Update from the Dharna in Mehendiganj
Phone Conversation with Nandlal on April 27, 2006
Nandlal:
" Minutes from call to Nandlal Apr 27, 06
The Kalamanch was 8-9 ppl earlier with myself, Mahender, Anand and Mukesh. Last month we had a lady come from banaras and give us training, and 4-5 new ppl joined. So currently we have a new team, and a few of us have moved away from it. We do not just talk about water issues, but a lot of other things - RTI, RTF, dowry, etc. Sometimes when we go to a place, we realize that they have different problems - for example police taking bribes, then we'd do a play on corruption. If we notice that a lot of children are not in school, we'd do a play on importance of education, it'd have something like getting cheated because you can't read, etc. We generally have a play and say that we'd work with villagers to solve it. Now since we have the dharna it mostly water. We have some plays that are fixed - water, corruption etc. Some are impromptu, we select an issue and come up with a play in 2 days reharsel. In one day we can do plays in 3 villages. The schedule is not fixed, but will average to 6-7 days in a month. It is more as need be - like for padayatra, Gujarat riots (12 days), and when there was a storm we went there for one month and did relief work too. Mukesh is not currently a part of the Kalamanch itself. We have more of an organizational role.
For the water stops, if we want to have water stops inside the railway station, we need to take permission. It is not necessary outside. We took permission from railway dept. We gave suggestion to the govt to supply water in the railway station and place a board saying that the water is drinking grade. Otherwise people will not know if the water is for drinking or washing. They were ablut to make this a rule.
The waters stops in the railway station have been very successful. Some people even donate.
Also, coke has removed the banner asking ppl to visit its plant saying that the coke officials have asked them to remove it.
Today we have two programs with Rajendra Singh - one in a univ in Banaras and one in Mehdiganj. We are thinking that this will be good. Pl call me tonight and I can give you the details. "