Succesfull story of Sajha Manch

                         Inzamam Makrani, aged 19 years, is a resident of Karawara village. Currently, he is pursuing his higher secondary in the arts stream from a local government school. He aspires to be a bank employee. He is an awesome Hip-Hop dancer and has had no formal training in it.

                         Inzamam lost his father at the age of six in a road accident. His father was a driver. Since then, life has not been easy for Inzamam and his mother. Being the only son and the sole bread earner of the family, Inzamam has been struggling hard to strike a balance between work and his academics. Both he and his mother run a small grocery shop in the village for maintaining their daily livelihood.

                         It has been six months that Inzamam has been a part of the Sanjha Manch (a youth research centre of ALFA educational society) family. He says that before joining the family, he was a staunch supporter of communalism. He hated mixing up with people from other religious background but after coming to Sanjha Manch and after interacting and sharing one's own thoughts with the youths of the other communities at Sanjha Manch, he felt that they are really doing a constructive job for the sake of communal harmony and spreading the message of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood which is very essential for a peaceful environment where the mind is without fear and free of inferiority complex.

                         Inzamam feels that after getting involved with Sanjha Manch, he has been able to live his dream. He always wanted to be a good dancer, but owing to family responsibilities and not so sound economical background, his aspirations and desires had to take a backseat. He feels that Sanjha Manch has given him and many others like him a platform to live their dreams. As a part of a regular training programme of Sanjha Manch, he also participated in some events like film screening on gender based issues and wall painting etc.He is very supportive of the work that the organization is doing in the areas of youth development.

                          Inzamam says that earlier, the villagers were not very supportive of the principles and values of Sanjha Manch and so, restricted their children from going and mixing up with the children from the other communities there. But gradually, the scenario is changing although internal conflicts still exists.Inzamam feels that everyone must thrive to rise above the feelings of religion, caste, creed and sex and work for the betterment of the human race rather than just keeping oneself confined to petty communal politics.

                          Inzamam also feels that the kind of exposure that Sanjha Manch

gives to the youths of the villages - like sending some of the village youths to the big cities for training and attending workshops is really commendable as it helps the youths to widen their worldview and evolve as a better human being.

 

                                                                 Interviewed and written by Rohit Singh, a SMILE intern from PRAVAH (December, 2011).                   

                        

                         

Succesfull story of Sajha Manch

                            Kailash Patel is a young boy from the patel community of Karawara village. He is presently pursuing his B.A from Udaipur and is in the final year. He has also undergone training in computer networking and computer hardware at Hyderabad (A.P).He aspires to be an advocate.

                             Kailash's father runs a small welding workshop in Karawara village. During his vacations, Kailash comes back to the village to help his father in his workshop. His hobby is reading books on the history of India and then comparing or relating the practices of ancient era with those of the present era. He feels that without past, future is meaningless and hence, everyone must know the past of his/her own country and relate to one's own roots.

                             Kailash's relationship with Sanjha Manch dates back to the day the organization was established. Since then, he has been a very active member of the group.Kailash says that apart from working on communal issues,Sanjha Manch also plays a great role in providing exposure to the village youths which is very necessary in today's competitive environment.

                             Recently, Kailash along with two of his friends from the village got a wonderful chance to explore himself as a part of Pravah's SMILE internship programme. Kailash was placed at Vriksh, an organization working in the area of youth development, in Mussorie,Uttarakhand.Kailash is very thankful to Sanjha Manch for letting him know about the internship and facilitating the process. He says that the exposure has broadened his view towards life and his personality has also undergone some remarkable changes. He says that mixing with people from different backgrounds, states etc and then sharing one's own thoughts and exchanging information and ideas with them has been an enlightening experience for him.

                             As a part of the internship, Kailash used to hold classes for the children of the villages in Mussorie.He also did some case studies and carried out some field surveys in the hilly regions of Mussorie. Not only this, he also worked on several environmental issues and completed a project on eco tourism there.

                              Kailash says that when he came back to his village after the internship, he shared his experiences with the village youths and also encouraged them to go on such exposure trips. He has also participated in several environmental training and film making workshops here at Sanjha Manch.

                              On the issue of communalism in Karawara village, Kailash thinks that although he urges people from his community to actively get involved with Sanjha Manch, still the people have not been able to shed their communal thinking completely and march forward. He says that there are still some people in both the communities (Hindus and Muslims) who still are opposed to the work that Sanjha Manch does and who time and again try to disrupt peace and harmony in the village( although in a clandestine way).But Sanjha Manch, till date, has been able to foil their any such malicious attempts.

                                Finally, Kailash says that being a member of the Sanjha Manch family makes him feel proud and he wishes that the organization will always keep working for the betterment of the humanity as a whole.

                              Interviewed and written by Rohit Singh, a SMILE intern from PRAVAH (December, 2011).

                            

                             

                             

succesfull story of sajha manch

                              Kaisbar Istar Makrani, a young resident of Karawara village, aged 18 years, is an active member of Sanjha Manch (a youth resource centre of ALFA Educational Society).He has just completed his higher secondary (12th) examination and aspires to be an engineer in the IT field.Presently, he is working hard to transform his this very dream into reality and is quite confident that he will make it.

                               Kaisbar was associated to Sanjha Manch almost a year back by one of his good friend Hidayat who was himself associated with Sanjha Manch in its initial years.Kesbar bluntly confesses that before getting in touch with Sanjha Manch, he was more of a person who was a mass follower and used to hold certain radical views who could be easily fomented and misleaded by various incendiaries and anti-social elements. He feels that Sanjha Manch has given not only him but many others like him in the locality an opportunity to share one's own thoughts, beliefs, perceptions and thinking with people from other communities(like Hindus,Adivasis etc) which has created a very positive atmosphere in the locality. This unique platform has resulted in creating a sense of mutual understanding among the different communities residing in the village and has made them realize that no society can progress in isolation. Development has to be inclusive and every community has to work in unison in this regard.

                              According to Kesbar,Sanjha Manch has played a pivotal role in helping the youths to unbridle themselves from the narrow feelings of religion,caste,creed,sex etc and bring forth their inherent talents which otherwise could have been eclipsed. He says that Sanjha Manch has changed his outlook towards this world and he has been able to evolve as a better human being now who is open to learning in life. As an endeavor of Sanjha Manch, he has also undergone many trainings in print media, photography, cinematography, film screening, issues related to environment etc.He has also very actively worked on various gender based issues and was a part of a very successful campaign named MUST BOL.Besides this, he thinks that the various national and international interns coming to Sanjha Manch also creates awareness among the people about the world outside Karawara and helps in the exchange of ideas and knowledge.

                             Although, the path chosen by Sanjha Manch is very challenging and the issues very sensitive, still Kais bar is very optimistic that Sanjha Manch will go a long way in achieving its very goal and wishes to be a part of the Sanjha Manch family always and work for the development and progress of Karawara.

 

                                                             Interviewed and written by Rohit Singh, a SMILE intern from PRAVAH (December, 2011).