Educating ‘Nirbhayas’… Whose ‘Karthavya’?

By Vinay Sankar

Note: The following article originally appeared in a slightly modified form as an OP-ED column in the Hindu on March 1, 2013.

A lost childhood, a run-away mother, a broken marriage, a 13 year old son, and an elderly father to take care of. None of these deterred Jaya Rawal from continuing her education. Jaya, whose voter id shows she was born in the year 1979 and yet, she says, she is not sure of her real age. In her fragile physique, she conceals a dogged determination to continue her studies and to get ahead. It is said, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going’ and that is absolutely correct in the case of Jaya. When her mother left her in her early teens, Jaya had to take charge of the family. That meant discontinuing her studies and taking care of her siblings. Her father was with the Telecom Department, but due to lack of a minimum period of service, is not eligible for pension. Presently, she does nearly four to five hours of tailoring every day, earning around Rs. 3,000 per month, to meet her family’s needs. She hardly gets to eat three rotis a day! In spite of all these and more, she wakes up at four in the morning and studies for three hours, and in the evening, she is with books for another three hours until midnight, in order to pass her Secondary School exams under the Rajasthan State Open School (RSOS) Board.

Amma’s Story… — Bada Kala

Transcribed and translated by Shweta Hegde

An interesting part of all of our field segments is getting to interact and learn from communities. There is often a wealth of undocumented culture, including songs, dances, beliefs, and stories. During my first DPS, I got a chance to hear many interesting stories. Here is one such story:

Teacher’s Day Celebration

Gururbrahma, gurur Vishnu, gurur devo maheswara, gurur sakshat parabrahm, tasmasvi guruve namah.

A teacher is a friend, a philosopher, a guiding light, an inspiration. A teacher is like a candle who burns brightly to enlighten others. So I salute all the teachers.

Heritage 2012: In the Press

Here are a few articles from the Hindu and Times of India about the Heritage 2012 event. Pretty good coverage, even if they don’t all directly credit Tata-Dhan Academy:

• The Hindu: Where discipline is a way of life [Archive | PDF]
• The Hindu: Role reversal–Urban to rural [Archive | PDF]
• Times of India: Getting acquainted with a taste of rustic customs [Archive | PDF]

If anyone comes across any others, please share the links!

Marketing of Rural Products

The “Marketing of Rural Products” event at Heritage is a unique action-oriented event. The participants of this event were students from management, engineering, agriculture, and arts colleges in Madurai.

In the first phase of this event, the participnats went to Keelamattayan village and interacted with the villagers. They asked about their traditional products and the indigenous practices alive in their community. They also observed the village condition and tried to understand the problems the community faced.

Sanskriti: Traditional Dress

Sanskriti is about how Indian culture is evolving according to who we are today. It is not just keeping traditions as they are, but changing ways of doing things while upholding strong eminence. India state costumes are unique to the religion and the culture of the particular state and vary to a great extent. Each state of India has their own traditional costumes and attires that are deeply rooted in the state’s history, religion, tradition, customs, and culture.

Chitralekha: Drawing

The Chitralekha event started with a formal invitation by the villagers of Keelamattaiyan. The 14 participants observed the village closely, and took the opportunity to experience the tradition, culture, traditional games, folk dances, and traditional foods.

Manthan: Debate

The Manthan team event was conducted at Yamuna hall at Tata-Dhan Academy on 11 August 2012. The event was conducted in three stages (preliminary, semi-final, and final). From the preliminary round, four teams were selected; for the semi-final round, the teams from TSM and TCE qualified. The panel of judges comprised Mr. Madhan Kumar, Mr. Rajan, and Mr. Poonu Swami (NIC).

Heritage 2012: Inauguration

The inauguration function of Heritage started sharply at 10 AM and was anchored by TDA Faculty Mrs. Vijayabharati. On the stage were the chief guests Mr. Vasimalai, Dr. Venkataraman, Mr. Vedacharan, Mr. K. P. Bharthi, Mr. Ponnu Swami, and TDA Director, Mrs. A. Umarani. The function was started with a prayer from Somya, Smriti, and Shilpa, and readings by Vinay and Garima.

After the prayer Vinit delivered the welcome speech. Mrs. Vijyabharthi then invited the chief guests, participants and Anurag for lighting the lamp of knowledge.

Heritage: Spreading the Fragrance of Culture and Development to Youth

The two-day inter-college Heritage event is currently under way at Tata-Dhan Academy. We thought it would be appropriate to share some of the background to how this event evolved.