Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

It even has a Headmaster. However something has been lost of the original spirit that established it.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Nirmal would have loathed the very idea of an 'institute'. He had said to me many times that he felt establishing a centre had been the worst mistake he'd ever made. 'I transformed a vibrant youth movement into a banana republic.' Where then, if no longer here, was that vibrancy and commitment to be found? I was still looking...

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

They were no longer looking to the next generation of young people to carry the torch, which is what had made it so vibrant in the past. This was once a well stocked charitable dispensary.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

However, I was still doggedly pursuing my goal to meaningfully connect it to Arc, the arts and health organization of which I'm CEO in the UK. Ten years on, I had yet to win the battle of hearts and minds. But I had an idea.

 

 

 

 

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This man, Sattar, had engaged a group of village women in social enterprise, to produce these glorious embroideries.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

So I obtained a number of those for our community gallery back in the UK

 

 

 

 

 

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If we can market these successfully, we can invest in more, thus helping the enterprise to flourish.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

This would nurture a connection of sorts, but I was still dissatisfied. (Though as you will see, that was to dramatically change before I left a week later!)

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Such embroideries are actually part of an ancient tradition, which this enterprise had revived in the village.

 

 

 

 

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These examples from the nineteenth century are on display in the Kolkata Museum.

 

 

 

 

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More interestingly perhaps, village women recycle worn out saris, stitching them together to make blankets known as 'kantha'.

 

 

 

 

 

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They are 'true' handicrafts, made to be used.

 

 

 

 

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I traveled widely in search of these but found their makers understandably reluctant to sell them.

 

 

 

 

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Those I did obtain were mainly from close friends, such as Tuku, who I have known since she was younger than her daughter is now.

 

 

 

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For almost a decade I had been helping her to build a house (and the land it sat upon) that would serve as a dance school. She and her husband had poured every rupee they had into its construction. The costs had spiraled - and I promise you, never was a dyed in the wool comic collector's resolve more repeatedly tested! (Buy a commode rather than a comic book? Whatever next?) But I finally managed to send her the last of what she needed - for a tube well - just last week.

 

 

 

 

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I had just missed her daughter's birth in 2006.

 

 

 

 

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But every child is given an 'unofficial' birth name as well as the one that goes on their birth certificate. Tuku asked me to unofficially name her child.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2016 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

I named her Honi.

 

 

 

 

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And soon Honi will be dancing on the new house roof...

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

By the time they returned from honeymoon I had only a few days left. For years, Purnabha and I had talked about his interest in NGO's. He had volunteered for one voluntary agency that rehabilitated prostitutes for example. His ultimate goal was to set up one of his own. I suggested that maybe we should visit a local NGO with a view to exploring links with Arc, Purnabha acting as a go between. He said he knew of twelve NGO's that might serve that purpose, so I asked him to pick one. As a result we went to Ballygunge in South Kolkata.