Update from the Dharna in Mehendiganj
Phone Conversation with Nandlalji and Mahenderji on April 25, 2006
" We had two programs yesterday – one was the dharna and another was a street play which was performed in four different villages by a team from Varanasi.
Mahendraji – "I had gone yesterday with the team from Varanasi. The play they performed was "Hai Re Paani" which was an adaptation of a play by Munshi Premchand - "Thakur ka Kuan". It was the story of a village where the water dries up in the wells, and the thakur is selling water to the people of the village. The play was very well received. In each of the four villages we had 400-500 people present to watch the play. Once people come to watch the play, they do not want to leave. After the play we normally have a discussion for 10-15 minutes. We spoke about the water problem in the villages.
The team from Varanasi was all ready to perform at some other place, but the program got cancelled and they called us and volunteered to help us out. They had a four wheeler, so we were able to cover 4 villages in a single day. We need 45 minutes for a play and 20 minutes to travel to the next village. We started at 10 and by 6 in the evening we were done.
We relate the plays to how Coca-cola is affecting us. We are preparing our own team for the play and half of the work has already been done.
Two days back there was a meeting in Varanasi of the Saajha Sanskriti Manch which is a people's group like NAPM. It is mainly a network of people. Varanasi is a communally sensitive place and this group works mainly on diffusing communal tension when any incident takes place. I am also the General Secretary of the group.
On 28th of April, Rajendra Singh ("Water Man of India") is coming to Varanasi and Mehdiganj. In Varanasi he will be speaking at the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth about the usage of water, its importance and how we can save water. We are trying to get professors, writers, literary folks, media people to attend the session.
Two-three days back we got internet in our office. I will try and mail updates from now on.
The tent that was damaged has been repaired. We don't want to change it because the weather is yet unpredictable. "