Kilikili : Wobbling laughter of children

The following photographs are from one of the interesting assignments I have done till date. It is from the Universally Accessible Park (UAP) project undertaken by KiliKili, an NGO based in Bangalore, along with the help from the city administration, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP). This NGO is a network of 'Parents of children with disabilities' working to make play spaces accessible to all children. When I got this assignment the network comprised of three or four families. 'Kilikili' is a Kannada word which means 'The wobbling laughter of children' and the group Kilikili seems to be living up to its name.

Until recently, Coles Park located near Frazer Town, Bangalore had play equipments which were in unusable conditions. The equipments were either too old or were likely to cause accidents among the children. Also the entries to the park and the pathways to the play area within it, were not 'disabled children friendly'. Now this place has undergone a transition for good due to the efforts of Kilikili and has been converted into a Universally Accessible Park (UAP). My assignment involved capturing in photographs the story of making Cole's Park a UAP. After having completed the assignment I realised that I had got a lot more from it than what I had initially expected . The proximity levels I worked with the team during this assignment helped me gain an insight into the working of NGO projects. I got to see the dedication and selfless efforts which people put in for a greater cause. It was because of this hard work, the UAP at Cole's Park was successfully completed and opened to public on 2nd December 2006, the World Disability day. The outcome of this project has been such that it has made BMP to promise and set aside a budget of twenty lakhs to replicate this project in various other parks across Bangalore.

Having created a UAP is a job which has well begun and at the same a job which is half done. During the assignment I also got to see the kinds of obstacles an NGO has to face everyday. One main area of concern with the NGOs has always been in getting resources for the projects and its no different story here. The primary resources here are funds and volunteers. These concerns did get addressed during the UAP project at Cole's Park. But after UAP came into existence the Kilikili team is facing new challenges where it has to address this matter again. The new challenge is the task of maintenance of this park. Like most public properties in India the issue of vandalism is a primary concern in the maintenance of this park too.

From my observations of this entire scenario, I see that some of the classical and regressive problems plaguing our country today, are also the obstacles which one has to overcome in this case too. It would be a long story to get into specific details of these obstacles in this blog. But in brief, the invisible division of lines in the minds of our people across age groups, which are due to politics of religion and class, and illiteracy are the regressive problems I am speaking of.

But the brighter side is that all is not beyond repair. A season of creating awareness among the masses about the need to safe guard public places like Cole's Park and engaging them in activities related to this park would definitely eradicate most of the problems in making this story a success. Enabling a greater co-operation among the people across the spectrum of society would contribute to a great deal in crushing old biases and prejudices. To achieve all this, what finally this place needs is a network of committed volunteers. The volunteers who can contribute some amount of their time to make UAP at Cole's Park a 'truly successful project'. Once UAP at Cole's park reaches to a state where it's maintenance is a problem free activity then in my honest opinion it is much more than just a job well done by a volunteer. It would mean that the volunteer would have played an important role in the victory of progressive societal activities over regressive age-old prejudices, mistrust and politics which have so far been obstacles in development.

So, as last installment of my assignment:-) i keep my promise to do my bit in helping them get the resources they need.Below is the official request for resources from Kilikili. If you have it in you to contribute to such a noble cause then go ahead and be part of it. You can also do a great help by ensuring that this request reaches out to larger number of people in Bangalore so that volunteers who are in a position to help them can do so. So please feel free to share the link to this post among your friends,mailing lists, communities. The URL for the permanent link to this post is:

http://www.unconventionallife.blogspot.com/2006/12/kilikili-wobbling-laughter-of-children.html

Official request from Kilkili:

"Kilikili, a network of parents of children with disabilities working to make play spaces accessible to all children, needs volunteers to help with organising play and recreation activities. Kilikili has worked with the BMP to make the play space in Coles Park accessible to children with disabilities. Volunteers are needed in Coles park on weekdays from 3 pm - 5 pm and on weekends from 11 am to 2 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm. Volunteers can commit time as per their convenience. For more information, please contact Kavitha at 9880742028 or kilikili.uap@gmail.com

Kilikili is also looking for donations of a laptop and a printer. If anyone can help us please do contact Kavitha at 9880742028 or kilikili.uap@gmail.com. "

Freedom ; my chicken soup for the soul

Years back, I sat in a stuffy and not so big room full of anxious people in one of the by lanes of Gandhinagar, near the old Central Jail of Bangalore. Oh! by the way, the Old Bangalore Central jail is now being converted to a Freedom Park. I am not sure if the inmates of the prison are being freed but nevertheless we mortals do have a natural tendency for creating memorabilia out of tombstones, monuments and memories. Freedom, I wonder what exactly are the parameters which define it. Just by bringing in a change of guard and local rule would it mean we have achieved freedom. I guess most of us would say being able to walk free in this land without question and fear irrespective of what your race or creed is, would amount to being free. True, it might speak of freedom to a large extent. But in my honest opinion, true freedom is when you hold an opinion, a dream, a vision, and have the unrestrained freedom to pursue them with courage and reach the avenue where you can realise that romantic ambition of a lifetime. You have a dream and I have mine too. Why not toil hard and work towards reaching that avenue where there is a great possibility of going miles in career of fame.

Coming back to that stuffy room full of anxious people. The people were of two kinds. One set was the CET rank holders waiting for their turn to get into a good E-school(never heard of B-schools then). The second set consisted of the parents of these anxious big kids. This stuffy room in question then housed the Karnataka CET counselling centre, a one stop place to get into the best under-graduate engineering and medical courses in the state (I thank god that I made it into RVCE from this place. I met some of the finest people of my time here and among them I am sure that I have made a bunch of lifelong friends. I really value the 4 years spent at my Alma mater). Every other chap seemed to be tense and busy with their prayers. I, as usual was looking here and there trying to ease the tension in my own ways by making efforts to spot a pretty face from the fairer sex. It was by chance that I looked back and spotted a black board on which was an inspirational poem written out. It was such an effective poem that I spent the next ten minutes copying it into a sheet of paper with a hope that someday i would need it.

Back here in 2006 I badly needed it. I frantically searched for that note all over the house but so far couldn't find that piece of paper. Thankfully I had Google to search for me and fish it out from the Internet. This has now become a daily prayer for me as I've embarked
on my journey to realise my dreams. And here below is that poem/song from a musical based on Don Quixote (originally written by Cervantes). Its called "Impossible dream". Read it because Its worth the time.

The Impossible Dream (from Don Quixote - Man of LaMancha, a musical)

---

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong
To be better far than you are
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest, to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To be willing to give when there's no more to give
To be willing to die so that honor and justice may live

And I know if I'll only be true to this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star.

Genesis

The first post; what a moment for a blogger. But to be frank this isn't my first blog. Years back I did create a blog after the attack on the World Trade Centre, NY. It was a blog on the double standards of US foreign policy when it came to terrorism. It was highlighting the fact that India had been suffering from terrorism since decades but West refused to use the term "Terrorism" for it. But after September 11th attacks, the US government started using the term with ease. That blog began with the idea that "An issue is not an issue until it affects the western world". I did feel this then. But when I got into College my focus shifted from blogging to College life. College; that's a place where everyone grows up rapidly in a span of four years. The best years of one's life and I was to experience that. Why would I or anyone for that matter care about virtual life and blogging when there was something more interesting happening in the real world. So that marked the end of my blog. It began with a bang and faded slowly after the first blog. Someday I was reminded of it and tried to search for it but it seemed to have disappeared from the blogosphere.

Half a decade later my 'College Years' are a distant memory. No! this blog is not about my college years. Neither is it about some half-forgotten love story from those years and its lingering but fading hangover, nor is it any reminiscence about the late night drunken parties. I won't document what life has been after that. I won't speak about my first job too, because for the fact that anyone in Bangalore can write about their first job and most likely it will speak of my experience too. Not just mine but every other person's in modern urban India. Its become a norm that you have to make a career in the IT industry after graduation(And so did I end up there for some time). And if people are to quit IT then dignity lies only in making a corporate career through MBA (And this thought did come into my mind once). And if you had to study further then it was to be an MS in IT from a university located in USA(I was sure that i didn't want to do an MS in IT). Any other choice of a career in life is generally considered an undignified approach to life.

The biggest worry to my parents or even to practitioners of the life described above is that it could possibly be a rough ride in life if one was to walk a different line. Their points and their worst fears are all valid. Any other career option can be a big financial risk. But whats the point of leading a life where you are doing things you don't have your heart in. Not everyone has their goals aligned with the life described above. Then why should we not take risk and try to pursue our dreams. Nine out of ten times we, along with our dreams may die a lonely and least cared death. But in one out ten chances there could be a success in realising our dreams. And if this shot at glory is achieved then I guess its a life well lived. We would be making justice to the talents given to us by god. Why not make that conscious effort in becoming an achiever rather than being a stereotype? It maybe a rough ride, but I shall lead that unconventional life in pursuit of my dreams rather than spending my time in a safe haven where I could have had a conventional existence.

So this will be my blog, my new blog; About my new life. Chasing my dreams behind the lens. Seeing the world through the eyes of an aspiring photojournalist.