Laadli Media Awards For Gender Sensitivity

On 22^nd November the fourth round of the Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitive by Population First supported by UNFPA and in collaboration with Kolkata Sanved was held.

The eighteen awardees have been chosen from among more than around 213 entries that were received from around 150 journalists and media persons. The awards cover six languages and 20 categories.

Most of the awards winning entries reflect a concern and sensitivity on the part of the journalists to bring into focus the trials and tribulations of women particularly from tribal communities.

They also reflect critical thinking on the retrograde social practices and beliefs which abridge the rights and restrict the freedom of women. It is heartening to note the underprivileged an marginalized women getting such media attention.

The Programme Schedule was filled by a performance by Kolkata Sanved, the presentation of Awards, Songs by Usha Uthup and a short drama by Suanjana Das Gupta.

Kolkata Sanved presented “Prioti – The Driving Force” which is not merely a performance but also an expression of energy and spirit. It is about the Sanved, their quest to move forward, the sstrength that has given them the courage to dream and encourage others to dream as well.

Kolkata Sanved is proud to be a part so that we could also raise our voice trough dance and be a part of the Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity.

America meets Kolkata Sanved

 On the 8th November the American Consulate came to visit us.

The theme of this meeting was the traditional India. And so the preparations started early since we wanted to decorate the work accordingly.
On the morning of the visit every one of Kolkata sanved helped to set the last handles so that everything would be perfect.

And then it came the time when it was said : America meets Kolkata Sanved.

Suitable to the topic we welcomed our guests in a traditional indian way.

After the welcoming we showed them our office and a film made by Kolkata sanved. So that they could get a image what our work is about.
To delve into it they had a conversation to our Director Sohini.
After all the talking we wanted to visualize what was said.
A DMT session was prepared in which every one part took. The topic about that session was “fun”.
And everyone had a lot of fun. We enjoyed it a lot.
After the strugle of the session we wanted them to relax and enjoy during the performance of the girls.

The girls said they have been very nervous. But all the nerviness wasn’t necessary because the girls showed their talent and their know how.
Our visitors were impressed and both sides had the time to exchange questions and get to know each other better.
To a traditional indian invitation the food belongs as well which the americans and Staff from Sanved enjoyed a lot. It was very Yummy :)

 

 

And then the evening ended with a lot of fun and two different cultures got to know each other better.

BULLETS CANT STOP DREAMS

BULLETS CAN'T STOP DREAMS

Dear Friends Stand up for the cause 

and take action

I am sure you’ve heard about Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban on October 9, 2012 in a failed attempt to silence her — and her leading voice for girls' education and the right of all children to go to school. Take a few moments of your day to learn about the Malala Fund, girls' education and what Malala is fighting for.

Contribute to her cause at MalalaFund.org or, donate $10 by texting "BRAVE" to 27722.

Light a Candle in a Child's Heart

 

 

Every child should have a light in his heart. Children are very special. And  therefore, they should be celebrated every day and reminded that they have that special light in them.

Since this is sometimes missed out we took the Children's Day on occasion to celebrate the children and show them how important they are.

This year our children’s Day theme was “Light a candle in a Child’s heart”.

All the preparations that had to be done, the decoration and the errands made us feel full of anticipation. Finally the last hand grips had to be made and we were ready waiting for our guests and especially for the children.

When the bus full packed with all the children of Hamari Muskan arrived the joy was great. We welcomed them. Then we sat in the yard which we decorated just for them. There we talked, did a final rehearsal for the performance and inflated balloons with which we played.

The time passed by very quickly and soon all the other guests came. One of our guest was Alokananda Roy, a famous awarded dancer. We were very happy and glad to have her with us and that she took the time to celebrate with us this special day for children.

With her help, we unleashed our Diwali fire.

 The girls of Hamari Muskan had prepared a performance. They danced full of pride.

But also the other children had prepared something and everyone was full of pride to show their prepared performances. It was a lot of fun, watching the performances. The program was fulfilled with dancing, singing, drumming and poems pre said and more.

Whether young or old, we are all children, and so everyone took part in the free dance and everyone, without exception enjoyed it.

And after that everyone was hungry and we were thankful for strengthening.

We lit all over the office the lights and when everywhere the lights very on and everyone had a sparklers ignited it looked like a complete sea full of candles.

But every enjoyable day has to end sometime so we thank all the children who made this day unforgettable and amused all of us we hope we could kindled a new light in all these children’s heart.

 

 

PLATFORM BEAT - A Kolkata Sanved Initiative in collaboration with Praajak & supported by India Foundation For The Arts

PLATFORM BEAT - A Moving Experience

Reporting from New Jalpaiguri Station by Priyanka Mueller, Intern of Kolkata Sanved

On Behalf of Kolkata Sanved Sabita Debnath Dance Movement Therapy Trainer, Bithika Roy , Video documentationist, myself along with our Resource person Rajkumar Rajak conducted and organised Platform Beat performance at NJP Station  in Shiliguri which was hold in collaboration with Praajak. 
This initiative supported by India Foundation For The Arts. 

We came together to create a performance which was shown on the 14.10.12 in Shiliguri at the station. The workshop was a 7 days workshop which was held in Shiliguri and never ended because the boys and the trainers staid at the same place which made us feel to be a small family it was a great experience than so we had fun whole day and night and it helped us to get to know each other and to work very easily as a group.

After Breakfast the workshop started with some games sometimes outside in the yard or in our workshop room. Then we did some mediation. Afterwards we had our lunch and then to bring some action back we played the music and had a lot of fun during the free dance. The boys loved to show their movements and their talents.

Then we started with the boys to show them some movies how a performance can look like. We answered questions like ' what is a stage' , 'how to set a play' and and and...

After the boys had an idea and all the questions where answered we started to practice the performance and set the play.

We had no clue what our performance is going to be about but we tried to take things from the boys which they showed us, what they love to do and bring all this movements into a great performace. After some time the kids also saw their costumes and after it everyone was totally in the performance.

Of course sometimes someone forgot the steps but then there were always the others who showed the movements and helped.

The boys were so excited and into the movements that their also practiced them in their free time to become better. More closer the day of the performance came also the boys became more nervous and excited.

On the day of performance when we sat in the bus to go to the station we sang, took pictures and had fun but when we left the bus and walked to the stage which was built for us everyone could feel that the boys and also the trainers are excited, nervous and full of power to rock the stage.

What the boys did.

The show was a complete success.

We got the attention of many people who saw the performance and asked what we are doing and wanted to now more about our work.

     

The boys had a lot of fun and enjoyed it to get all the attention and all the eyes where on them. And even we had some sound problems that could not stop the boys and disturb their concentration and fun the just danced and performed as they have never done something else.

After 7 days staying day and night together the time to say good bye came and everyone was sad about that. But at the end, we can say we had a lot of fun in these days. We were just like a small family enjoying the time. We as the trainers loved to see the movements and the talents of the boys and the boys enjoyed it t show them to us.

Woman Power

Maitree is an Organization that is a combination of 50 other organizations. On 13^th sept 2012, Maitree along with Parichiti, Jibika and Kolkata Sanved organized a demonstration and meet at Dakhinapan to raise their voice against violence against women in the recent times, especially focusing on the recent rape cases in Kolkata city that are on the rise. Four of our Kolkata Sanved girls, Durga, Savita, Mehraz and Amina presented a powerful performance on the stand of women in today’s day and age. It was a meet that was covered by media from around India to ensure that the issue is attended to and not forgotten.