little poem we wrote about what we learned with Bbudhan Theatre

IN  MEDIEVAL   INDIA  THERE WERE SPIES

WHO  ANSWERED THE KINGS WOEFUL CRIES

THEY WENT ACROSS TO OTHER NATION

AND SIDE VALUABLE INFORMATION

WHEN BRITISH CAME AND THE KING DIED

CRIME WAS PROFESSION THAT THEY TRIED

THEY THE CHHARAS ARE TILL DATE HATED

THEIR ANCESTOR’S CRIMES LEFT THEM DEVASTATED

BUT NOW THEY HAVE THEIR OWN FIGHTER

IN THE FORM OF BHUDAN THEATRE

Day 9

Today we went around Ahmedabad doing shopping and exploring the city.

No group activities apart from having lunch!

Khristian & Rheaa

Day 8

On Sunday we had a more relaxed sleep and we were able to wake up at a comfortable 9.30, which we thought as a group was a great improvement from the unattractive, early and mean 8 o clock rising.

After wed eaten breakfast and rushed to meet at the MPH for 11.00, we were then split up into 3 separate groups.

Each group constructed a city using the supplies they had, unaware that each group had a different quantity of news papers and straws.

In the process Masese acted as a Kenyan policeman and so arrested many who misbehaved or did absolutely nothing at all, I myself had a visit to his makeshift cell.

Once the city’s had been finished, taxes payed to Mayor Kristian and surviving natural disasters, each group presented there final result.

The groups results proved to be Ironic, due to the facts that the group with the least amount of supplies caused the most trouble and complained regularly, resulting in several visits to the Kenyan makeshift prison one notorious Spaniard; Pepe Elmo Lydon caused a huge amount of mayhem.

The group with the medium amount, which was my group of coarse the best did not sent out any complaints and only had 1 student in prison for a certain length of time.

The wealthiest group resulted in the most complaints and no visits to prison due to corruption.

We then had a discussion including everyone and we were able to compare results: It proves that its often the case that those who have what they need want more and that greed often dominates societies and city’s globally.

Also its often the case that the poor are sent to prison and the rich avoid it simply because there rich, this is unfortunately the case throughout India today, where corruption is often the only path to survival.

After the discussion we departed collected our baggage and travelled via jeep to Pune railway station to catch a 13 hour train to Ahmedabad, a beautiful city in the north of India.

The train journey was an experience which I won’t forget anytime soon.

All in all a good day!

Enda Joyce.

Day 7 – Music

We got on the jeeps at around 9
The sun was out, all was fine.
The cadaverous bodies on the road,
Use their shoulders to carry their load.
The cows moo as we speed by,
There was no rain, but the ground wasn’t dry.
We went to Ferguson University, but that didn’t work out
So we went to eat lunch and hang about.
Then we went to Pune walking around the city
I don’t have anything to put in this line that might sound witty.
We went to the mall and saw the other groups there too- they obviously missed us,
Sughannda took us to the photography section of a book store to talk and discuss.
We talked about Indian Classical Music and the great accomplishments she’s made
Against the bookshelves is where we listened and laid.
We went shopping afterwards, buying lots of Nutella
Enda bought enough food to last him foreva. (Forever)
We got in the jeeps and chilled the whole way like winners,
Then Datta made us sit on the floor to eat our dinner.

Day 7 – Food & Theatre

On Saturday we went to Pune,

The day was very loony.

We went to did invisible theatre in the shops,

We were the actors and the merchandise, the props.

We asked them questions about their food,

Some answers were bad and some were good.

The chicken they use is treated, they said,

Eating too much could leave us dead.

After this we were free for lunch,

Some had heavy pizza and some a light munch.

Shivaji market was where we shopped next,

Some more invisible theatre left us vexed.

We left by car and returned to the college,

And reminisced over the day’s acquired knowledge

-Sirio and Arul

Day 6 – Food

-          Woke up to the prospect of making warm fluffy brownies

-          Took off for the villages under the NGO known as Sadhna

-          Split into two group of three each and went to our respective villages

-           Group1, Khristian, lee and sharanya visited a village known as nandgav while group

2: Anna, Rahul and Elliot visited another village known as chikalgav.

-          During the day group one helped in making a potato curry, cutting vegetables and making ghavna ( rice pancakes) in a house which belonged to a man called narayan

-          Similarly group 2 spent the day at alka maushi’s house and was well received by her and her husband and much of the same activities.

-          After a delicious dinner group 1 and group 2  helped wash and clean up in their respective houses

-          group 1 proceeded to learn about the farm and what they grew , met the animals they owned namely a goat and a buffalo and a dog

-          in the evening we returned and discussed the days happening and both groups shared their experiences

-          We realized how different their lives were from ours and yet they were contended and determined to achieve something in their lives.

Day 6 – Music & Theatre

Amazing parade as there were many villagers followed us.
I have been handing all the photos that I have printed out early that day to the children there
and they were really excited. Not only that but also we get to see performance from local children and people such
as drum and dance and more smile from the children as they really love being taking photos of themselves  
I still remember when I tried to communicate with them at school all of them were screaming and runining away from us.
Then we went to Sadhana Village for visiting our special friends there 	n the afternoon. I did communicate with them and I was very
impressive by taking photos, playing games and enjoyed their performance of singing, dancing and playing musical instruments.

G.V.'s status :
You can't believe how amazing my feeling was taking the photos of children in Kolvan community, printed them out and gave it back to them.
It is also interesting to note that there was easier than I thought to communicate with special friends in Sadhana village.

Kailas's status :
This was my first time to visit Pune in detail. I tested the fragrance of corruption.
British library  
Good Luck Cafe  
Life of worker  

Day 5 – Theatre

Thursday was definitely a day I won‘t forget. We began theatre starting with an exercise of sculptor and sculpture. Basically, we split up into pairs and at first given a prompt of “Revolution”. Soon, there were three completely different human sculptures that depicted this abstract idea in various ways. After that, we had a “free style” prompt, and images of censorship, pride and lonliness were created through sculpture. After this, we went to Gomukh Centre. Gomukh, an NGO, is an organic farm that promotes fresh and conscious eating. There, we ate delicious Indian food (which all originated from Gomukh itself!) such as chapati, rice, dahl, potato and jackfruit for dessert. After this, the theatre and music group paired up and we both traveled to Kolwan Village. There were a variety of reactions. Some people enjoyed it a lot whereas some people felt a bit uncomfortable. 

Kolwan Village
Dirt roads
Mud Pits
Not exactly a red carpet
But what did we expect? 
We were travelers in a land
That was not our own
Traveling through the streets
Stepping into shops
Being invited into people’s homes
We were observed
But accepted

Sadhana Group
A group full of 
life, love and traditions
They invited us into their homes
And into their culture
We sang and we danced together
And were made part
Of a reenactment of a sacred pooja
Depicting love and commitment
We spinned and twirled with speed
Together joined hands
Of guests and hosts.

Finally, after our excursion to the village, we went back to Gomukh again for dinner. This time it was all created by our amazing Food group and also equally as delicious. We ended our day walking to the jeeps in the night(which was just a bit frightening because I was looking over my shoulder for stray dogs!) and we finally got back to MUWCI. All in all, it was both a wonderful and enlightening day. Amrit and I both learned a lot and we had fun. Well then, good night!
By Lamia