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A glimpse of real life
Awareness play.
THE MASSIVE 3000-seater Raja Muthiah Manram was squeezed with girl students from over 15 colleges. But there was no din and bustle. And no cine charms from the world of pancakes and arc lights. Is it not amazing to hear that the mammoth hall stuffed with teenyboppers had a droop (unusual of its kind) this time to witness a cessation of sound?
Girls were too silent, much to the surprise of the guests. They seemed to know the seriousness of the social issues. The District Family Welfare Bureau swept the girls off their feat by preparing them to face the society with all courage and discipline.
If any of them had thought of building castles in the air with the latest heartthrobs, the District Collector, S. Ramachandran, who presided over the one-day awareness programme for the girl collegians, pulled them to the mundane world. And the appreciative part of it was he gained a nod from the girls seated in the first few rows.
Nothing new, he said. He flavoured his talk with core reality. After his usual exhibition of patriotism, "Thaayae, Tamilae, Vanakkam'', he quipped, "You might as well have thought, had the so called Amul babies, Madhavan or Shyam, been here to give a talk, replacing this old man, it would have been a lovely sight.'' There was a hushed silence. He continued with a stress that only people in his position knew about the seriousness of the consequences of social issues related to women. Girls were all ears for him.
The Vice-Chancellor of Mother Teresa Women's University, Anandavalli Mahadevan, too did not fail to draw the attention of the youthful girls by questioning the subject of a Tamil film that shows the start of love from childhood days itself.
We were able to hear the response from the back row girls- Hey, it's `Kushi'. And what she says is right. Is it not nasty to dwarf love? So, the Vice-Chancellor drove home the point with just a spark.
Adding to all the power-puffed awareness speeches about AIDS, female infanticide and foeticide, dowry and eve-teasing, message-packed cultural events were presented by `Nerunji Cultural Group' of Women's Emancipation Development (WED) Trust based at Chellampatti, an area which has a history of female infanticide, and Teddy Trust, Tirumangalam.
While the Teddy Trust group performed the puppet show educating the teenagers about the syndrome, the rural guys of `Nerunji' replicated the real life happening in their hamlets. The street-play, `Arumbu Kolli' (Infancy poison) had some alterations as it was turned into a stage play for the sake of college girls, said one of the directors of WED, Lokamani.
The play was all about the abolition of female infanticide. The little boy of the tiny village, affected by the sight of her baby sister's unnatural death, brings a discernible change. The reasons for the evil act are brought out. The panchayat president takes action to weed out dowry. The serious theme with an effective performance by all the 12 in the group, including 4 women, received good acknowledgement from the audience.
All the possible information about the atrocities against women was revealed through the play. It also made a reference about the sad tale of the farm worker, Karruppayi, the first person to be convicted by court for allegedly indulging in female infanticide.
Having had a day off from the classroom activities, for the girls, it was a boon to know about the bane of many unfortunate women affected by the society. All through the efforts of the District Family Welfare Bureau.
By AR. Meyyammai
Photo: S. James
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
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Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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