Smile ke andar hai ek program,
‘Music for Harmony’ hai jiska naam,
Sandesh hai iska ek hi, shanty aur badhana,
Logon ke dilon mein, ummeed ki roshini jalana.

Shanti ke program ne,
success khoob kamai,piche hua kya,
kitni khalbali isne machai,
aao hum milke yeh batate hain,
Lodhi garden mein thoda fun late hain.

Hoch-poch, hoch-poch,
Yeh tha shuru mein haal,
Manmeet, Namrata, Kanika ka,
Sir dard se tha haal behaal,
Dheere-dheere SMILErs ne,
Seriousness apni dikhai,
Sur apne ideas deke,
Manmeet ki diary badhai.

Dili Haat ke alawa,
na tha kuch bhi pakka,
josh tha itna andar,
par mila nahi tha dhakka,
SMLIErs ne wahan jakar,
Jagah ki ki napai,
Aur tab jake side events ki list ban payi.

Resource aur poster ki meeting,
Campus mein bithai,
Thode se kaam ke baad,
Namrata ne treat khilai,
Dhabe mein SMILErs ne jam kar khaya,
Namrata ki pocket ko khali karwaya!

Peace package ke kaam mein,
Lag gaye sab log,
Itne colours ke beech mein,
Painting ka pehla rog,
Subah se sham tak chalta tha yahi kaam,
Par uth jate the sab sunkar tikki ka naam.

Conflict map, banner aur exhibition ne kiya kamal,
Aur ‘Music for Harmony’ ne macha diya dhamaal!!

Gaane kitni bhashaoon aur states ke logon ne gaaye,
Face painting mein jane kittno ne peace symbols banwae,
Clay modeling mein bacchon ne khoob kari masti,
Chudiyan aur diye sajakar,
Kar di raunak dugni.

Pravah ke natak neb hi,
Khoob dhoom machai,
Anyaaye aur ladai ke khilaf
awaaz uthai,

sham ko toh jaise ek suroor sa dil mein chaya,
SMILErs ne nach-nach ke shor bindaas machaya.

Candles jalake end mein,
sabne milje banaya symbol,
which represents
and a heart that is humble

Aise hua ‘Music for harmony’ ka ant,
aur last line banne se pehle mera
Brain ho gaya band!

Posted in: Some precious moments from Music for Harmony on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at at 12:29 PM 0 comments  

Hi all

We have been talking on and off about rural internships and soon you will be seeing posters etc about them around in campus too and so thought should write a bit about them to all of you.

Rural internships are an exposure oppurtunity that we offer in the summer for young people to go to a rural community and intern with a local organisation working on an issue you are passionate about. We at SMILE strongly believe in experiential learning where the world is your classroom and you chart your own learning journey and that is the basic theme behind these internships.
It's a 4-6 weeks long internship oppurtunity. We have partners in rural areas across India who work on various issues and before placing anyone with an organisation we do match expectations from you as well as the hosting organisation to ensure that you are placed with an organisation you would like to work with.

This internship is an oppurtunity for you to get hands on experience working in an environment you may not be familiar with, hone your skills, get work experience of a different kind, push your limits and come out of your comfort zone adapting to a new life and
make a difference.

What does the summer broadly look like if you are interning with us....

In the first half of May we will be conducting an orientation camp which will be compulsory for all those doing internships this year. This will ideally be a 4 day camp held somewhere outside of Delhi. This camp essentially looks at building capacities in certain soft skills, like assertiveness and conflict resolution, which we feel would come in use during your internships. The camp would also be an important space to share expectations and preview what is in store for you to ensure you are well prepared and an oppurtunity to get to know other fellow travellers on this journey.

Post the orientation camp each one can decide when in the next few months you will be doing your internship and figure your travel and other logistics.

In the second half of July (ideally by when everyone should be back from their internships) we will hold a feedback camp which will also be a compulsory component of the internship as its important for us that experiences are documented and shared. It will also be a space to plan forward for your action projects as each one is supposed to take on one post their internship and touch base with all other travellers and so we can be a part of more than one journey even if we haven't been on all.

We firmly believe that learning is not complete if its not actually used in some way which ensures internalisation of all that one has gathered. With this faith the next component of the internship is an action project which everyone has to do once you are back in Delhi. Now action projects are basically forums to share your learnings or do a small project with them once you are back in Delhi. these action projects are really dependent on what you want to do. It's a great space to get thinking out of the box and do something fun.

What are the costs involved....

The basic costs for travel, lodging and food from past years of experience works out to be upto Rs. 4500. For core group intensive SMILE volunteers we ask you to contribute Rs. 2000 and the over and above is covered by Pravah. For all others who are applying for internship we ask you to contribute Rs. 3000 and the over and above is covered by us.
Apart from this we also offer bursaries and there are possibilities for fundraising for those who may find it difficult to come up with the given amount of money. So lets talk about it...

What is the process like?
Write in to us immediately if you would like to apply. There isn't a selection procedure per se but there are certain assessment parameters with which we make our recommendations on whether you are prepared for the internship right away or might want to consider doing it next year.
Please be prepared to come in to meet us sometime during the next two months (before the orientation) so we can talk about the process further and get to know each other and the program better before the orientation camp.

So this is what it broadly looks like please write in to us if you have any queries. To apply for the program please visit our website younginfluencers.com where an aplication form willl be put up shortly and do just call or let us know that you are interested so we can talk further.

Well, hoping to hear from you soon.

To find out more contact the SMILE team at Pravah

@ 26440619 or 26213918 or 26291354

Posted in: Rural Internship - 08 on Thursday, March 6, 2008 at at 6:11 PM 2 comments  

Posted in: Some precious moments from Music for Harmony on at at 4:55 PM 2 comments  

The SMILE film club recently bounced back in full swing, holding film club meeting cum film screenings every Tuesday in Arts Faculty, North Campus. Here is the first hand experience of one such movie screening.

The meeting began almost on time with a healthy congregation of around 10 people. It was time for the screening of the film ‘Lesser Humans’ by Stalin K. The film prominently focused on the issue of manual scavenging with sharp undercurrents of several other social evils, as in there in our society. The plight of the scavenging community was on display with a razor’s edge, as scenes and narrations of their everyday ordeal filled the cinematic space. Agreeably, it wasn’t any pleasant or easy topic to deal with. It was quite interesting to observe the expressions of all those who were present at the screening fluctuating in tandem with the plight of the community. The acrimonious shots of people cleaning night soil and carrying it over their heads made audience squirm in their seats. It was actually a jaw dropping experience for most of them, as some of the audience tried to buckle under the flurry of hard hitting ‘shit-scenes’ either by slanting their faces away or trying to lessen the intake of the ballistic truth with squinted eyes. As soon as the screening came to an end and lights were on, there was absolute silence, occasionally broken by the understandable clearing of throat, most of them for sure would have got a lump; faces were pale and eyes completely dazed.

Though the film pivoted around manual scavenging, it also unearthed other very serious issues than actually accentuate the central theme. It was actually a broad spectrum analysis of the issue of scavenging, wherein caste system, apathy of the general public, negligence by the judiciary, legislative and the executive all have collaborated to make them the ‘slave of the slaves’, driven to such extreme periphery, that literally they are living on the edge. The reactions were all borne out of sheer shock and awe of the appalling situation. Rehana, one of the participants reacted to the movie as “stunned, disgusted”, thinking of the people who have to actually do it. Bhavna enquired surprisingly if there is any way out for those in suffering. Isha related to the problem in a way that has to do something with corruption, which constricts the people from going up the ladder. The range of expressions swung from being “helpless and frustrated” to “ashamed and responsible for all this”.

Manmeet facilitated the entire proceeding and she started off interestingly with a salvo “if anyone ever has tried to enquire as to who is cleaning our shit in own homes or surroundings” It almost flared up the already flaming discussion. During the course of discussion, the participants wondered if technology could be the answer. Here David, who is from Canada, delivered a very interesting point, “Even in Canada, there are people who coming and cleaning your shit. These people are either minority or are neglected lot.” This made us wonder, even in our context “why only a Bhangi has to clean up the mess”. The discussion towards the later stages turned more towards finding solutions. It was nice to see everyone coming forward with their own bit on solutions or ways to address this issue. Radhika opined “It wouldn’t be nice to take away their jobs. The idea would be provide them with better opportunities. All this can be carried out simultaneous to the process of restoring respect to profession and community in general.” “More opportunities” almost echoed from mouth to mouth but Prachi felt that “It’s not so easy to take steps when you are so vulnerable”. Manmeet cited the example of one meeting where Martin tried to explore what the people really wished to do, given the freedom to choose their profession. The most natural response was that they wanted to carry on with their work although with better equipments. Then they said they would open a shop selling cleaning items. It took enormous efforts and amount of prodding to enable one person imagine that they could open a saree shop. Amidst, all soul searching and discussion regarding caste system, Swati popped a very pertinent question, "How many of us are ready to marry a lower caste person"? Well, to some extent the question was partly rhetorical, in the sense that it underlined the need of a paradigm shift in our perspective, in our approach to this issue. There must be a concerted, collective effort of positive change that should start at the individual level and ultimately result in a societal change aiming at restoring respect and dignity to the community. Improving their lot only becomes imperative.

Posted in: Flim Club Screening on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at at 10:17 AM 1 comments