Kathe Katte
Due to the pandemic, Haadibadi used online space creatively to reach out to the community children. 20+ stories were collected from theatre professions, children, teachers and friends from different walks of life. Stories were shared on Haadibadi Youtube channel and other platforms to ensure the engagement with children through stories.
Kathe Katte has continued to be a platform to share stories of different readers since the library reopened and has shifted most activities to offline mode.
Write in Power: Book Launch
Haadibadi Trust, in association with Hidden Pen Collective, recently released the book ‘Write in Power’, which was a first venture into publishing for the former. The official online book launch for ‘Write in Power’ was held on 26th September 2021 where the editorial team, along with some of the authors of the book, came together to share their experience from its inception to its physical form.
MiGuru Media provided the online forum for the event. The guest of honor for the event was Ms. Kirthi Jayakumar, founder, Gender Security Project. She stressed on the importance of looking at art as it is, without the impediments of capitalism. The event was moderated by Ms. Rhea Rodrigues Mukherjee, Author of The Body Myth and Co-founder of ‘WriteLeelaWrite’, whose questions provided a context to understanding a writer's life.
The editors of the book discussed their idea of bringing about a collection of narratives that was the need of the hour and how editing the stories provided various perspectives to narratives on gender. There were ten authors who shared their experience of writing their respective stories and reflecting on contemporary issues.
Savitribai Scholarship
Savitribai Scholarship is a Haadibadi-led initiative to aid our young members of the library. This scholarship provides financial assistance to the library members who desire to continue their studies but are constrained by monetary difficulties, in addition to the pandemic struggles. This initiative has been successful due to the support we received from generous donors and advocates of equal education, but we are witnessing an acute shortage of donors.
Theatre for young
Haadibadi conducted a four-day workshop in association with the Fedina Organization. The workshop was organized for the children of the members of the Fedina Organization. This workshop aimed at bringing out the creative side of every individual through various sessions like coloring, craft, music and theater. The sessions inspired the young minds to hone their imaginative skills and exhibit their imaginative skills which were extensively inhibited due to lack of offline classes during the lockdown of schools.
Assistance for Covid-19
The second wave of Covid-19 has seen a rise in the number of cases of death and because of this, we see an insurgence of various helpline resources that are trying to help the citizens and the hospitals. Hence, Haadibadi took an initiative to contact the family members of Haadibadi’s young learners and enquire about the wellbeing of the family members and provide them with the helpline numbers of the above verified medical services in case of emergency cases, for other health related issues, for enquiries related to isolation wards, booking beds, and oxygen concentrators as well. Volunteers of Haadibadi have begun the process of reaching out to many families within the locality and collate information about the members, monitor their health conditions and will continue to do so for the following month as well.
World Environment Day Celebration
On account of World Environment Day on June 5th, we organized an online session hosted by our resource person, Ms. Divya Hari Rao. There were discussions about the environment & the significance of World Environment Day. She also spoke about different environmentalists around the world & how they made an impact on people. The young enthusiasts asked Ms. Rao asked several questions during the session, making it very lively and enjoyable!
Fun With Science
As a part of the ‘Fun with Science’ programme, young scientists of the library had an opportunity to conduct simple science experiments to understand the basic principles of the subject . They demonstrated air experiments and learnt how wind energy can be used as an alternative to generate electricity. They also learnt about the importance of air and its constituents. As a part of the life skills session, members also learned how to make greeting cards in an art class and made their own colorful greeting cards.
Dolls Speak Exhibition
The Dolls Speaks Exhibition consisted of a wide display of dolls handcrafted by Ms. Francoise Bosteels, an artist and doll-maker, who narrates stories through mimicking societal problems prevalent in villages; domestic violence, compromised education and widespread poverty. They ‘speak’ to their audience, thus addressing the resistance in society while also reinforcing the beauty of life. During the course of this Exhibition, our young members were asked to scout around the display and look for the dolls that caught their eye, post which they narrated incidents in relation to the dolls; why they picked them up and what the dolls ‘spoke’ to them about.
Annual Day Program
Haadibadi organized an Annual Day Celebration on 7th of the month in the library. The event included a Bharatanatyam dance performance followed by a Folk dance performance and a puppet show. This was followed by the release of the first edition of Vachana- Haadibadi's newsletter. Young members and their parents, who attended the program, were keen to know what their little ones were up to in the Community Library. The highlight of the evening was the prize distribution ceremony, with exciting categories such as Honeybee (f0r the most consistent visitor), Hummingbird (for the voracious reader), Owl (for the most committed member of the library), Dove (for the best guide to other members), Grasshopper (for the avid reader), Butterfly (for the book explorer) and Eagle (the most inspirational book keeper). Parents awarded medals to the dedicated young minds, recognizing their contribution to the library. The results of the Sports Day were also announced and sports achievers were honored with medals and certificates.
Chathurana Chathurya Play
Organized by the Khaliranga Theatre Theatre Group,‘Chathurana Chathurya’ Chathurya’ play was a drama performed in Haadibadi on 19th March. The play narrated the story of a quick-witted barber who tackled all the obstacles in his life using wisdom. Scripted on two characters, the play aimed at showcasing being consistent and having a strong mind helps one to overcome any difficult situation. situation. At the end of the program, the young members gifted the crew members painted bottles as tokens of gratitude.
Clay Storming workshop
'Hands-on-Clay’ ' was conducted at Haadibadi during the months of February and March in an attempt to de-stigmatize the negative mindset about natural buildings in the present-day present-day scenario. The workshop involved molding clay into whatever one wants it to be, by letting one's fingers take on the lead and decide the destiny of their creation. According to Tejaswini Krishna, the architect of this workshop, ‘It involves less thinking and is more of an intuitive process’’. The objective of this workshop was not only about getting one’s hands dirty while enjoying the pleasures of molding molding clay, but mainly evoking the design intuition buried in each one of us. Consisting of five sessions held every weekend, the workshop was a reverberating success with the young enthusiasts who learnt how to trust their intuitions and fingers as opposed to letting the eye be the judge of their unique creations.. It helped them hone a more free-flowing thought process that allowed them to mold their wild imaginations into realities.
Thochiddu Geechu
Learning to express through arts and craft is the objective of Thochiddu Geechu. Children explore their creative selves through the splash of colours. By sketching, colouring, painting, craft, they engage with colours to create rainbows of diverse stories. Their canvas are filled with narratives on weekends and they continue to create more canvas of personal stories.
Matinee Magic
Ten days film festival opened diverse worlds through world cinema. From emotionally connecting to the children in Kaaka Muttai, Jeerjimbe to creatively fly with the young girl in Kiki’s Delivery Service was the colourful world of learning children lived during Dasara break.
Rangasadagara - Saavirada Ramayana
Mantra4Change and Haadibadi organized a month-long Theatre Summer Camp – Rangasadagara which culminated in the performance of Saavirada Ramayana at Ravindra Kalakshetra. The Summer Camp was designed for students between the classes of 5th - 8th from the Government-run schools in the Anekal Taluk. The performance was the first of its kind, helping break the stigma around government-school educated children. Saavirada Ramayana was well received by the parents, officials from the education department, authors and theatre performers from across Karnataka at Ravindra Kalakshetra.
Hasiru Hejje – Children’s Performance at Angala - 2019
Haadibadi was invited to give the opening performance at Angala – 2019, a theatre and art festival conducted by the theatre group Panchamukhi NataraSamuha in Bangalore. The play was titled ‘Hasiru Hejje’ (Green footsteps), which spoke about the lack of fields and trees in their locality and Bengaluru’s infamous water problem.
BM Rakshith Protsaaha Prashasthi to Haadibadi
Haadibadi was awarded with BM Rakshith Protsaaha Prashathi by Angala – 2019, a theatre and art festival conducted by the theatre group Panchamukhi Natara Samuha for the continuous engagement in the field of education, theatre and arts.
Kannada Rajyotsava Celebration
Haadibadi in collaboration with Urban Folk Project celebrated Kannada Rajyotsava at Cubbon Park. Ms. Shilpa Mudabi, artist and the founder of Urban Folk Project narrated stories from folk traditions and made the participants sing folk songs along with her. After the celebration with music, children visited Vishweshwarya Museum to end the day of celebration.
Sandbox Collective Theatre in School Project
Sandbox Collective Theatre in School Project is a continual effort by Haadibadi to incorporate theatre in schooling from a young age. During 2019-2020, we have conducted a total of 84 sessions across the four schools, three of whom have performed. The total number of student participation in our Sandbox initiative stands at 100.
Haadibadi Day and Haadibadi Constitution
In the spirit of democracy, the students created a committee and try to tackle questions like what is Democracy? What is freedom? What is dignity? The discussion culminated in the drafing of Haadibadi constitution with a preamble, fundamental rights and duties to guide values at the democratic learning space.
Mask Making Workshop, Chess classes and Art classes
Extra-curricular activities are imperative for the holistic development of a child. At Haadibadi, we ensure the students get a wide range of extra-curricular activities to choose from. Our students particularly love Chess and Carrom. Students also love their art classes, where apart from drawing and painting things of their interest, they also make props for their performance and are trained in backstage duty.
Chilipili
Lockdown and shutting of schools has snatched away children's friendships and company. They are now under continuous scrutiny of adults. We have been organising sessions for children to talk about their emotional well-being using stories, songs, arts etc. Children particularly, whose parents are Garment factory workers are participating in this in collaboration with FEDINA and Karnataka Union of Garment Workers across Bangalore.
Wor(l)d Weaver
English Conversation Classes for children. The objective is to help our members from the neighbourhood, especially from the Kannada medium schools to learn speak English and with confidence.