दो पहियों पर डाकिया
The play is a collection of short stories taking the audience on a journey through different homes and windows where the postman becomes their eyes & ears. Every stop offers an insight into the lives of the inhabitants. The postman on a bicycle, with a travelling musical bard, leads the audience through a village mapped out across the performance site; in this case Dhun.
Our beautiful team of facilitators: Chelcy Pathak, Gautam Gupta, Pooja Udhwani, Simran Nagpal worked tirelessly with kids. What an exciting day of stage making and moving around props in tractors! That really was something. To the team of dhun_jaipur - thankyou you for the opportunity to experiment, play, explore and just have fun. All while sowing seeds of what art can be in the hearts of young children. Also adults.! Biggest thank you to the learners - the star performers! This day truly belonged to them - Sharwan, Lokender, Nikita, Poornima, Sujata, Madhu, Naina, Priya, Kajal, Devraj, Ivan, Sooraj, Arjun, Parvati, Preeti, Neetu, Happy, Gunjan, Kuldeep. Massive thankyou to Pooja for capturing the day for us and turning them into such a beautiful video montage. You have been such a great team player. Gautam who composed the original sound for the play; our in-house music everything. Thank you for the lovely tunes that the entire audience kept humming. Chelcy for bringing the magic of theatre into the lives of these kids either your warmth, presence and attention, thankyou! Simran - for making them fearless and turning their worlds upside down, literally! Thankyou. Watching them freeze & move was such a massive moment for us all. Can’t wait to restage this some day. But for now, soaking in all the joy that this day bestowed upon us all.
For sometime now, we have been sharing,learning, growing with the children at dhun_jaipur
Experimental. Exploratory. Experiential.
The children have been most receptive to trying. That is all this has been for all of us I guess. Trying. To work together, trying to understand one another, trying to exchange ideas, trying to be there week after week, trying to have fun while at, trying not to get lost in the otherworldly charm of the space, trying to work out the better way, trying to create something (good or bad)… And in most tiny ways succeeding.
Very often we are left to wonder what is art & what does it mean to be an artist? For the children who gather together for our sessions, we hope it’s a space to imagine, be, play. Can we develop an artistic way of looking at things? Is that same as being a student of arts?
The journey to the space is an adventure too. The cab ride from maah to dhun turns into a potluck picnic ride to & fro. We dig into each other’s secrets, incredible lyric memory and really strange food cravings. A sense of community, belonging and friendship fosters. Two new four-legged members have joined the children for the sessions now causing much distraction (read cuteness overload). Somehow the time really seems to slow down there. Made even slower by the very welcomed cup of Chai that we wait for every time we are there. Made even more pleasant by the lovely chatty company of Ankit, Suman & Preksha. Made even more meaningful by the smiles of our learners.
This has been a very special project is so many ways. Grateful.