Gateway 230811.pmd - Rotary Club of Bombay

T ALL GRAND FINALESof honour, the mentors, the Committee members,the one-and-a-half-month-long 'Art and creativedia under the auspices of the 'Bhavishya-Yaan'spend about three hours every week atthe Worli school, interacting with andmentoring the children.“When I asked the children abouttheir career goals, some of them wereclueless; a few said that they wantedto be a doctor or an engineer. I askedthem who was an engineer and whatdid he do? But they looked at me withblank faces.“A few of the children answered thattheir parents, who were not so literate,had told them that if they became doctorsor engineers, they would earn a lotof money. I then realised that thesechildren, unlike those in privateschools, were just not aware about differentkinds of professions or the degreesfor which they could study.“On what basis would they choosewhich academic degree to opt for?More significantly, how would theyever know what kind of talent layhidden inside them? Or what theycould achieve on their own and makea success of their lives?”Priyasri noted that although theBhavishya-Yaan curriculum included anintroduction to different kinds of vocations,there was very little about creativeprofessions such as product designing,architecture, creative writing,theatre or the fine arts. It was thisrealisation that had sparked off an ideain her mind and led to the launch of the“Art and creative thinking” workshop.But that was easier said than done.For, she wondered, what would she beable to achieve in just a month or amonth and a half?She was happy to admit that shewas wrong. Today, she looked withwonder at some of the students whohad taken part in previous workshops.One of them, Irfan, wanted to be anarchitect; another, Pankaj, was determinedto become an artist.Even in the latest batch, one of thestudents had been “spotted” by a journalistwho conducted a workshop. She(the journalist) had said that Sujit, thestudent, was simply fantastic and didnot even know about his own talent.Priyasri thanked Mr. Sumedh, thefine arts student from Baroda who hadhelped her right through this year’sworkshop; Nandita for her timely supplyof snacks; and Ms Tara Khandelwal,a student from New York whowas in Bombay for her summer holidaysbut preferred to spend a monthat the Worli school as a volunteer. Mostgirls of her age would have been doingother things, she added.After Tara, the mentors, studentsand special guests present on the occasionwere requested to say a few words.Ms Reshma Jain, former Editor ofMarwar magazine and mentor, saidthat when she asked the children tointerview each other, she was surprisedto note that all of them had their ownstyle of writing. She also enjoyed readingthe scripts that they had writtenkeeping a particular actor in mind (thiswas an exercise they had undertakenwhen a writer-director had conducteda workshop on creative writing).She was followed by four childrenwho had taken part in the workshop.Fathima spoke about the classeswhich she would miss now that theyhad ended. She had never heard of athing called “product designing” whenMr. Alok Asthana asked them to redesigna cupboard. But the activity shehad enjoyed the most was “destructionday” in which she had made apainting and was then told to destroyit using a brush and paints.Anjali spoke about her favourite artistVan Gogh. Of course, she had neverheard about him till she attended theworkshop. She recalled that he was avery restless man and never waited forthe paint to dry – he painted over it.Van Gogh did not sell a single paintingwhen he was alive, yet today he wasworld famous, she said.Pankaj, a former student of the workshop,recalled that when he first attendedit, he wanted to become an engineer.When Priyasri asked himwhether he knew what an engineer did,he did not know. So she made him meetsomeone who told him about differenttypes of engineering. Then he did notwant to become an engineer!When the students visited the J.J.School of Art in 2010, he felt that hesimply had to go and study there.Right now he was studying for hisXth exam and also preparing for theexams that would help him to join afine arts college. He loved to paint.Irfan, a Bhavishya-Yaan student ofthe Xth standard, said he would takeup science because he wanted to becomean architect. At last year’s workshophe had met Ms Shravanya fromthe architectural firm Talati andPantakhi. She had exhibited some slideswhich gave a lot of information aboutinterior decoration and architecture.Later, he had had an opportunity tomeet an architect who told him aboutthe kind of work that he did. That hadexcited Irfan and he had decided to becomean architect. He thanked the RotaryClub of Bombay, the Bhavishya-Yaan project and Priyasri for teachinghim English and also for enabling himto make the discovery that he wantedto be an architect.Next, Bhavishya-Yaan Co-ChairManish Reshamwala appealed to thejudges, Mr. Vikram Bawa and Mr. SunilPadval, to announce the winning entriesselected from among the dozensthat had been put on display. He alsorequested Mr. Ayub Khan and Mr.Aarya Babbar to give away the prizesand to say a few words.Mr. Khan said it was a privilege tosee the work being done by the RotaryClub of Bombay. He told the childrenthat there were many doctors and teachersin the world, but what the worldneeded most were creative individuals.As for him, he had worked in films,on theatre and on television, but whicheverfield one chose, one had to workhard and to struggle. But if one enjoyedthe work that came one’s way,then there would be no pain (of struggle)and success was sure to follow.Mr. Babbar had a piece of advice forthe children: “Do not worry or getscared if you fail after you have decidedto do something; keep trying andyou will achieve your goal.”Ms Madhu Shah said it was importantto first become a good human beingbefore becoming a professional. Shecongratulated Priyasri and said thatBhavishya-Yaan was an excellentprogramme. She wished more schoolswould adopt it.“I wish I had a teacher like Priyasri!”exclaimed Mr. Sunil Padval. “The exerciseshe made the children do wasvery profound – and that is the onlyway a person can become a good artist.One has to drop one’s fears.”Mr. Padval said that he, too, hadstudied in a municipal school; he knewhow difficult it was and how the childrenwere simply not exposed to theworld. But when a person wanted todo something, opportunities openedup on their own.He was surprised that the childrenwho had attended the “Art and creativethinking” workshop knew aboutpainters like Dali, Van Gogh, Pollokand Akbar Padamsee.Mr. Vikram Bawa recalled that whenhe told his father that he wanted to bea photographer, he had sneered andasked whether he wanted to spend hislife taking wedding pictures. He hadquietly joined business, but he failed.He then started out once again to becomea photographer. Finally, he hadsucceeded and had been able to make aname for himself.The last speaker was President PaulGeorge who expressed wonder at thework that the children had produced;he was also deeply impressed when heheard them describe their experiences.He said that true to the name of theprogramme “Art and creative thinking”,none of those seated on the dais(or the mentors) was a doctor, engineeror teacher. All of them representedthe creative field. India needed morecreative people, he said, asking the childrento choose a creative career if theyfelt that they had the talent for it.Manish Reshamwala proposed thevote of thanks.On her toes all the time. Priyasri, Two wise men. Mr. Sunil Padval, the well-known artist And the three guests of honour. From left, Mr. Ayub Khan,who coordinated the workshop, (left), and Mr. Vikram Bawa, the popular photographer, Ms Madhu Shah and Mr. Aarya Babbar, with some of theshares her experiencesafter judging the entriesbest entriesAugust 23 to August 29, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 5