Under the Jamun Tree

A boy is trapped under a fallen tree. People from all aspects of society step forward or, rather, step sideways to help. Various well-placed people need to be informed about the unfortunate situation. Complications arise as ministers inform ministers who then inform other ministers. Who is responsible for dealing with the problem? The municipality or the agricultural committee? What if the consequences of a certain action mean that trade is cut off from India? Policemen stand around guarding the young boy, journalists make sure Nepal knows what is going on, demonstrators demonstrate, doctors provide an overall check-up on the boy, a poet signs the boy onto some sort of group membership. A tokenistic hand is put forward to help. Without taking any kind of responsibility, Nepal's bureaucracy vies to write the report, cover the story, have a say in the situation. Egos are boosted and the week goes by.

This overview of the saga from Jamun ko Rukh (Under the Jamnu Tree) by Krishna Chander, a satirical drama on the observations of politics in Nepal, was performed on September 24th at Gurukul by the children of Koseli, an initiative of the Shinkshantar Outreach Program, to give slum and street children a normal childhood and integrate them into mainstream society through education. At Koseli, the children, aged nine to 15, are not only given schooling, but they are provided with basic needs like meals, daily showers, clean clothes, medical care, and a safe environment—a far cry from their days at the slums where they spent time gambling, begging and sniffling glue.

But Renu Bagaria, founder of Koseli and the innovator behind the play says that Koseli is not only about  educating the children so they can grow up to become confident, self-reliant members of society—fun is  also a big part of the curriculum with the introduction of drama into school life a mere six months ago.

The play, which was born out of a casual conversation, took six months of planning and preparation. This was the first time the children were performing on stage and with hundreds of paying audience. As actors and actresses, they were prepped by Director Rabindra Singh Baniya, who used ingenious ways to motivate the children. Rather than handing out a script for the children to learn and recite, Rabindra asked them to envision themselves in the different situations of the story. He then asked them to improvise and come up with their own words with which to get the meaning across.

Reflecting on this, Rabindra commented, “In doing this, the children were able to remember their parts much better and were able to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that they had an active part to play in the production.”

This is not to say, however that Rabindra's role as a director was made redundant. He coached the children in comic timing, spacing, voice projection, adapted and tweaked lines, and helped them to exercise expression in their roles.

The children played out very astute observations on the politics of Nepal. During the play, when asked, “How are you feeling?” by some official, the tone of the quip coming from the boy trapped under the tree was hilarious, “Very peaceful, thank you.” Initially, the man who discovers the boy doesn't have a phone to call for help and the irony is that it is the boy who has one! This begs the question, is the only person who can help you, you? A timely reference to the ongoing trend of journalists being beaten up in Nepal, ministers trotting mindlessly after each other, all performing the same movements, and the agricultural committee and the municipality both shirking responsibility.

Bright, relaxed and eager to talk, when the children were asked what they felt they learned in taking part in the play, they spoke of the people of Nepal moving forward not as small, individual rivers being forced to meander, without direction and isolated but rather as a single, powerful river, eroding its way as one, purposely forward.

Both Renu and Rabindra agree that the children's involvement in the drama classes had infused them with the ability to believe in themselves.

“It doesn't matter what job they do when they grow up, they have grown in confidence through this experience,” said Rabindra.

It’s apparent from the play that the fruits of labour came forth through the efforts of the children and the many who supported them—in the form of their teachers who take time out of their studies to teach them; friends and families; well wishers of Koseli who provide the financial backing to keep the school going; Renu who, for the love of the children, went forward to orchestrate and find funding for the project; and Rabindra who for the love of the arts, helped them to explore their theatrical skills.

The young actors and actresses are now due to perform their play on United Nations Day (October 24th) in front of the prime minister of Nepal. A big congratulations goes out to everyone involved.