Fulbright-mtvU Fellows

What You Hear Is What You Read

I recently came across an organization called PlanetRead that completely captured my heart, and I am so excited about the work they are doing to improve literacy in India. There are 900 million illiterate people in the world, and 1/3 of those people, 300 million, live in India. According to UNICEF, 66% of India’s population is illiterate. I was acutely aware of India’s literacy problem and its implications for the socioeconomic development of the country, however I was still surprised to hear the explanation of Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director for Google.org, in reference to the undeniable urgency of a literate nation. He explained that if you do a multiple logistic regression analysis and you put all of the variables in trying to explain what is the single most important factor in determining whether a child will live or die past the age of 5, it isn’t water or vaccinations, but the literacy of that child’s mother.
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Tags: Amisha Patel, Bollywood, Dr. Larry Brilliant, Google, K.S. Sharma, Nirav Shah, Parthibhan Amudhan, Planet Read, Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation, SLS, Suneil Shetty, UNICEF

India is a Melody

You just can’t escape it. It’s in the streets, in the stores, in the taxis, in the blood of the people that call India their home. Music pervades every inch of this city, from the pavement to the palaces, and for many, it’s the lifeblood that propels them towards another day.

I came here to explore the impact of Bollywood, the billion-dollar industry and musical export heard the world over. Five years ago, Bombay possessed only a handful of nightclubs, each pulsating with Hindi film songs and Bollywood dance moves, the Bombay Romeos purring lyrics from their favorite hits. I was surprised however to find a contemporary Bombay quite different from the one I had known. Globalization brought to Bombay German cars and Japanese electronics, Italian food and New York styles. It also brought a completely revolutionized music scene that represents a new generation of Indians. In the Bombay of today, there are dozens of nightclubs spread all throughout the city and a new wave of genres that cater to a new class of Indians. With the explosion of new media and nouveau rich Indians traveling the globe came new styles of music reserved exclusively for an upper class society that separates them from the common folk. I’m discovering that amongst other things, music is a major representation of the vast socioeconomic class divide that pervades the city.
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Tags: Akanksha, Akon, Bollywood, Bombay, David Guetta

Be The Change

It wasn’t easy, but I’ve finally managed to set up a relatively normal life here. Although Mumbai represents craziness at its best, I am surprised by the level of organization and structure of the Akanksha Foundation, the main youth foundation I will be working with during my time here in India. With 33 after school centers and 2 full time schools, Akanksha has developed a specific curriculum and manual with which they want to instruct every child. They have programs that range from the basics of Math and English to social leadership and music. They help slum kids apply to universities, market their artwork to generate income for their families, and even teach them basic computer skills in partnership with SchoolNet. The soul of Akanksha is in Mahatma Ghandi’s mantra: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Akanksha changes the lives of children by showing them how to believe again through the art of imagination. They help the kids escape from their harsh realities in the slums, even for just a few hours a day or a week, to let them be children again. I visited with the centers and met with the children, volunteers and professors. It was assessment day, and the children were being tested on their progress through oral and written exams. I sat in on multiple assessments where the children were asked about current events and about what they had read or seen recently in the news. What was going on in their Mumbai? And you know the first thing the children spoke of? Music. They knew the latest Bollywood release, they spoke of Michael Jackson’s death, they quoted lyrics romanticizing their favorite songs. One little boy even broke out in dance and serenaded me with a Bollywood love song (it took all I had not to blush!).
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Tags: Akanksha Foundation, Bollywood, Katerina Kaif, Michael Jackson, Mumbai

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Namaste from India, and welcome to my Fulbright mtvU-blog! For the next 9 months, I will live in Mumbai and use this site to post videos, soundbites, photos, interviews, and updates on my project exploring Bollywood culture and its impacts and influences on underprivileged youth in Mumbai. As part of my project, I aim to coordinate with entertainment professionals at Rohit Roy Productions and the youth of the Akanksha Foundation to develop the theatre and drama program of the foundation and to create a Bollywood performance by the youth. My ultimate goal is to produce a documentary of the children’s journey, which will be screened at a fundraising gala that marks the 20^th anniversary of the Akanksha foundation’s efforts.

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Tags: Akanksha Foundation, Bollywood, Mumbai, Rohit Roy Productions