By Shraddha Katti | Krantikari
HI! My name is Shraddha, I am 18, and I have been at Kranti for three years. My best friend Rani and I have just completed 12th exams from National Institute of Open School, April was a very hectic month for Rani and me. And I took responsibility to write update for this time.
As Taniya wrote in her last update we went to Kashmir in December, it was so much fun!! We had visited this Borderless World Foundation in Srinagar and we promised to bring to our home in Mumbai. We did not think how we will bring them to Mumbai but somehow, they finally came. We were all so happy! There was so much mess because they missed their flight because of heavy snow and we were worried if they will able to come. But they finally landed and the first thing we did was to took them to dinner at our favourite food place in Mumbai.
And so it began, we had planned so many things for them, we took them to watch Padman (a movie about a man who makes pads!), we saw four or five plays including Vagina Monologues, we went to water park, we visited ten different NGOs, did a tour of Dharavi which is Asia’s largest slum, we took them around Mumbai’s best sites in the local train. They would be very exhausted every day but of course they loved it. Something I saw when organizing everything for them, Robin was asking for help to everyone we knew, we had very little money but it was like magic how everyone came forward to help like a community. Everyone wanted to do something for them, many invited them for dinner at their homes. It was amazing to see Mumbai pulling together resources for them, I felt very lucky. We all girls were also getting tired by running around the city but their happiness was so valuable and rewarding for us. They didn’t want to leave and all of them cried when leaving…it was like a real Bollywood movie when the train was pulling out of the station and we were holding hands through the window, crying and screaming! :)
In March we again travelled to Hyderabad to perform Lal Batti Express play. After the trip everyone went back to their schedule, Taniya started her Zumba class which she is very happy and excited for since she became an instructor. Shweta has been recovering from TB but is getting back to normal, she went to ten days meditation retreat and after she came back she joined Comprehensive Sexuality Education course at TISS, Mumbai. After my exams Rani, Ashwini, Lata and I went to Arariya a small village near the Nepal border for internship. The organization is called Jan Jagriti Shakti Sanghatan and we visited many different villages and played games/activities because the children didn’t go to school so we taught through games. When we visited villages, we stayed at their place, they didn’t know us but they gave us space and food for the night. The whole internship was a new experience and so much learning for us to leave our comfort zone.
By the time we returned from our internships, Danish, Farah and Sandhya came back from US, it was summer holidays for them. We were very excited to see them because it was after one year they were coming back home. After a whole year the house was full, many emotions were coming for all of us but everyone of us was grateful for one thing – we all had a home to come back to or even place we can call home and people we call family. We have had several meetings since to re-connect and learn from each other’s experiences because all of us were living different and individual lives, there are conflicts between us of course but as a family we are working together to build a healthy and happy space for all us.
If you are reading this, I would like you to take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate what you have right now in this moment, many times we are lost in thinking about ‘what we don’t have’ but it is only lighter to think about the things we have and cherish them. We are grateful to YOU, contributing to our work only shows how much you care, many of you don’t know us personally but yet have faith and continue to be part of our lives. THANK YOU!
By Taniya Yadav | Krantikari
By Robin Chaurasiya | Kranti Co-Founder
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