On a Monday morning, I fix an appointment with Kaustav Sengupta and his wife Shaswati Sengupta to learn more about an art-driven social experiment they are conducting on Old Mahabalipuram Road.
With Kaustav at its helm, this initiative targets underprivileged children, at-risk youth and their families, particularly their mothers.
Kaustav insists I meet him at Aloft in Sholinganallur.
“I have done something there I want to show you,” he explains.
So, we decide on a late-evening powwow at the hotel.
It turns out to be a long day for me and at 8 p.m., when I enter the lobby, I wince at the thought that it will be another one hour before I can head to my castle, which, let’s be thankful for small mercies, is just a two-minute drive from Aloft.
I have met the Senguptas earlier, and the first meeting had been characterised by extreme warmth. So, I decide I could be a bit informal and ask them if we could gallop through the interview, covering the major areas and take up the unfinished business the next day.
To my relief, I find out soon that I need not make the request. For, Kaustav, the design professional that he is, chooses to first show me what he has done, which leaves only a little to be explained.
(Kaustav is associate professor and centre coordinator at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Taramani, fashion trend analyst, design curator and colour psychologist)
After the customary how-do-you-dos, he leads me straight to a work of art that adorns a wall near the reception bay.
Called ‘Tree of Hope’, it represents multiple strands of the initiative.
“What we do rests on the four pillars of education, empowerment, environment and empathy,” declares Kaustav, with the Tree in the background.
The Tree has roots, trunk and gnarled branches that are sooty-black and bear flowers of many colours.
“The trunks, roots and branches have been created with black plastic covers,” he points out, which forces me to take a closer look at the Tree and I am impressed with what I see.
“I hit upon this idea while visiting Kannagi Nagar. In this settlement colony, even minor rain leads to flooding as the drains are clogged with plastic covers. I decided that these plastic covers should go into the artwork,” explains Kaustav.
That takes care of environment. How does the other Es — empowerment, education and empathy — fit into this frame of this artwork?
It’s a question that brings forth a long-winded answer, punctuated with exclamations, and also pauses meant for deep thought.
“It’s about #changekannaginagar. It all began in 2013, when we wanted to show that Kannagi Nagar can be a hub for talent. There are talented youngsters there, but they lack the opportunities,” begins Kaustav.
“It started when J. Rukmini, a resident of Kannagi Nagar, said many children in the settlement colony are not going to school,” recalls Shaswati.
The Senguptas saw this as a call to action. They decided to set aside three Sundays in a month to teach the children how to paint and do other artwork.
Twelve children enrolled for the free programme.
“When I would offer them a box of paint, all of them would jump at it. Each would want to get it before the others did. They did not realise that other boxes were on the way. This behaviour was a commentary on their situation — they had fewer opportunities,” says Kaustav.
The Senguptas realised that the art classes should make room for other lessons too.
“We realised they needed to be taught to be empathetic. We designed a pedagogy based on structural thinking. So, besides arts, there are various other elements. Music is one of them. Spoken English is another,” says Kaustav.
“It’s Kaustav’s desire to see them all go to a design school,” says Shaswati.
“Being realistic, all of them will not become artists, but we can prepare them in our small ways for life. Here, one can see a confidence problem. If we taught them communication skills, that would go a long way towards surmounting this problem,” explains Kaustav.
At present, 34 children in Kannagi Nagar attend these classes which are still being held on three Sundays every month.
The number may sound impressive, but it took Herculean work to achieve this.
“We started with 12 children in 2013, and the number dipped to seven in a couple of weeks. When we went to the houses looking for these missing children, their parents said attending these classes was of little use as it would not bring in any money,” says Shaswati.
“That’s when we realised the children could not be helped unless their families were involved,” says Kaustav and takes me through Udaan (‘flying’ in Hindi) which is an empowerment programme for the mothers of these children in Kannagi Nagar.
“We conducted a 20-day programme in which these women were taught how to make handicraft based on waste material. Twenty one women attended. To ensure 100 percent attendance, every day we gave Rs. 100 to each of the women who would attend the programme. The flowers you see in the Tree of Hope were made by six of these women. These flowers have been made with low-micron plastic, which is one way of using it that would not harm the environment. There are 700 to 800 flowers and each of the women was paid for the flowers she made,” says Kaustav.
Shaswati shows me samples of the coasters and flowers these women have made from low-micron plastic over a period of time. The recent ones are markedly better than the ones they had made earlier, suggesting a commitment to developing their craft.
“Now, these women can call themselves artisans,” she adds.
There is also an effort to sponsor the formal education of the children the Senguptas have taken under their wing.
“Fifteen of them are being sponsored — two of them are visually-impaired and another two, hearing-impaired.
We have managed to get sponsorship for them through our friends and our contacts. We are sponsoring two of these children,” says Kaustav.
The Senguptas live at a gated community in Pudupakkam, which is around three kilometres from Siruseri and close to the Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road, and they have conducted one-off programmes for children in the area. And they have reserved one Sunday in a month to work with children in the fishing hamlets of Mahbalipuram, an initiative they call Mahab Ink. The Senguptas may be contacted at inklink.trust@gmail.com.
