Ummeed–week 1

At Ummeed the dynamic trio of Nkoko, Suchitra and Theo were in charge.

We began with physical theatre games, the entire gamut of age groups participated - making a machine game,

water-freeze-ice tag game,

emotion game,

when is a prop not a prop game,

many many many calls to 'gola banao!' - 'make a circle!'.... everything always went smoother once we had 'gola banao'ed :)

Although 'smooth' is maybe not quite accurate... there was more mayhem and chaos, wild animal noises and mad running around, peeling kids off hanging tree branches and attempts to curb feral instincts than I have ever seen compressed into one tiny space :)

And some little kids were their own performance-troupe of one!

Such is every-day life at Ummeed

Introducing the Rickshaw cast

For those who don't know all of us...

Photographs courtesy our dashing (and longsuffering) photographer Mamsi!

One of our tour managers; India will remember him for the Sho-Sho-Lo-Za refrain, here in his role of food connoisseur - Nkoko!

Our other tour manager; also creator of the giant bird body - Catherine (T)

The other Catherine (H), draped in what was to later become our Octopus!

When was that moment of serenity again - is this Delhi? Captured there looking serene is Jessie

Juliet - enjoying the somewhat strange yet thoroughly appreciated ambience of Moti Mahal

Miriam - more often than not behind the lens, but here she is – newspaper bunraku puppet making

Robin - child protagonist of the Rickshaw performance - playing with a Katkatha puppet

Suchitra - proudly displaying the completed giant bird head... she seems especially proud of the eyelashes :)

Theo - roll camera - perfect!

Will - what's that you say then Mr. water drop?

Ladies and gentlemen, the cast of the Cambridge Rickshaw Theatre Project 2011!

KATKATHA

Today's the big day - a performance from all three groups; Jan Madhyam, Kutumb and Ummeed; at the R. S. Junior School in Khan Market - so not much time, but here are a few photos from last weekend, when we were lucky enough to be given a workshop from puppetry professionals Katkatha (www.katkatha.org) at their treehouse studio in South Delhi.


We learnt to build and manipulate Bunryaku-style 3-person puppets out of newspaper, and then created 2 giant puppets for today's show, from a mixture of baskets, umbrellas and washing machine tubing.

Asha, Anurupa and Anand show us their full-size Bunryaku puppet.

Our mini newspaper puppets looked more like this, but still managed to be creepily life-like sometimes!










Shopping for fabric for our giant puppets with Anurupa:



The giant bird takes shape:









The Jan Madhyam kids try out the octopus:














And finally, there's always time for a group photo:

Jan Madhyam

HELLO BLOG-READER!

The double trouble Catherines and I (Miriam) have been working at Jan Madhyam (www.janmadhyam.org), an organisation on the outskirts of South Delhi in a village called Aya Nagar, which works with children, particularly girls, of all abilities. The village itself suffers from serious drainage problems, like many places in Delhi; this means the main street is flooded and we are only able to Jan Madhyam (JM) via a long detour on an auto-rickshaw. Unfortunately today our workshop has been cancelled due to the rain, which stopped most of the kids from coming in - hence finally having the time to sit in an internet cafe and write a blog post!



JM a small white-washed building, with two gardens and some indoor rooms for remedial learning, art, music, pottery and cooking. The atmosphere is extremely welcoming, and on the first day we were invited to join the weekly music lesson, where we attempted to play the drums and other percussion instruments. We were asked to sing, and having obliged with an obscure song Will taught us in Cambridge, the music teacher suggested that perhaps "Doe, A Deer" would be better...! We danced with the kids (not all are really kids, the ages range from 5 to 32) until we collapsed in a sweaty heap, but I think our efforts at least endeared us to them.

We have been assigned a group of 10-14 to work with in the first part of the afternoon, who will perform on Saturday with all the kids from the other two groups that the others in our team are working with in other parts of Delhi. Many of our group have hearing difficulties, and wear hearing aids (Archana, whose story you can read on the website at the moment, is one of them), and others have sight problems or have severe learning difficulties, and attend JM because they aren't able to keep up at school, whilst others come to JM as an after-school activity. When we began working with the group on Monday we realised that they have very little experience with theatre games and movement and were quite - even saying their names with an action was too much for some of them. But once they were more used to us and more comfortable and familiar with the games and the style of thing we were going for, we started to see an improvement in this confidence straight away.

Only a few of the staff at JM speak any English, but we haven't had any serious difficulties making ourselves understood - each day one of us leads the workshop, and the other two help, and serve as models/guinea pigs when an exercise needs explaining. Despite hearing difficulties, the songs and soundscapes that we have been doing with the group have been very popular. We have also worked on group physicalization, a 10-person monster, or a shoal of fish, and working in pairs on mirroring and leading/following. We have big plans for their performance on Saturday (also on Friday for their friends and family, we hope) and we're really excited to get working on it with them this week. I can already feel that 2 weeks won't feel like enough time at this lovely place!!

Now going to attempt to attach some photos that Mamsi took of us playing with all the kids in th last half hour of their afternoon, fingers crossed it works...

Exploring Old Delhi

Exciting times - we have been finding our way around Old Delhi... Apparently we are in food central. Paratha Wala Galli was discovered... such an explosion of flavours it would be hard to even imagine. It was a little like Enid Blyton Magic Faraway Tree - think of a flavour... any flavour, and it appears encased in featherlight paratha. We got just a little bit overenthusiastic at this gastronomic profusion, and ended up eating more than enough for three each :) It was SO worth it though... We also discovered that the famous Karim's (of kababs fame) is just across from our hotel - successful group excursion :) And an epic costume shop was unearthed in Kinari Bazaar in Old Delhi, it apparently stocks *everything* from policemen's hats to Mother Teresa costumes to Trestle-style full face masks. An enormous costume / props bag was acquired for the final show!

We did do things other than explore Old Delhi :) We've been working really hard, actually. Some of our kids' homes are located right across at the other end of Delhi. This involves early morning starts, navigating crowded metros (btw, yaay for ladies compartments), and expending lots and lots of energy leading groups of excitable kids... in a mostly unfamiliar language. The way to succeed, we were told, is to make sure our energy is at a level higher than the kids' energy... yup, quite an ask! We do feel a bit crushed and crumpled at the end of the day as we wend our way back, energy spent. But it's all completely worth it to see the kids' sheer delight just for us to be spending time with them, and to see them soaking up the new exercises, songs, and games we introduce, like little sponges.

Each home has its own challenges - kids at one need to develop confidence, kids at another need to learn focus and discipline... and with each, our teams face new and varied challenges. Sometimes we feel the elation that comes from connecting with the kids, sometimes we feel the exhaustion and disappointment of failing to make headway with the kids. And so we learn what it's like to be a volunteer... challenging at times, and utterly exhausting and frustrating at others, but a lot of the time, rewarding.

This weekend we have a new activity - giant puppet making with Kathkatha! We bought lots of exciting shiny fabrics to create giant puppets out of baskets and umbrellas... excitement forecast :)

Rickshaw in Delhi!

And the odyssey begins! A bit late updating... because we are staying in the heart of Old Delhi - right in front of the Jama Masjid, with an amaaaaazing rooftop view of the Jama Masjid and the Red Fort (pics to be added soon)... national monuments right in our backyard! But lacking either street names, or internet connectivity - where electric cables hang down the middle of the road, and you jostle for space with cycle rickshaws and street vendors as you wend your way down the tiny alleyways (which I have already managed to get lost in, plunging deeper and deeper into a warren of narrowing alleys, until I eventually figured out there was no way out but to turn around and retrace my steps without getting run over by a cycle rickshaw :p)

We've had our first day working with our respective organisations! Not before a first day of drama involving rava dosas and near death experiences. How - you may well ask - we shall leave it to your imagination. Let's just say the North Indians don't make dosas quite the same as we do in the South.

But finally... we have got to meet the kids we're working with, and what an experience! For our time in Delhi, Robin is leading a team with Will, Jessie, and Juliet working with the organisation Kutumb, Catherine H. is leading a team with Miriam and Catherine T. working with the organisation Janmadhayam, and Suchitra is leading a team with Nkoko and Theo working with Music Basti at the Ummeed Home for Boys. Each team has had such a unique experience. At Ummeed Home for Boys, we had a class full of tiny Energiser Bunnies on a sugar high. They cartwheeled, did animal imitations, they hung off trees, off our shoulders, bounced around with a level of energy we had rarely ever encountered before. It's a fascinatingly progressive school environment - the kids choose to attend which classes interest them, and wander in and out according to whether we've managed to hold their attention. So really - the onus is on us! Lesson flagging a little bit in levels of engagement and entertainment? Yup, the kids would have wandered out before we can blink an eyelid or do a 'freeze where you are' game... So much excitement, so much newness, so much India :)

Mark's Workshops and Cuddle club

Nkoko, enslaved by a wealthy fashionista for a single kit-kat.

Mark Curtis (founder of Yaller Skunk Theatre Company and all-round theatrical virtuoso) introducing us to half-masks

The wolf - Pan's Labyrinth anyone?

Mark's Trestle Masks

Will, who must have his scarves tighter

The drama became too intense for some participants.

The beautiful Miriam, who should be thanked for all these photos!

Nkoko's infectious laugh