Meetings, etc.
Apparently I have a high tolerance when it comes to children. I can't say the same for boring professors or desperate men, but that's another story. But children, those little bundles of joy that don't listen to what you are screaming above their hyperactive voices as they run towards the noise coming from the dhol that's drumming away right next to the school we are practicing in while needing to bring in multiple chairs as props even though we know we won't have them in New Market...ok Pragya, slow down.
Rekha's parents didn't want her travelling an hour everyday, so we started practicing at Dayanand Saraswati School in their community. Pinky's father thought we'd feed her some strange pills and take her to "foreign"...I'm not kidding. Fair enough, seeing how they don't know anything about us, though it did seem a little far-fetched when I first heard it. But now our practices are in the cool stone-walled rooms of the school where the attention-deficitness of the children, especially the boys, sets in quite quickly. They then proceed to go to the toilet multiple times and stare down the three stories from the sunlight-saturated rooftop where we are waiting for them to join the rest of the group.
It's not just their performance on the stage, but also their affection towards us that makes me feel chocolate-melting-in-my-mouth good. After every practice, Pinky holds my hand as she and others walk us across the cricket field to get an auto-rickshaw back to the clinic. Aarti makes it a point to stop by the practices for a few minutes even if she has to take her brother to the hospital or clean the house.
Disregarding the moments when I want to rip my hair out because the kids forget their role each time they perform the scenes, I smile each time Ajay acts out Nilesh's "falling at the water pump scene", or when Sarita and Rekha re-enact what they envision Tata and Dow officials' conversation to be. My favorite part of the play is the end when they break into fist-raising, air-piercing slogan shouting. I am seeing the leaders of tomorrow blossom before my very eyes.
Along with the play practices, attending part of the ICJB meeting was an eye-opening experience, although the 8 hour meetings required a little more brain usage than the play does; I absorbed information for the first six hours or so, after which I would have to focus on how to refrain from staring too hard at the checkered table cloth. It's tiny squares would cause me to zone out on the disccusions that were taking place post hour number six. Not to be mistaken with the meeting being boring, mind you, because it was far from it. It was fascinating to hear the opinions of the leaders in the campaign from Bhopal, Chennai, America, Pune, the UK, and other places I can't remember right now. Peppered with thought-provoking discussion and strategic analysis, the meeting was constantly translated back and forth into Hindi and English, something I had never seen done so efficiently before. Updates, future plans of action, and new committees were formed, and an occasional joke lightened the graveness of the issues being discussed. The food was pretty awesome too- I recall gorging down many a gulab-jamun while my already-full stomach was digesting the scrumptious paneer and naan mixture I had greedily gulped down a few minutes ago. I can confidently say that food makes a eight hour three-day event even better. But it's the people that made the conference what it really was. The zeal of its participants and commitment to the cause is something that I see so much in Bhopal, and yet this was a re-affirmation of how dedicated individuals can be. I will leave in a month, back to a life I used to call "reality", yet these people have made justice for Bhopal their reality. To say I'm impressed is an understatement. To say I'm inspired is only part of the truth. I can't quantify the amount of respect I have for the women and men that were present at the ICJB meeting, I can only hope that some day I achieve half of what they have in this battle against corporate crime and governmental accountability.
Rekha's parents didn't want her travelling an hour everyday, so we started practicing at Dayanand Saraswati School in their community. Pinky's father thought we'd feed her some strange pills and take her to "foreign"...I'm not kidding. Fair enough, seeing how they don't know anything about us, though it did seem a little far-fetched when I first heard it. But now our practices are in the cool stone-walled rooms of the school where the attention-deficitness of the children, especially the boys, sets in quite quickly. They then proceed to go to the toilet multiple times and stare down the three stories from the sunlight-saturated rooftop where we are waiting for them to join the rest of the group.
It's not just their performance on the stage, but also their affection towards us that makes me feel chocolate-melting-in-my-mouth good. After every practice, Pinky holds my hand as she and others walk us across the cricket field to get an auto-rickshaw back to the clinic. Aarti makes it a point to stop by the practices for a few minutes even if she has to take her brother to the hospital or clean the house.
Disregarding the moments when I want to rip my hair out because the kids forget their role each time they perform the scenes, I smile each time Ajay acts out Nilesh's "falling at the water pump scene", or when Sarita and Rekha re-enact what they envision Tata and Dow officials' conversation to be. My favorite part of the play is the end when they break into fist-raising, air-piercing slogan shouting. I am seeing the leaders of tomorrow blossom before my very eyes.
Along with the play practices, attending part of the ICJB meeting was an eye-opening experience, although the 8 hour meetings required a little more brain usage than the play does; I absorbed information for the first six hours or so, after which I would have to focus on how to refrain from staring too hard at the checkered table cloth. It's tiny squares would cause me to zone out on the disccusions that were taking place post hour number six. Not to be mistaken with the meeting being boring, mind you, because it was far from it. It was fascinating to hear the opinions of the leaders in the campaign from Bhopal, Chennai, America, Pune, the UK, and other places I can't remember right now. Peppered with thought-provoking discussion and strategic analysis, the meeting was constantly translated back and forth into Hindi and English, something I had never seen done so efficiently before. Updates, future plans of action, and new committees were formed, and an occasional joke lightened the graveness of the issues being discussed. The food was pretty awesome too- I recall gorging down many a gulab-jamun while my already-full stomach was digesting the scrumptious paneer and naan mixture I had greedily gulped down a few minutes ago. I can confidently say that food makes a eight hour three-day event even better. But it's the people that made the conference what it really was. The zeal of its participants and commitment to the cause is something that I see so much in Bhopal, and yet this was a re-affirmation of how dedicated individuals can be. I will leave in a month, back to a life I used to call "reality", yet these people have made justice for Bhopal their reality. To say I'm impressed is an understatement. To say I'm inspired is only part of the truth. I can't quantify the amount of respect I have for the women and men that were present at the ICJB meeting, I can only hope that some day I achieve half of what they have in this battle against corporate crime and governmental accountability.
posted by Pragya | 4:44 AM
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