Komal
“Being brave means knowing that when you fail, you don’t fail forever.”
– Lana Del Rey
Komal and Fiza are sisters and are 10 years and 6 years old respectively. Both thin and dark, with oiled plated hair enter school a bit late everyday. “What happened today? Why are you late again?” the teacher/ volunteers asks. “today, mother woke up late”, “today, we had to do some chores at home”, “there was no water at home again”. They rush into school and are sent off for a shower in the school bathroom. A call out for a volunteer comes from the bathroom, and one of us then step in to help them wash their hair.
The clean and chirpy girls are now ready for studies. After a few hours of class Komal is bursting to tell stories. She begins to talk to the student sitting next to her. One can see her expressions are loud and while she tells the story she also begins to perform. Soon, the whole class is engrossed in her stories. And there begins the friendly battle between studies and play-time.
Komal is a true performer and holds no inhibitions. When asked to act like an anchor to introduce the next singer, she stands with confidence holding a pencil as though it were a microphone. She clears her throat, and with rolled R’s and accented C’s she announces the next participant to perform on stage. Everyone is gripped by her introduction and applauds loudly.
When National School of Drama summer camp fliers came out, we knew that our Komal would love to be a part of it. After group enrollment and auditions, two of our little girls, Komal and Pari were selected for the one-month summer workshop, which culminated in a beautiful program where they performed two plays. During the summer camp, both Komal and Pari would come back to Katkatha by 2pm and share their stories and learnings with the rest of the children. And soon enough the whole school would be buzzing with energy and little actors jumping all about the school.
The boundaries at Katkatha between play and study are not very distinguishable, and this sometimes tests our patience as teachers but at the same time allows the children to experience a childhood they may have missed out on. At KatKatha, the morning hours are dedicated for academics and the time after lunch focuses on extra curricular activities. And every day is wrapped up by an hour of sharing of thoughts of the day and cleaning the school.
And the children then return back to their homes on G.B. Road, less than a 2 minute walk away. The children, however young they are, are completely aware of their mother’s profession. They explain it by saying their mothers’ sell their bodies. As a young person growing up, one learns much from observing family, friends and people around us. The brothels are made up of sex workers, pimps, live in boyfriends, drunk clients, rich clients, old clients and an entire business set up thriving on selling and buying of sex. Crime, violence, abuse, anger, frustration, depression, illnesses are common traits seen on the surface. Love, kindness, care and trust do exist but are covered and kept deep beneath the surfaces, far away from the view of the daily floating population of hundreds of men that move in and out of these perforated buildings.
In this environment, Katkatha tries to create a space where love and trust are transparent. A home where these enthusiastic, determined and energetic souls can come together to spread and receive love and kindness.
