Sustaining college chapters (as i saw it)

First a little background about me: I am Arvind Batra. I am from NSIT, passed out in 2k6, worked in Bangalore for a year and currently doing my masters in CS from Georgia Tech. Quite an active volunteer during NSIT, but mostly at college level. I had tried to contribute to SPICMACAY overall Delhi chapter but was not able to do much. Have been inactive after i came out of NSIT but still following the movement passionately. Here I am because of Harsh.

I liked Harsh's post on sustaining chapters and during NSIT, we had some good discussions/experience which i would like to share. Most of the points below are related to sustaining a college level chapter.

1. Continuity howsoever small it may be helps in a long way. In my final year, there were only 3 of us who were active volunteers and it was on to us to organize the fest, mobilize people, plan and execute. There were some juniors (and very very active too) but they wanted someone to initiate the process. The fall semester saw no events as all of us were busy with placements, gre/mba etc. But in spring we made a genuine effort (kicked our asses) to organize a festival. We started by saying we will organize only 2 events and make it a small scale fest. But as we worked on towards it, we got a lot of support (from juniors as well as from faculty of NSIT), and things began to take shape by themselves. So much so that we had 2 rounds of fest one having 2 concerts and one having 3 including a theatre in fest (which is a rarity). And after that, with each year the size of chapter has increased.

Just to clarify: when i write juniors, i am not alluding to any hierarchy in spicmacay. We had a complete flat organization, all being volunteers, but as the tradition of NSIT goes, some people took individual modules to organize while some got the responsibilty at a macroscopic level to oversee that each module in itself is complete and in sync with others.

2. Communication: We had a almost inactive group spicmacay_nsit usually meant for announcements, and we realized that we needed a group to keep a track of day to day activities. It was named spicmacayNsitAtWork and i think we used it very effectively. All discussions, from poster design/making, artist coordination, food, logistics were posted. People were asked to give feedback, both postive and negattive, what they feel and/or suggest alternatives etc. New people find a platform to raise their voice and be heard.
(On a side note, we made it a point that we all will leave this group after we graduate but the group had so much energy that being a part of it was absoluteluy lovely (and nostalgic); i signed off after 15 months and that too with a stone on my heart)

3. New-bees should attend: We tried a lot that people who were associated for the first time must attend all concerts. In terms of organizing, they were given tasks like green room coordination, picking up artists etc so that they got opportunities to interact with artists. I remember some people sleeping on the stage when artist is performing, but those who remained awake had many "aha" moments of their life in those 2 hrs of space/time.

4. One week of semester or one day in every month? We often had the question in front of us - what would make the model more sustainable - one week of fest in one semester or one concert every month. We wanted to ensure that the momentum should always there. We experimented by having two events spaced 1.5 months apart. As expected, it required twice the effort, twice the energy but one good thing that came out of it that we had many people volunteering for second event than the first one. SPICMACAY was always in the air inside college and there were always questions from faculty/students/staff inquiring about future activities.

5. Audience: It is always a heart breaker for organizers when after putting weeks of effort , there are only 20 people in audience. One of the main reasons cited for not organizing concerts is " whats the point, no one turns up". Some learnings of our PR team were:
(a) Local publicity is highly viral. People living closer if informed had a very good turn up rate.
(b)Personal invites to faculty. Having a volunteer go and invite a faculty made a lot of difference. Faculties used to ask questions about the artist, about the art etc and made a point to turn up for atleast one of the concerts. On a sidenote, volunteers got a valid explanantion for bunking classes :), an excuse sympathized by faculty as well.
(c) Give a lot of effort in poster design. A good poster can make a lot of difference. It does not has to be jazzy but it should not be like a classified advertisment of a newspaper. We invested a week in both concerts to make the poster.
(d) Having a dance or folk module in the middle can boost up audience level in pure vocal/instrumental concerts.

6. Don't be an elitist: This is something that i learnt from my juniors. They participated in SPICMACAY with equal fervor as they did in other festivals. They were everywhere and everyone knew them. So associating with SPICMACAY was seen as associating with any other college festival and then some of them were inspired by the movement and decided to stick to it.

A View From The East - Bringing Outside Perspecive

Now describing some special moments from the Kohima trip would be a very tough job because the entire journey was so full of surprises and pleasant experiences.

To be very honest when we embarked on our journey to Kohima every one of us was a bit apprehensive to go there because of the insurgency that preceded its reputation. But the moment we landed in Dimapur a very different atmosphere prevailed. The students of Nagaland University were more than ready to help us…..!

The inaugural ceremony was a really flamboyant one and we had never thought that North East had such a rich culture. I was personally mesmerized at the speech given by Mr. Mani Shankar Iyer.

Now, the Intensives…..well, this was our first convention so we had very little idea about this concept of Intensive. We thought it would be like those mundane workshops we had previously attended. But how wrong we were! I still can't believe that I actually sat next to Shri. J. Guruppa Chetty ji and learnt how to paint with a brush made of bamboo and old kambbal. A traditional art form, more than a 1000 years old from Andhra Pradesh in which natural dyes and colours are used depicting mythologies…..the delicate brush movements and the use of only some basic colours through what we call Kalamkari. He was very interactive and encouraging. I remember one particular incident which I will cherish all my life on the last day of our Intensives. Sir was giving us the last lecture on Kalamkari and we all were sitting around him, I don't know why I was not feeling like writing down what he was saying…..I took a white sheet of paper and a pen and started drawing his portrait…..when he had finished we all rose up to touch his feet and take his blessings….when I went his said " mera painting jo tum banaya woh kahan hain?" I took it out from my bag and showed him…..he was so over-joyed , he said it was lovely and took it as a gift….and said, " agar tum ko yehi karna accha lagta hain to isko kabhi chodhna math tum bahut age jayega…" I was so touched by his words that I can't express…….!

Then on the last day, 20th June we had the classical overnight. A night to remember all my life…. It was during Su. Kapila Venu ji's performance that I was literally smiling and crying with her….. for once I couldn't take my eyes off her…..her expressions were flawless and so was the music. I had previously seen her perform in my school but that night I really got the true essence of Kutiyattam. At around 5 am in the morning it was time for the last performance, by Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan, by the time he started I was leaving for my dorm….as I was walking down the road I could feel his powerful voice around in the air…. I don't know what happened I turned back …… and as I was coming towards the auditorium …… I could finally realize this is what people call the spirituality and magic of Indian Classical Music. For the next 2 hours, it was a lifetime experience for all of us….and I still remember his last song, his composition, " ha se Hindu, ma se Muslim, dono mile to bane hum…".

21st June when we were finally leaving Kohima, it felt as if we were leaving a life, which had evolved us into a new person. Now as a part of suggestion we would like to say that may be the duration for the lunch, dinner and breakfast should be increased. Apart from this we have no qualms because we understand that though things were very well coordinated and organized, some things did not work out well like the acute water scarcity, but again we should also consider the fact that after all Nagaland is a developing state and whatever arrangements they had made, we have no words to show our gratitude for it. Their hospitality and warm welcome is worth mentioning and remembering.

Tanima
Kolkatta Chapter

Workshop on Hindustani Music and Partition

Contact:  saeed.yousuf@gmail.com

 

A Workshop on the Impact of the 1947 Partition on the Classical Music
of South Asia

22 and 23 August 2008, New Delhi

Asian Scholarship Foundation, Bangkok, and Jamia Millia Islamia, New
Delhi, invite scholars, musicians, students and enthusiasts of
Hindustani classical music to participate in and contribute to an
interesting 2-day session of dialogue and music-making where we expect
to have eminent musicians and researchers from India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh. If you have been involved in a unique research or
documentation about the development of classical music in the
post-1947 South Asia, and would like to share your work or findings
with others, kindly send us the details. Or if you are simply
interested in this theme, you are welcome to join us in August in an
informal discussion.

The idea for this workshop evolved out of a larger research and
documentation work carried out by the Delhi-based filmmaker and
researcher, Yousuf Saeed, who spent a few months in Pakistan in 2005
for a fellowship on the music of South Asia. Yousuf's work culminated
in a research paper as well as a feature-length documentary film
Khayal Darpan that has been widely screened, initiating a dialogue
about concerns such as the survival of classical music and national
identity in South Asia. The August workshop is part of a series of
such dialogues which would be carried out in different parts of South
Asia. We hope to bring together scholars, musicians, historians, and
students of music and cultural studies in an informal setting to
reflect upon the various issues in the study of music emerging in the
context of modernity. Some of the following themes or panels would
form a part of this workshop:

1. Cultural identity and the making of nations
2. Partition and the music gharana narratives
3. Traditional knowledge-transmission affected by the border
4. Between popular and elite: Music adapting to the changing audience

More details about these panels and the expected scholars/musicians
can be seen at the following website. Further details would also be
posted on many mailing lists.

http://www.ektaramusic.com/workshop08.html

There is no charge for attending or participating in the workshop.
However, you may like to inform us in advance about your attending as
the seats are limited.

Harsh ( on behalf of Yousuf Saeed)


 

Now that is being Techno Savvy

Junta,

Couldn't but resist the temptation of posting the blog through email. Believe me its quite an effort to edit other peoples blogs, formatting them so that they look good!! So Harsh, well done. Im sure we can have more enthu by making this blog active :)
-priyadarshan

posting emails directly to blog

hi group
here is a very useful thing i wish to enlighten all of you with!

you need not log onto blogger and write in that blogger interface - clearly takes more time and effort you can directly write to your blog via email

if u are a contributing author to that blog blogger gives you an option in settings where you can set an id - for example here i have set 'harsh.taneja.spicmumbai@blogger.com" so that if i send an email to this id it will become a blogpost !

u just need to go to www.blogger.com from inside your gmails and then this will just show your blogs, if you click on settings there is an option of email and there u will find this one

so that means - i will contribute to this blog rather regularly - and for some of you who have been scared of the quantum of my emails have reasons to cheer:)
--
Harsh Taneja
Bombay

Contact : 09820116899
Mail works just as fine

Sustaining Chapters -Creating Volunteer Value

As I try (note the word) to distance myself from the day to day workings of the Bombay chapter, I spend some more time thinking about how the chapter can be taken forward and developed! Also helps me add some colour to the chapter like linkages with the mozilla foundation and enlightening them with download days of firefox - is this what someone meant by saying we should make the Bombay chapter more lively - maybe!.

This was something i never thought about in NSIT (my engineering college), which was my first association with SPIC MACAY. There, I assumed, being a college an organic growth was imminent and it was something that happened on its own. Consequently, I failed miserably at in MICA, due to never thinking about it then.

Experience is the best teacher and I learned that if I need to play an active role in Bombay (something i resisted till I felt there were more committed peopleplaying an active role!)

Priyank soon left and SPIC MACAY fest 2008 approaching and no one who would take the initiative to organise it, I decided this was the time to try and explore the old wine, but in a completely new bottle. So may be how I should savour it should also change.

I knew that there were a couple of people priyank had initiated into the scheme of things, and they could just be told what to do and they would achieve the desired effect of 15 concerts - in say 10 schools/ colleges. But could the same 15 concerts be achieved with a greater impact. I am not really talking about an impact in the city / media etc - but as priyadashan puts it rather nicely - the concerts adding more value to us - the spicmacayites, the volunteers!

A google group to which i kept posting almost felt like I was writing to the wall, making proclamations of revived saturday meetings, which at times evoked some valid cynicism and mockery,organising dinner parties to which practically no one would turn up!Many times I felt that I was trying to weave into a community wide project, a set of simple tasks which i could achieve by simple coordination skills - which SPIC MACAY had taught me in good measure by now!

However, the wall i felt I was talking to soon began to crumble as priyadarshan instantly bought into my ideas about how we work being equally ( I am tempted to say 'more') important than what we achieve!


It is impossible to quantify what we achieved by all this but if I was to put it vaguely, here is a small list -

1.We revived a feel good factor that fans and supporters of spic macay in mumbai had not felt in a long time!

2. We revived a certain volunteer curiosity > Anyone who came forward with an intention to volunteer at any scale, however big or small did not go back disappointed!

3. This interest did not stay limited to the fest series. but a similar exercise for planning and implementing the convention travel by priyadarshan - has had a certain impact on a few more people!

4. As Saturday meetings was not the most viable of things, google groups, documents and things like this blog attempt to replicate the saturday like effects with a greater regularity and with greater width

The key take home from all this being that if we begin with focussing on creating volunteer value, the likelihood of a chapter sustaining will be far greater!

And volunteer value will not come from the end product but the process, the means to achieve the end!

Let me end with a very simple and actionable example that highlights my point- by commenting on this post and hence engaging in an online discussion around it - you will add value to this volunteer's post - and make him count!

cheers
Harsh

The Transition

The convention happened from 11th Jun to 24th. Although in my mind, it had begun a long time ago, ever since me and Harsh started planning for it. For me, there was always an uncertainty as to whether I will be able to go because my project was officially to finish on 15th Jun. The convention was the only motivating factor which made it possible for me to finish my project much before time. It took a lot of effort and about 15 Good DDP Days to complete my DDP. The last two three months have been magical for me. Although there were few things lined up after I finished my IIT phase, to me life after IIT was the 'Kohima Convention'. Everthing else was to be thought about after coming back!

Travel Plans

The convention being in Kohima, it was a real effort planning the travel. We had four parameters to consider; travel time; travel cost; safety and comfort. May I take this opportunity to introduce you to http://erail.in/. This website is has done justice to the sheer size and complexity of Indian Railways. With its help we planned journeys via Calcutta, Mughal Sarai, Patna, Guwahati. Looking up for connecting trains, ensuring there is sufficient time between them to account for delays etc. is really easy on this website. To imagine using the Indian Railways website to plan such a complex journey gives me the blues :)

Finally we decided to take the direct train (52 hours) to Guwahati, halt for a day and then take the Brahmaputra Mail to Dimapur on which the Delhi Chapter was travelling. Considering that the journey was really long, we decided to travel 3A till Guwahati to ensure that everyone reaches without falling ill and with full enthusiasm. Another worry was the journey through Bihar. We had been warned about it. This brings me to another important learning.

Planning for the Worst: Many things we do in life, we plan too much for 'What if'. We live a very wasteful life because of that. Like what if many people get into the train in Bihar, what if I am robbed of all my cash, what if we all fall sick by eating the train food etc. Lets therefore travel by 3A so that we all reach safe and sound. Let us conveniently forget the 90% people who travel sleeper, general dabba, who sleep on roads and and as much human beings as we are. Cause we are just not one of them. There is an extreme sense of disconnection with the larger part of this world. Why is it so? Why can't I just sit on the platform, just like most people do. Why can't I just let 8 people sit on the birth which can easily accomodate even 10 people. Aren't they like me or may be like my uncle or grandmother or simply a friend?

Mumbai to Guwahati in 55 hours

The 3A travel was uneventful in the conventional sense. However the nine of us really bonded together very well. Cards, dumbsie, Mafia, singing with the electronic tanpura... (thanks to the electric connection in the compartment), making random stories, discussing about varied topics and having lots and lots of food; thanks to all those who came from home!! Not a moment in the journey was boring. We got to know each other very well.

Group Size: The size of the group was just right. Its possible to know everyone really well. I wonder how it would have been if we were 150 people!! It would have just been a crowd and I wonder whether one on one communication would have been possible. Besides this we were all college students at different stages and in different fields.

Not Just SPIC MACAY

One of the biggest realization to me was the transformation from SPIC MACAY to Not Just SPIC MACAY. Spic works at different levels. The first being the promotion aspect. This is how it is for students who attend concerts in schools and colleges, where they get to know about different art forms. At the second level, is that of a volunteer when you actually do things for organizing events etc. The third level is when it actually makes think about the depth and thought behind the art; the why of an art :)

I didn't have my cell phone, watch, computer, gmail, camera etc to give me intrusive company. Just the people around. It does give a lot of time to think. In fact after two days I had lost complete track of time and was living just on a daily basis. I had lost track of how many days we had been there and how many days would remain. Its quite an experience :) Also I had decided that I would not buy anything on the way so there was no need to think about shopping, sight seeing. These are the things Kiran Sir stresses on and they do seem extreme. But I feel that one should try them out because before you actually experience them its not possible to make a judgement about them. Same about the junk food that he strongly urged us not to have.

I had taken the Kudiattam intensive in the convention, and in the first session, Kapila Venu Ji put up for discussion a very interesting concept. She said people asked her why does she pursue Kudiattam. It got me thinking a lot. The most basic step of Kudiattam is really difficult. It takes months, maybe years to actually master this step. Besides there is nothing apparently big or flashy that one does when performing. No world wide fame and glamour. So neither is the fame aspect the driving force. So then why o why would or should someone pursue something like this. I feel one major human desire is that of want of fame and glamour. It seems so difficult to imagine a life of anonymity even if it is devoted for a meaningful pursuit such as growing and improving as a human being.

Is 'To be a better human being' not enough a reason to pursue something in life?

Rather; should that not be the sole reason to wake up every day and breathe all day long?

We are so scared of so many things that we digress from this path. I remember reading somewhere that 'Men go greater lengths to avoid what they fear than pursue what they desire'. How true it is.

The NORTH EAST and Indianness

What is all this talk about an INDIAN Identity? What all exactly do I include when I speak of this INDIAN Identity? Should I even have an Indian Identity? Is it necessary? We are all so different. Why should a 'political' truth govern my sense of identity? Just because we are politically a country is not enough a reason to make me feel one with all who are part of it and distinct from all who are outside of it. This is something that we all should seriously think about

So many thought processes have started in my mind because of this convention. Truly Convention is something that one has to experience. A sensitive and disturbance free mind can definitely add towards making it an even more enriching and fulfilling experience.

To me its been a transition from SPIC MACAY to Not Just SPIC MACAY!!

-priyadarshan