Anand
There are many less-privileged kids in our country, and a very few of these find a different fortune than the usual! Anand is one of these very few. Anand is somebody who dropped out of school in 5th standard due to economic pressure at home & who started working as a coconut cutter and then as a child labourer. Yet, Anand is the one who shall be playing the lead role in the upcoming Lewis Foundation’s show ‘The Nutcracker’!
Change came to Anand’s life when he was taken to a Kid’s Camp, organised by Born Free Arts School, by a friend. This camp was in August’ 2005 and invited teachers from different organizations to educate children. Yana Lewis was one of the teachers invited. In addition to giving a workshop to the students, Yana also offered free training to the students she met at the camp. Some 4-5 kids came to Yana for the training, but it is only Anand who has remained with her till date.
Anand, as Mioi (co-director of Born Free Arts School) tells, didn’t know how to read English when he came to Born Free. It was a 3,000 kms long cycling trip, in 2006, whose photographs were assigned to Anand to tag and name. This aroused his interest in being able to read and write. Similarly, a cycling trip from Bangalore to Lahore, carrying letters of love from children of India to Pakistan aroused his interest in politics. The gest of these examples is that the interest he has discovered in education is so contrary to the childhood Anand who used to hate going to school!
Currently, Anand is pursuing a degree in arts in St. Josephs College in English medium, works in theatre and dance at Born Free and attends ballet classes with Yana regularly. Arts and dance made Anand’s life so much more meaningful than it used to be.