Musically inclined youngsters in Udaya Colony, a densely populated residential area in the heart of Kochi city, seem to have found a new aspiration. Udaya Band, a 12-member troupe, including three girls, trained as part of turning the colony drug-free under the Excise department’s Vimukthi Mission for deaddiction, has managed to capture their imagination.
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Inadvertently hearing Parthipan S., a 29-year-old resident of the colony playing clarinet is what turned out to be the ‘Eureka’ moment for the Vimukthi authorities mulling over possibilities to engage youngsters of different age groups to keep them away from drugs. “We realised that music can be an effective tool and entrusted him (Parthipan) with selecting the ideal candidates for forming a band troupe. The 12 selected youngsters, mostly teenagers, were initially trained in playing songs popular in events such as temple and church festivals so that they get enough bookings,” said Bibin George, district coordinator, Vimukthi Mission.
Parthipan vouches that the band has got the youngsters of the colony hooked, seeing that how its members draw attention with their performances while also earning. “Youngsters in the colony were always interested in music and used to perform as a troupe, though in an unorganised way. But now it has become professional and organised. More youngsters are now approaching us and we select them based on their inclination for instruments. We are now training at least 10 teenagers with the idea of increasing the strength of our troupe,” he said.
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Parthipan drives an autorickshaw for livelihood and also plays saxophone for programmes.
The team is now being trained for march-past so that they could be roped in for official functions. Plans are afoot to issue a letter to the district panchayat and the district administration recommending to enlist the Udaya Band for official functions. The band was engaged to receive the Excise Commissioner during an official function of the Excise department in Maneedu panchayat on Sunday.
Mr. George said that the band could be used as a model for keeping youngsters from other places as well on the right path. Maneedu panchayat, another place selected for the drugs-free movement of Vimukthi Mission in Ernakulam, has already evinced interest in the project.
The band troupe practices for two to three hours on weekends along with separate training sessions for freshers at a convent in the neighbourhood. Daily practice sessions are held when there is an upcoming programme.