by Anuradha Bakshi | Nov 21, 2005 | lohars
The raffle draw was held yesterday at project why…
The raffle had been thought of as one for upmarket people and hence the prizes were tailored to that taste – barring of course the dinner with a bollywood star -. But once we had printed the tickets and set out to sell them, we were aghast at the total lack of enthusiasm we met be it college kids, friends or acquaintances, the response was lukewarm at best..
I must confess that teamProjectwhy was crestfallen, but somehow I was not too surprised. and in the spirit of what we stand for, we decided to sell the raffle tickets in the slums we work in . A great sales team comprising of pwhy staff, parents and children was created and we managed to sell quite a few tickets. We had to, as akshay kumar had give us a date in late november. To make the raffle more attractive to simple folks we added a VCD player!
On 20th November at 11 am, young innocent hands drew the names of the winners and to my delight Bindiya a lovely Lohar woman won the evening with akshay, and ram bibek, a poor tea stall owner won the VCD.. how proud they were.
Bindiya will be going with her brother and ram bibek has hooked on his VCD to his old black and white TV.
and everyone is asking when the next raffle will be…
The initial set back turned to be aboon in disguise and maybe we have a new funding option in the making.
Note: we are looking for sponsors for prizes that slum folsk would like – small music system, TV, irons, mixies etc we are still far from the 4000 one rupee a day donors we need
by Anuradha Bakshi | Nov 21, 2005 | lohars
This is the 100th blog I write and publish..
I started this blog a few months ago hoping that I could convey some of the heartwarming and heartbreaking moments one lives on planet why.
I have been overwhelmed by the response to this blog.
This was a special week as my daughter got married, but more so because this wedding was one with a difference. It brought together many worlds.. So there was a page 3 party, an extremely traditional wedding ceremony, a fun bash for the friends of the young couple and the celebrations ended on planet why with a big dance party with the children of pwhy!
It was a great happening as all barriers disappeared and all that mattered was the music and the laughter. The upmarket friends of the groom who had never left the confines of their parisian district mingled with the gypsy kids of the Lohar camp and celebrated this event.
As I watched I thought to myself, that bringing two worlds together was not as difficult as one feared, one just had to take the first step with conviction and the rest followed, even in a town where barriers seem impregnable..
by Anuradha Bakshi | Nov 4, 2005 | lohars
Today is eid…
In the past month we have had Navratas, Dusserah, Karvah Chauth, Diwali, Bhai Duj..
Durga has been worshipped and sent off to her abode, Ram has slain Ravana, women have prayed for the longevity of their husbands, Ram has been welcomed back and Laskshmi welcomed in, brothers were feted and now the holy month of Ramadan has come to a close.
Exhausting to say the least and most disrupting as children have not been in a studious mood.. each time one thought one had them back in the fold, up came another festival and off they went.
This is a new trend as some years back many of the above were never holidays…
And we are not through yet: Chatth Puja, a typically Bihari and Eastern UP festival starts on the day after Eid..and this one is three days long with innumerable rituals..
Till late chatth puja was unknown to Delhites.. but today it is celebrated with great pomp, and a must for politicians.. a reflection of the changing demography of India’s capital … over 11% of its population is from Bihar and another 20% from eatsern UP: a large easily manipulated vote bank..
It is heartwarming to see people of all faith celebrate together, but children’s studies and other activities do suffer. One should not forget that in the olden days, children were packed off to Gurukuls to learn, and there were no off days!
There is also a insidious and invisible danger that one may not be able to see. Often slums lacking basic infrastructure are legalised to enable the dwellers to get voter ID cards.
One of the most startling example we know is the Lohar basti where we work. A row of tents that barely keep away heat, cold or rain, have been given the name – Rana Pratap Camp – and its dwellers the sought after voter ID. For over twenty years, these people have lived in abysmal conditions, choking on the fumes let out by the cars revving at the red light. No effort has been made to give these citizens of India a proper habitat.
Cities like Delhi are bursting at the seams and slowly choking to an inevitable death. Time has come to start thinking of ways to send people to their habitat of origin. But tem with the people goes the vote bank..
Think about it…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 13, 2005 | girl child, lohars, manu
project why.. where children dare to dream..
were the words that came instinctively to my mind when I designed the first project why brochure. they have remained there, unnoticed… but somehow quietly guiding us in our task…
when our friends from Japan decided to celebrate the Tanabata festival at project why, even though it was a bit delayed, we were thrilled, as this was a great step in our ‘exchange’ programme with Japan.
Nauko and her formidable gang of lovely ladies came with huge bamboo stems and every child wrote his or her wish on a little piece of colourful paper that would be tied on the stems…
I decided to give a set to the special section.. and they too wrote their wishes :
Umesh, our spastic child who can barely walk wants to fly an areoplane,
Preeti who is not loved by anyone wants to be a mother
Soni who is always in love wants to dance with Salman Khan
Anurag locked in his autism wants to drive a car
Shalini our down syndrome girl wants to be a doctor
Pinki who has severe retardation wants to be a police woman
Ruchi who suffers from a severe nervous condition wants to be a teacher
Manu, yes our very own Manu wants to be a monitor
Rajni our lohar mental retarded child simply wants to eat delicious food ..
Read these dreams again as they are a true reflection of the lonely lives of these kids.
yes they have dreams, the very children we feel uncomfortable with, the children that are cast aside by their own family, those who do not even get proper food let alone love.. they have dreams..
In the five years that project why has been in existence, this is the first time I felt I had achieved something… yes planet why is a place where all children can dare to dream..
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jun 14, 2005 | lohars
you are going to ask what is it that makes project why different.. so to borrow one of neruda’s poem titles i will say: i’m explaining a few things
look at the picture, a simple one of a teacher and a handful of children…
now listen:
the teacher is a gadiya lohar, the gypsy blacksmiths that many of you have passed by on the busy roads of the capital, often beating the iron with poised grace. they are almost invisible, for the see them you have to look with your heart and listen to the centuries of history that brought this proud tribe where it is today. Most of her peers would by now be mothers of many. Sarika managed to study till class IX in spite of all odds and we decided to giver her a new identity, that of a teacher… she has proved worthy of every bit of trust we put in her..
little manju who sits in the middle is one of the most neglected child one has come across. she is the youngest of three siblings who were abandonned by a cowardly father..
the other kids also have stories that would melt the coldest heart, they belong to diverse communities , religions, castes… does it matter
normally they would have been playing on unsafe streets, or been used by adults to fetch and carry, or even be sent across busy roads to buy a pouch of chewing tobacco..
but they sit every day and learn to live, to share, to sing, to play, to laugh.. under the loving eye and hearwarming dedication of a young woman of substance
they learn to love trees, to save water, to respect the environment..
they learn about other lands and people..
they learn that duties come before rights…
they will one day have to face the world, a world ridden by problems and ugly realities, but we hope that by then they will have ben infused by the spirit of project why that would have taught them to be simply human beings!
So of you if you wonder what project why is all about: come and see the children on our street!
