Child’s Play: Nadia Couple Fights Social Evils

Kalachand and Meena

Chakdah, May 28: The tribal couples in the dingy slums in Chakdah block in Nadia do not consider their girl child a devil’s gift any more. The couples, who till recently were accustomed to discrimination between their daughters and sons, seem to have gone through a radical transformation in their approach towards their future generations. Thanks to Kalachand Das and Meena Das Thakkar, a theatre enthusiastic couple, who along with a brigade of 65 backward children have made this drastic turn-around possible through a simple tool – street drama.

The couple has, in fact, heralded a silent revolution in the impoverished pockets in Nadia district of West Bengal using this traditional but unconventional mode of spreading information and education as their main tool. The couple claims that in an area where illiteracy and superstitions rule havoc, the conventional way of teaching against social evils could not attain success.

Kalachand and Meena have not just kept their activities limited to opposing gender discrimination among children. Their unique tool is also largely being used in backward tribal areas to make them aware of the evils of AIDS, child marriage, child labour, public health and hygiene, drug addiction, school drop outs, casteism, female foeticide, communal violence and many more important social issues. Nevertheless, the major share of credit goes to 65 underprivileged children with whom the couple formed Sishu Natyam, a theatre group to materialize their dream to fight social evils in their own way and in their own language.

Moreover, the government is also making use of the popularity of Sishu Natyam for its programmes like Nirmal Gram sanitation projects. Sishu Natyam is being used to promote School Sanitation Programme under Nirmal Gram Project in 141 primary schools in North 24-Parganas district and in 26 schools in Nadia. Last year these two districts spent more that Rs 12 Lakhs for “Nirmal Gram” sanitation project through Sishu Natyam. Their play ‘Jeevan Maroner Gappo” (Story of Life and Death) on sanitation has also become very popular in Basirhat and Barasat blocks.

Nevertheless, Kalachand, an MA in Political Science, who identifies himself as playwright-actor-director, feels that very little has been done for the children, particularly belonging to backward castes. For their unique contribution to the humankind and society, the couple received Rippan Kapoor fellowship from CRY.

The journey to what looked improbable at one time started in 1997, when the Das couple found that children of his home town were among the hardest hit by the age-old social evils like child marriage, child labour, and school dropouts. The couple had, therefore, chosen a different medium which could amply convey the message to the hearts of children and their illiterate parents forever. “To make all this to become a reality, street plays or drama was a natural choice”, Kalachand said.

To begin with, the couple started working upon only a few children including their two sons - Krishnendu and Mrinmoy. However, they formed Sishu Natyam in Chakdah – Gorpara Udaynagar soon. But, then began the toughest part of the journey, as the couple had literally to chase every house in the tribal villages of the region in order to persuade parents, who were averse to sending their children to weekend workshop.

Inherent with sharp hilarious dialogue penned by Kalachand, the plays soon became popular amongst backward villagers, who, in turn, also came out to speak on many burning issues. This inspired Kalachand to write plays on different issues to make them understand in their own way.

The effort bore surprising result, as in only a few years marked decrease in school-dropout and child marriage was noticed. At present many schools in Nadia have been seeking help of his troupe to teach students about many social evils. Eminent playwright Chandan Sen, who closely watched Kalachand’s work said, “His success is due to the level of his imagination, which is well in tune with child psychology and also very much palatable to illiterate people.”