I started having doubts about the messaging power of street plays till I met this woman in one of the
street plays we were performing
I’ve been working with this CRY (an ngo working in the area of child rights ) for a while and we volunteered our time for street plays on Child Abuse.
Initially I was very excited but then I realized that it was very tiresome. It took almost a whole
month of hard work with dedicated volunteers to prepare for a play and not always it would turn
out great.
The streets where we were supposed to perform these plays were not always the wide lanes of
south Delhi but slums and mohallas where sometimes it was difficult to walk without covering
your nose. To add to this was the fact these narrow lanes were not wide enough for motorized
transport so one had to walk to reach your destination.
The play we were performing was one with a serious theme for children and we were hoping our
message would reach them. We expected the onlookers take our play seriously and question us
and engage with us.
The response to were play from the children watching it was totally weird. The children laughed
at serious moments and I was disheartened to see their reactions.
It was as if they were not able to relate the message of the play with their real life. I also noticed
rather than watch and understand the contents there were people standing and making videos
maybe to record the girls playacting.
And then in the midst of our play during the scene of sexual harassment in school, a lady (the
one in blue in picture) started crying and exclaimed, “sahi bola aapne, yehi hota heh sarkaari
schoolon mein. Par koi sunta nai” (You said it right. This is what exactly happens in Gov.
Schools but no one listens.). And this is what happens in India right: NO ONE LISTENS!
It felt really good to realize that the message was actually reaching out to people and all the
effort was actually worth it and that is where a kind of satisfaction crept on me that all of this
hard work of a month and walking in sun with my broken legs was worth it!