So far the women's day has always been more an academic affair for me.Oh,yes, indeed I have presented papers in seminars, spoken to women's groups or to college students, written for newspapers (my leads were very popular in the New Indian Express and used to be syndicated, too) and magazines.
Yet I would say that my efforts were both academic and city centred. So this year when I was to get an opportunity to participate in the celebration in a school in a small town, I jumped at the opportunity.
Yes, at the Shirur school, I was to later train/teach the teachers to teach. Initially, however, there was to be the women's day programme. No, absolutely no idea had i of the actual programme, its structure, its flow, nothing whatsoever.
I decided hence to assume five minutes as the upper limit of my participation. Next i decided that I would not give any speech. Yet I wanted the enabling message to reach my as yet amorphous audience.
Hence I decided to sing a song celebrating the message of the day. I did not want it to be typical either. I knew that in a place like Shirur, the 'navratra bhondla' would sure be performed year after year. Hence I took a typical 'hadga/bhondla' song, and transformed it into a March 8 song. Singing it to the simple rhythm beat through claps was both easy and fun for everybody.
Instinctively and spontaneously joining me were Naidu Madam and the music teacher in the school there at Shirur. Many women parents joined us as well. It was fun that was liberating. Long live women's day awareness!
Pratima@ Creative fun amplifies the purpose!
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