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A vacation well-spent

US student Rayna Srivastava spent her summer vacation volunteering for a Thane orphanage; says she will continue fundraising back home.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

What’s the one thing most students do when they’re staring at vacations after a hard year of study? Parties, overseas holidays, or just goofing around rank high on any student’s wish list. But some students are different. Some students defy the oft-repeated sentiment that today’s youth care only about themselves, that the only way they participate in current affairs is by hitting ‘Like’ on Facebook or retweeting a celebrity’s tweet.

Take Rayna Srivastava, for instance. The student of Frisco High School in Texas did not slot her vacations into the usual party-holiday-goofing around routine, but she resolutely planned her summer vacation for several months before she put her plans into operation – Rayna (16) put in four weeks of volunteering service at the Divya Prabha Home for Girls in Distress, an orphanage in Thane. “I was in India last year, and I had had a lot of fun and learning doing volunteering work. I decided I wanted to come back, to give back to society because I am blessed and because others should also have some of what I do,” she told The Metrognome.

Rayna and her students at the orphanageInitially stunned, her parents Rahul and Waishali quickly agreed to her plans. “My parents were not completely sure about this, but then my father said that when he was younger, he’d wished he could have done the same. At that time, he didn’t have the chance to give back to society. Both my parents were very supportive,” Rayna says.

Doing good

Rayna was born in Mumbai and lived here with her parents for a couple of years after her birth before they all shifted to the US. Naturally, the bond with the country of her birth is very strong. What fuelled her interest in Divya Prabha was that the fact that her grandfather had a contact who put her in touch with Sister Deodita there. “I had heard very good things about the orphanage, about the noble work they do. Sister Deodita was more than happy for me to come down and work with the girls,” Rayna said, explaining that she worked with seven girls, aged nine to 16, and taught them basic conversational English, the environment and the use of the Internet – this last, so that she could stay in touch with them when she returned home. “These girls are orphans, and they were very excited and thirsty for knowledge. They had so many questions!” Rayna said.

She spent four weeks teaching and undertaking volunteering work such as planting trees. Other times, she would simply talk to them. “I taught them English because in today’s world, English is really important and it will help them when they go out to work. I was so grateful for the opportunity to get to interact with them. It was a wonderful experience overall.”

Sister Deodita (in pic on right), in a letter certifying Rayna’s volunteering efforts over four weeks, says, “Rayna gave us an agenda stating that Rayna and Sister Deoditashe wanted to teach English, environment and an intro to the Internet. In the 50+ hours that Rayna spent at the orphanage, she connected with our girls and built a bond with them. I strongly feel that the girls in our institution need friends like Rayna who can help to dream and aspire to look forward to life after the orphanage and understand the importance of education.”

What’s next?

“At this point, the orphanage needs repair work on two toilets, computers, books and laptops for educational purposes. I spoke to friends and family and we quickly mobilised Rs 33,000 for the orphanage. When I go back home, I will try and get two computers to send to Divya Prabha. In fact, that’s my next project,” Rayna said.

If you want to help Divya Prabha Home for Girls in Distress, contact Sister Deodita on 022 25854852 or email divyaprabhathane@rediffmail.com.

 

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When your dreams are in plain sight

Dr Samir Mansuri is visually-challenged, but that hasn’t stopped him from pursuing Ayurveda, selling organic beauty products and conducting research.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Being born visually challenged brings its own set of problems – from having to do everything differently than ‘normal’ people, those without the gift of sight are often hampered in pursuing their ambitions due to lack of support and infrastructure. Little wonder, then, that the country has only a handful of visually-impaired doctors – our educational system also makes it that much more difficult for unsighted people to study medicine or physiotherapy.

And yet, if you have the focus, nobody can hold you back. City-based Dr Samir Mansuri, an Ayurveda practitioner, is proof of this.

Dr Mansuri started his own line of organic beauty and skin products, Ocean Miracle, in 2011, and today, has several celebrities among his clients. We spoke to him about the challenges of studying medicine without the gift of sight, growing up and nurturing the medical dream, and doing all that it takes to realise one’s ambition.

Excerpts from the interview:
dr samir mansuri Being born visually-challenged and then growing up without sight must have been difficult. Can you describe what your childhood was like?
Yes, I was born blind, but I was gifted with a very keen sense of hearing, which I was conscious of since a very young age. Since I could not see, my family sent me away to an NGO-run boarding school for the blind.

Growing up, I realised that my family did not want me to return home because for them, I was a liability, a curse. So when I completed my high school education, I moved to Hyderabad. There was no definite plan at that time…I lived on railway platforms, slept beneath staircases, then later began working in massage parlours as a masseur to earn money.

How did you study Ayurveda?

I wanted to study further, and I did, opting to study Arts and later specialising in Ayurveda. Luckily for me, I met an 89-year-old traditional Ayurvedic doctor, Guru Shamshuddin, who changed my life. I consider him my guru because he gave my career a new direction. I learnt a lot of things from him, learnt about making medicines. I had been a good masseuse, and I had a loyal clientele. These people became the first ones to receive my medicines. Guru Shamshuddin had taught me the science of pulse diagnosis and the secrets of herbal connotations and cures. I assisted him for four years and gathered a lot of experience. Then in 1999, I obtained a medical practitioner’s license in Hyderabad in 1999.

How did you complete your education in medicine without the gift of eyesight? What were some of the challenges you faced?
It was a very challenging task, no doubt. But thanks to technology, the visually-challenged have several ‘aids’ which help to convert text into sound – this helps in learning. And of course my friends and colleagues were very helpful and supported me all the way, apart from my Guru, who taught me everything.

When did you decide that you wanted to become a doctor? What prompted this decision? 
I wanted to do something that was considered impossible or unachievable by the visually-challenged, and becoming a doctor seemed like a good thing to do. I started my own line of beauty and skin products and I practice at my clinic in Juhu.

Have you ever faced any hostility or curiosity from patients because you cannot see? dr samir mansuri zenie media (4)
I have never faced hostility from people, but yes, definitely curiosity. For example, once I went to the police station for my passport verification. When I told the police officer that I was a doctor, he was shocked and surprised and asked me how I could be a doctor when I am blind! Even while travelling abroad (and in India, too) I face a lot of surprised questions.

How did you start Ocean Miracle?
The idea grew over time. We have now developed a range of eco-organic, eco-natural cosmetics.

Who are some of your famous clients?
Some of them are filmmaker Subhash Ghai, TV actress and model Reshmi Ghosh, actor Ashmit Patel and there are several others. I cannot mention too many names due to the doctor-patient confidentiality.
Has the market for organic beauty products grown in recent times? 

Yes, the market has grown tremendously. People are more conscious about the entire ‘organic funda’, to put it mildly. Many people do not want to use synthetically or chemically-prepared creams and lotions on their skin.

How do you vouch for the purity of your products?
They are officially and scientifically tested and certified by labs not just in India but also abroad.

You recently conducted a research on fake and spurious beauty and cosmetic products. What were your key findings?
We studied over 500 products available in India, and found that about 50 per cent of all cosmetics and beauty or skin care products sold over the counter in India are either fake or spurious or both, or whose shelf life has expired and are harmful to the human skin in the long run. Then there are many products that do not have the mandatory Government of India manufacturing license for cosmetic products. We also found that about 65 per cent of unbranded products or unknown brands contain harmful ingredients or compounds.

Even more worrying is the fact that Ayurvedic products manufactured by FMCG giants contain ingredients obtained from herbs and plants or plant extracts grown artificially, not organically.

What are you planning to do with your findings?
We have forwarded our findings to the Ministry of Health and the Maharashtra FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It is for them to take the necessary action.

Lastly, any words of advice you wish to offer students of medicine?
Keep trying, aim high and have complete faith in the Almighty.

(Pictures courtesy Dr Samir Mansuri)

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Mumbai artist to exhibit at Izmir

Artist, writer and former journalist Prakash Bal Joshi flies to Izmir, Turkey, tomorrow to participate in an international art festival.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Noted self-taught artist Prakash Bal Joshi flies to Izmir, Turkey  tomorrow to showcase his work at the biennial international art festival to be held there. The 60-something Joshi, a Mulund resident, was chosen to participate with 49 other artists out of a total 2,500 in the festival that will be organised by the local university as well as the National Museum of Art, and will see the exhibition of select artists’ works as well as debates and discussions on art.

Joshi is no stranger to international showings – he has previously shown at Europe’s biggest art festival at Basel in ‘Art Basel, Switzerland’ in 2012 as well as done a solo showing at Colorida Art Gallery at Lisbon, Portugal, in 2010 and the Las Vegas International Exhibition of select artists in 2010, among others. He has also exhibited widely all across in India.

A former journalist with leading newspapers (he retired a few years ago from The Times of India, Mumbai), Joshi tells us that working with newspapers “widened his perspective”. He says, “I was good at Maths and Science as a student, but I had a strange pull towards Arts. I finally chose the Science stream, but I would put down my thoughts and draw small illustrations as well, just as a hobby.” Joshi is also one of the torchbearers of what he calls the ‘golden period of Indian journalism’ – the Emergency. “As reporters, we had unbelievable freedom to research stories and go to their absolute depths. This grounding helped me later as well, when I started painting as a hobby.

 

“Also, when we worked in newspapers, our written articles would go to the editing desk and come back only after an hour or more. In the mean time, I would sit and sketch.” To this day, however, he confesses that the biggest challenge for him lies not in completing a painting to his complete satisfaction, but to empty his mind completely before he picks up the brush.

The ‘natural’ connect

Joshi confesses to a mysterious connect with rivers and nature, something which probably stems from his childhood tryst with swimming in a river and almost being drowned. He is known to use rivers as a visual metaphor to portray the flow of life, and his dismay at the loss of many rivers to the ravages of time. “I am sometimes asked about painting in a noisy city like Mumbai. But I am fascinated by the city’s crowds and its travel patterns as well.

For the last 15 years, Joshi has actively pursued his passion for painting, despite the demands of a high-pressure job. “I made the switch to canvas several years ago, and I have followed a set routine despite my job – I would come home every evening, zone out completely, then paint for two hours,” he says. He has set up a small studio in his house, and credits his family with astonishing levels of patience with his work. “Those around you begin by not understanding what you are up to, but they develop with you,” he says. “As an artist, you take it for granted that most people may not understand your work, so you reconcile yourself to working without waiting for acceptance.”

He is now waiting to experiment with oil pastels next, a medium he has never worked with before.

(Pictures courtesy Prakash Bal Joshi) 

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She cartoons around with history

Former journalist, now writer and archaeology student Shubha Khandekar talks about creating archaeological cartoons and studying history with a sense of humour.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Let’s face it – we Indians are a ‘sensitive’ lot. Increasingly, everything hurts our feelings; unintended slights, a jokey reference to our history and culture, even a stray illustration about something Indian. But Shubha Khandekar loves taking a fond, humorous look at our history through cartoons – the former journalist and now writer and PR professional has been a dedicated archaeology student for the longest time, and wonders why we “can’t stick out our tongue at Kautilya, pull Anathapindika’s leg, make fun of the globe-trotting Aryans and the seafaring Harappans?”

In an interview, the 50-something Kalyan resident tells The Metrognome about being one of the few Indians drawing archaeological cartoons, how our apathy and callousness towards our archaeological wealth, why she wants a device that can see underground, and what those wishing to study archaeology should do.

When did you first develop an interest in archaeology?

I postgraduated in Ancient Indian History at Delhi University, after which archaeology was merely the next logical step forward. I did a one year PG diploma in archaeology from the School of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, after which I went to the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute in Pune for a Ph.D.

You’ve been a journalist for a major portion of your working life. How did you choose journalism when your natural inclination is towards archaeology?

I trained and worked as a journalist for over 25 years in Nagpur and Mumbai. Due to some domestic problems, I had to abandon my Ph.D. and take a short break from my studies. The break grew longer and longer and the opportunity to resume almost never came back until in 2012,  after a gap of 30 years – I came across Mugdha Karnik, director, Centre for Extra Mural Studies (CEMS), Mumbai University and Dr Kurush F Dalal, who teaches archaeology there.

And I simply got sucked into it, to join the one-year certificate course in archaeology with them!

Meanwhile, I’d taken up journalism for a living, and I am not too sorry about it as journalism gives one an exposure, vision and perspective that no other profession does. And come to think of it, journalism is reporting on the present and history/archaeology is reporting on the past: small difference!

How did you start making archaeology-related cartoons?

One tends to trivialise the art of cartooning till a cartoonist is thrown into jail! While at the Free Press Journal I had seen Pradeep Mhapsekar at work and had realised the enormous intellectual effort that goes into creating a single cartoon. I was fascinated by it and tried some amateur cartooning. In a contest for women cartoonists declared by the Marathi daily Loksatta I won a consolation prize.

Later, being in a PR company, I made some PR-related cartoons. What really triggered the archaeology-inspired cartoons was the robust, overabundant sense of humour with which Dr Kurush Dalal spiced up his lectures for us. Laughter began to burst through the cracks in academics and ArchaeoGiri (the Facebook page that Shubha uploads her archaeo-cartoons on) was born!

Are there many people who draw cartoons like you do?

No. At the international level, there are cartoons galore on Greek and Egyptian histories. Well-known characters – Noah, Moses, Cleopatra, Archimedes – all have meekly surrendered to the swish of the cartoonist’s pen. There is a whole Asterix series cocking a snook at the mighty Romans. Cartoons on the Stone Age and cave men too are plentiful, but none reflect the features that are specific to the Stone Age in India.

Why can’t we stick a tongue out at Kautilya, pull Anathapindika’s leg, make fun of the globe-trotting Aryans and the seafaring Harappans? Perhaps because we don’t know these people well enough, we need to. Familiarity will breed banter. Perhaps because we take ourselves and our past too seriously although nobody else does. Our ‘feelings’ get hurt at the drop of a hat. Through ArchaeoGiri I have tried to pull historical figures out of boring textbooks and seat them at a modern Indian’s chai-nashta table for a hearty gupshup session.

What are some of the excavation trips you have been a part of?

I’ve been to Sringaverpur in UP and Inamgaon in Maharashtra. Shringaverpur was identified as a ‘Ramayana’ site and excavation was undertaken there under BB Lal. Inamgaon is a pre-iron age site near Pune where extensive work was done by Deccan College for about a decade.

If one wants to study the subject, what are the research tools available as of today?

It is essentially a postgraduate course, being offered at several universities. For lay enthusiasts in Mumbai, I would strongly recommend the certificate courses being run by the CEMS.

What is your comment on the current state of archaeology studies and research? 

At a personal level, those who are teaching me archaeology today would have been my students, had I continued my studies, but I have no regrets there. With their knowledge and scholarship, I feel honoured to be in their company as their student.

At another level, however, no country could be richer than ours in terms of archaeological wealth, and no people could be more callous and apathetic towards it. So enormous is this wealth that it can become a perennial source of infotainment, jobs and revenues, but we treat it with the utmost contempt. The state of explorations, excavation, publication, conservation leaves much to be desired. There is a strong case for public archaeology, but that can’t happen without political will and financial support. Despite the excellent work being done at CEMS, it has still not been possible to set up a full-fledged archaeology department there.

What’s on your archeo-wish list?

I would like a James Prinsep for the Harappan script. An Alexander Cunningham for every bit of architecture-sculpture lying orphaned in the wilderness.

A small museum at every district headquarter. A job for every archaeologist. A tool that can date stone artefacts. And equipment that can see underground.

(Shubha’s picture courtesy Pradeep Mhapsekar. Cartoons courtesy Shubha Khandekar)

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‘The only obligation you should have is to your craft’

SA artist William Kentridge’s mantra is amazingly simple: he believes that to appreciate art, one just needs an open mind.
by Salil Jayakar

On a visit to India, South African artist William Kentridge and his wife were taking a walk through the lanes of Colaba, Mumbai. His wife saw a sign pointing to Tushar Jiwarajka’s Volte Art Gallery, where the artist and the gallery owner had a chance encounter. Jiwarajka expressed his desire to exhibit Kentridge’s work and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

‘Poems I used to know’, Kentridge’s first solo India exhibition was showcased at Volte for nearly two months from February to March this year. It included ‘I am not me, the horse is not mine’, an installation of eight projected film fragments, a series of flipbook films, two large drawings over multiple book pages, fragmented sculptures, a large tapestry, and several prints.

Now back home in South Africa, Kentridge expressed his “delight” to have an exhibition in Mumbai. “I was curious to see how my work would be received in a post colonial country other than South Africa, outside the periphery of Europe or America where I usually showcase my work,” he says.  According to him, the reality of atrocities isn’t native only to South Africa or India. “Every country has had its fair share of demons to deal with. The core theme of many of my works wishes to drive home the unifying point of finding that elusive form of optimism amidst the disparaging gloom surrounding us.”

An artist, painter, sculptor and theatre and opera director, Kentridge’s work has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Louvre and the Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Albertina Museum in Vienna and La Scala in Milan. He received the Kyoto Prize in 2010. Yet, for all his work with different mediums and formats, charcoal paintings are a favourite. “All my work is rooted in drawing, as a primary medium. I guess charcoal paintings would be a personal favourite,” he says.

Kentridge confessed that he has a limited understanding of the art in India and knows very little about India’s art world. At the same time he saw a lot of similarities between the work done here and in his home country of South Africa. As he puts it, “I am astonished at the range of work and the ambition of scale that is being done here. Having seen work by a few well-known Indian artists, I look forward to discovering more in my subsequent visits to the country.”

For artists worldwide who are constantly in conflict with people and religions for offending sensibilities or hurting religious sentiments, Kentridge firmly believes that an artist has no obligation to either. “Your art is your own and the only obligation you should have is to your craft.”

Finally, for the layman who has no knowledge of art, Kentridge has these words of advice, “Anybody can appreciate art. You don’t have to be an art aficionado. All you need is an open mind to embrace creativity.”

(Pictures courtesy William Kentridge)

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Sunny days

He nursed his girlfriend for four years before she died. Sunny Pawar is now rebuilding his life through social service.
by Mamta D

Seven years ago, Sunny Pawar was like any other man in his 20s – he was deeply in love, he had a good job, and his future promised to be an exciting one. But as it generally happens when life is going swimmingly well, fate turned around and threw everything out of order.

In 2006, Sunny’s girlfriend Aarti and a few friends were riding near Gorai beach when their car had a nasty accident and turned turtle. The others got away with minor injuries, but Aarti was the worst hit. With serious head injuries, she slipped into a coma and was subsequently in an NICU (Neurological Intensive Care Unit) for the next four months. During these four months and in the next four years, Sunny did what few people would probably do – he never left Aarti’s side once during the entire time she was in the ICU, and even when she was subsequently moved to a ward.

His constant presence at her bedside made headlines in major newspapers and his story was covered by a few news channels, too. Sunny and Aarti became symbols for the ultimate love story in a cynical city that often has no time for love. Readers’ aid poured in, which helped Aarti’s family bear a part of her enormous medical expenses.

Things appeared to look up for the couple: in 2007, Aarti made a miraculous recovery from the coma and was sent home, though she couldn’t recognise anyone; not Sunny, not even her mother. Undeterred by her condition, Sunny fed her and continued to take care of her basic nursing needs along with her mother, Bharti Makwana. Aarti was still bed-ridden, with the right half of her body paralysed, but she showed a lot of improvement.

During this tumultuous time, Sunny had quit his Chartered Financial Analyst course halfway to tend to Aarti, but he gradually resumed his education in 2009. However, instead of the CFA course, he chose to enroll for a Masters in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan, College of Social work. “Instead of being frustrated with my situation, I decided to focus on doing social work,” he says.

“Each day, I hoped for her recovery and that she would be completely normal some day,” he adds.

But fate was still not finished with Sunny. In 2010, Aarti breathed her last after a sudden attack of pneumonia.

At this point, Sunny could easily have succumbed to depression or resorted to unnatural ways to vent his grief. “I had many negative thoughts during those tough times,” he says. “Like any other person affected by trauma, I struggled for more than five years and felt a huge void after Aarti’s death. Then I stumbled on the philosophy of helping strangers without expecting anything in return. I call this A.R.T after Aarti, an Act of Random Kindness,” he explains.

These days, Sunny is busy with his NGO work – he is Project Manager at the Shree Ramanugrah Trust, and often initiates many new welfare and empowerment projects on their behalf. Besides this, he has spoken at several motivational seminars, and enrolled in a part time MBA in Social Entrepreneurship at NMIMS. Most recently, he has taken upon a personal initiative, wherein he will distribute donated new or used footwear to female ragpickers he has met during the course of his field work.

Sunny recalls how his story encouraged another young man to follow his heart. “A couple of months ago, my story so far was published in a Kannada publication named Kannadaprabha. The next day, I received a call from a person named Sunil, who told me that he was in love with a girl from his own locality for four years, but due to his parents’ opposition, he had not been able to marry her till date. His parents had been opposing the marriage because the girl suffered from epilepsy.

But Sunil promised me that after reading about me and Aarti, he had made up his mind to marry the girl very soon, regardless of whether his parents gave their consent or not. The moment the call was over, I thanked God and Aarti.”

Ask him about his will to go on, and he says, “Whatever I am today is because of Aarti, my family, her mother and all those people who helped me during this acid test of my life. My parents, though shocked at first, eventually accepted and came to terms with what I was doing. They let me be, without becoming judgmental or stopping me from what I set out to do. They are my pillars of strength and support, without whom I would have totally collapsed. Aarti provided me an opportunity to get in touch with my inner self. Today I have found my calling because of her; she is physically no longer with me, but she is still with me through our shared memories and precious experiences together. Had she been alive today, this is what she would have done; she is alive through me and my work.”

He adds, “Opportunities to serve others sometimes come in the form of our own tragedies. Unpacking something with an ugly packaging requires a lot of audacity and struggle, but what seems unbearable is definitely not impossible.”

If you wish to donate new or old footwear for women ragpickers, you can contact Sunny Pawar on +91 9892856554. He is also available for group motivational talks and will answer donation queries, too.  

Mamta D works in the IT industry. Beyond her job, she writes, travels, paints and experiments with various side projects, among other things. She is also keen on making a difference to society in whatever way possible.

(Featured image courtesy timesofindia.com)

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