The games, booklets and the space had to be designed for the various adolescent groups. Out of the 18 groups associated with Thoughtshop Foundation (TF), five of them were selected. Visiting these five diverse groups would give me an idea as to how they function, the issues they deal with and the kind of background each one comes from in order to understand the problem better.
I first headed to Ujaan, at Lily Bagan opposite Bengal Rowing Club, Lake Gardens, Kolkata.
YRC MEMBER: Krishna Golder, Raju, Bandana
Other Members: Sraboni (15 yrs), Shibani(14 yrs), Anuradha(15 yrs), Sanatan(17 yrs), Sandip (25 yrs), Malik Sheikh (21yrs), Gurupada Giri (45 yrs), Basanti (14 yrs)
Time: 3.30 pm
Entering the park of Lily Bagan, Krishna, Raju and me walked towards an uplifted cemented platform covered under the shade of a huge tree. It has been constructed for the park visitors and can be used by anyone. Krishna and Raju have been involved in counselling adolescents from their community for a few years. They put up the banner of Ujaan, the only visible signage that marks the place of meeting.
After which all three of us waited for the community people to join. Vandana came along with Anuradha, Sraboni and Shibani. Sraboni was carrying a game in her hand. All of us formed a circle and sat down. Each of us narrated how we spent and felt about the week that has passed by.
Later two more boys joined the group, Sanjib and Sanatan. It felt that Sanatan was going through some tough time and preferred to remain quiet. Soon after this we decided to play games. I demonstrated how we could play standing kho-kho. Then we played (mansh-chor) dog and the bone, Tom and Jerry, etc. In between this Basanti and Malik joined us followed by Gurupada Giri.
Since there were mainly group activities I could barely speak to anyone individually. I decided to meet them again and made arrangements to speak to two of them later. The details of the interview are as follows:
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