August 21, 2014

A program which started out in 2009, Happy Hands Foundation is a venture that focuses on preserving and reviving the traditional arts enabling artisans to develop their own enterprise. The vision behind this program is to foster culturally rich people by creating meaningful interaction with the arts, generating appreciation for cultural heritage and restoring dignity in crafts practice.

Youth Act Fellowship is a program initiated by Happy Hands Foundation last year, in order to engage the youth in their agenda of engaging the young people in the cultural heritage of the country. The fellowship is aimed at young people of age group of 17 to 21 who will be further introduced to the craft industry.

In 2013, the Youth Act Fellowship members went to Orissa regarding the famous coir craft in which the products are made from coconut fibers like doormats and mattresses. Take a look at their journey in the video below!

This year, the Fellows will be travelling to Sitarganj in Uttarakhand from 4^th to 14^th October. There, the fellows will learn the grass weaving craft and will exhibit their work on coming back in one of the galleries in Delhi.

The last date to apply for Youth Act Fellowship is 29th August. The interested people can fill up the form here.
The candidates who will be shortlisted for the interview will be called by 1^st September.

The prime focus of the organization is to work for artisans, providing them with design education through cluster development programs where enterprise training is also given, while engaging the youth.

“This fellowship is about experiencing craft in a more hands-on manner and focuses on building lasting relationships between the fellows, their peers and the rural crafts world”, said Medhavi Gandhi, Founder of Happy Hands Foundation, “It is also about welcoming new perspectives and fresh ideas which may or may not be perfectly aesthetic into the dynamic crafts’ space.”

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Biblio

Lest memory fades: Kagaz Ke Phool

By Mridul Sharma August 21, 2014

“Moments make memories, and memories make men”, said somebody, and clearly after a lot of thought. All of us are quite fond of capturing happy moments spent with friends, family and colleagues. Some of us click pictures and make videos to capture a memory as it is, while others pen down their thoughts in a diary. However, not everyone can pen down those memories and feelings as well.

With the view of recording such precious moments on paper and preserving them for eternity, Namit Maheshwari, a second year Economic Honors student of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce has come up with a unique business start-up named ‘Kaagaz ke Phool’. The start-up works to provide to its clients their story in print, a biography of their own.

“The idea took concrete shape in January 2014 when I put together a team of young writers and decided to give life to ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ or KKP. The venture quickly gained popularity as people liked the idea of a gift of memories that were more precious and longer-lasting than diamonds and yet cost much less. KKP gives one a complete story of one’s life; the bigger picture at which you can gaze each day and be proud of.” says Namit, the brain behind KKP.

The team working at KKP consists of students working as interviewers, editors and writers. As a client approaches the team for a book about his orher life’s story or a particular event, the interviewers assume charge and interview the client, record the story, thereby capturing the essence of the subject’s thoughts and emotions.

Once the interview is done, the recordings are forwarded to the writer, who listens to them, delves deep into the story and puts it into words in order to extract a meaningful narrative structure out of it. In order to prevent the story from being adulterated by prejudice, emotions or imagination, there is absolutely no contact between the writer and the client. The team thus, does not exaggerate or romanticize; for memories should be remembered as they are.

The story is published in the form of a tailor-made book preserved in rosewood casing (baksa), put together with a bottle of red wine. The craze for such a unique thing is growing amongst all people, young and old alike. The book so published could be gifted to someone on a special day, kept for leisure reading or could be used to preserve and cherish your story for generations to come.

For a young venture, KKP has received a very tremendous response. Since February 2014, they have done 6 publications one of which is an order of 100 copies which they will be bringing out next month. The previously published books have titles like ‘My Daddy, My Hero’, ‘De Mon Coure’, ‘Not Without My Sister’ to name a few.

The testimonial of Intika Nangia, who gifted her sister a book about her life titled ‘Not Without My Sister’

The testimonial of Pratiti Ahluwalia, who gifted her father a book on their relation called ‘My Daddy, My Hero’

“We are a team of six members all of whom are students in different colleges: Geetika Ahuja who is an undergraduate student of Sociology at LSR, Gauria Bhatia who studies Economics (H) at IP College for Women and Renu Singh who is an undergraduate student at DRC. The editing is handled by Baldeep Grewal who is a final year English Honors student at IP College for Women and Vrinda Rathi who manages foreign clients.” says Sanchit Garg from DCAC, who himself handles job of interviewing.

In a world where documented emotions and memories are slowly losing their importance (except on the online world), ‘Kagaz Ke Phool’ has brought in a new way of immortalizing the things that make life memorable, and not just letting them be mere ‘things’.

You can follow their work and know more about KKP through their Facebook page Kagaz ke Phool . You can also contact Namit Maheshwari via e-mail, at [email protected].

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DUB Speak

Saachi Soni: The story of a silent champion

By Ishika Gupta August 21, 2014

In sports like cricket and football you have a stadium full of 80,000 fans cheering for you. In mountaineering, it is the opposite. In the solitude of white mountains and blue skies you have to motivate yourself to win against the vagaries of nature while at the same time live your dream of reaching the top.

Such is the story of Saachi Soni, 20, a BA (Hons.) Mass Media and Mass Communication student from Indraprastha College for Women, who has gone on to achieve laurels for herself and her country as India’s youngest woman to have been selected for an expedition to Mount Everest by the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. She was also the first from the country to reach Mount Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak.

Unlike other students of her age who used to spend their vacations watching movies, visiting grandparents or joining summer school, Saachi, then 7, used to go snow skiing in the valleys of Gulmarg and Manali. That’s where she fell in love with the Himalayas. Seeing her admiration for the mountains and realizing her potential in adventure sports, her father got her enrolled for basic and advanced courses in mountaineering, snow skiing, water and rescue search operations.

The young girl’s passion for mountaineering defeated every hardship that came her way. Throughout her teenage years she trained and scaled summits in Gharwal and Sikkim Himalayas like Mt Bandarpunch (21,600 ft), Mt Renok (18,000 ft), Mt DKD (17,800 ft) and Mt VC Roy (20,000 ft), before getting selected by the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling for the first ever student expedition to Mt Everest (8.850 ft).

Her selection for the expedition was based on a rigorous training program, in which she had to scale two technical peaks wearing shoes weighing 2kgs each and carrying 25kgs loaded bag packs. Saachi says these were the 14 crucial hours when she felt she was carrying her entire life over a distance of 40kms.

And as she describes the obstacles she faced, her travails take on a new meaning.The young mountaineer experienced low oxygen levels, bleeding through the mouth, an empty stomach, fierce wind, steep crevasses, and avalanches. The most devastating was seeing the dead bodies of her fellow climbers lying on the way and being faced with the dilemma of whether to help them or move forward and save oneself.

Towards her ambition to climb the highest peaks of all the seven continents, she recently scaled the summit of Europe’s highest peak, Mt Elbrus in Russia. “We were 12 climbers from different parts of the world. I was also named the “mountain machine” of the team because I was the first person to summit the peak. The climate was extremely harsh and there were moments when I wondered if I’ll be able to return back to my family and friends. When I looked down from the crevasses, I could see no end,” she recalls.

“My expedition was flagged off by the Home Minister of India. Despite winds blowing on my face at the speed of 200kmph and standing with my feet bleeding due to shoe bites, I was emotional when I unfurled the tricolour and sang the national anthem. It was a proud moment, I kissed and bowed at the peak and thanked the mountain for allowing me to step on it.”

Saachi’s daily 6 hour rigorous training schedule on an average includes running for 10-15kms, weight training, push-ups, swimming, yoga and playing football in the college grounds with the children of the staff quarters and nearby slums.

S-quicktime

Often, her ability to manage college studies with training comes into question. But she is strongly supported by Dr Babli Moitra Saraf, Principal, IP College who says the college believes in walking the extra mile to enable those who show special abilities. Saachi Soni has been bestowed several awards like The Best Student Award, Principal Honor Roll Call and Young Achievers Award by the college. She is also grateful to the Vice Chancellor of DU for providing her waivers for examinations and helping her achieve her dreams. Funding for expeditions can sometimes be a task as arduous as climbing a mountain peak itself and Saachi relies heavily on government and private firms for sponsorships.

The young ‘mountain machine’ is determined to bring a change in the perspective towards mountaineering as an adventure sport and career option. Currently she works with WWF India as a motivational speaker to promote mountaineering by the producing videos and photo journals on the topic.

Her future plans include improving infrastructure facilities for mountaineers in India and introducing mountaineering and climbing as sports at the school level. She feels this would be the best way to hone leadership qualities in students and prepare them for hurdles in life.

We wish Saachi Soni all the very best for all her ventures!

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Sounds

3 Albums to look forward to in the months to come

By Ishaan Sengupta August 21, 2014

Whenever I am in the metro and have no company, I tend to plug my earphones into my ears and jam to my playlist. While my playlist consists of a blend of various genres, sometimes listening to the same songs repeatedly can be irritating and wish that my playlist could update itself with new releases. Here are some new albums to look forward to in the months to come:

1) Maroon 5’s“V (FIVE)” – A month ago, Maroon 5 released their latest single ‘Maps’ which is scheduled to feature in their fifth album, namely “V (FIVE)”. Barely a few weeks ago, they released their second single namely, ‘It was always you’. Both the songs are catchy, prospective hits and have been getting radio airplay in many nations. The album is to be released on 29^th August by Interscope Records.

2) The Script’s“No Sound Without Silence” – A week ago, The Script released their latest single ‘Superheroes’ which is scheduled to feature in their fourth studio album “No Sound Without Silence”. The latest single incorporates The Script’s consistent style of musical compositions although the content is about ‘empowering people’. While recording the latest album, Danny O’ Donogue mentioned how everything felt larger than life on stage and they wanted to portray the same impact while recording their latest album. The single has been getting significant airplays on the radio in many countries. The album is to be released on 12^th September by Columbia Records.

3) Alt J’s“This is all Yours” – Four weeks ago, Progressive Electronic and Experimental Rock band, Alt J released their latest single named ‘Hunger of the Pine’ which is scheduled to feature in their latest album “This is all yours”. The latest single incorporates Alt J’s tremendous experimental tone works on the guitar and the vocals. In an interview, the members had mentioned that the vocals were utilised as an extra instrument and was integral to their music. If you follow experimental music, then this is the album for you. The album is to be released on 22^nd September by Infectious Records.

Image credits: Wikipedia.org

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