Prerana September 2019

I am Vandana Shiva                       

 -Beebi Sulthana

“You are Vandana Shiva. You have to tell your story. Tell about your parents, your village and about Chipko, ……..” , Sir was telling me. I was there in the Computer Room with my 5-6 friends. Sir had a plan of presenting an English Skit for the celebration of Vanamahotsava. The story was from a lesson in English textbook- “Everything I need to know I learned in the forest”, written by Vandana Shiva. There is a story of an illiterate village woman, Bachani Devi, She resisted her husband from cuuting trees of the forest. He had got the contract to cut trees. Bachani Devi led the resistance against her own husband. The women held lighted lanterns even though it was broad daylight. It was a symbol of teaching the forest officials the knowledge of forestry. 

Being Vandana Shiva in the skit, I had to narrate the incidents. I have read the lesson and learnt about Vandana  Shiva. She is an activist for biodiversity. She participated in Chipko Movement and in the lesson she tells about the difficulties faced by rural women because of cutting trees. She tells about the incidents she had seen. I thought, “ Now my role is to tell about those incidents as if I have seen them. I have to say,” I am Vandana Shiva. I have seen the Chipko Movement, Not She is Vandana Shiva. She has seen……”. I practised my dialogues. Our English Sir had converted Bachani Devi's incident in the lesson into a skit. My friend Shwetha was playing the role of Bachani Devi. Her voice is high pitched and she could play the role of a tough woman very well. She would come shouting slogans like, “Light these lanterns, and show them the light”, “Save forest, Save life”, etc. The other women would repeat the slogans. Sowmya, Sumana and Shubha played the role of other women. They showed that toughness of fighters in their voice and manner. Pradeep, Adarsh, Nagendra,Rajesh and Annayya played the roles of forest contractors and officials.  We rehearsed the skit for about ten days. In the beginning we had nervousness. It was our first attempt in English and for some students it was the first chance to come on the stage. So we practised well as we had to present the skit before all the students and guests. Bhaskar Udupa Sir guided us to enact the play. I and Sumana also learnt an English song on saving earth. We had to sing it before the beginning of the skit.
On 6th July, we were  waiting the function to begin. I was anxious and a  little nervous. The guests came and the function started. Manjusha announced about our skit. I and Sumana went on the stage and sang,”The earth is my home. …”, It came very well. My confidence grew. Then I started narrating, ”I am Vandana Shiva.   ,,,” Even though I missed some words and sentences I didn’t stop. My friends came  on the stage, shouting slogans. Shwetha shouted in a loud voice, “ He may be my own husband. But cutting trees, No, no, no….”. The students watching the skit were surprised by the strength of her character. Then the boys who were playing the role of contractors came and tried to insult the women by calling them,” foolish”. But they showed the courage and stopped them from cutting trees. 

The guests present there liked the skit very much and they told that the theme was relevant. They also appreciated our acting and said some good words in their speech. It was my first experience of playing a skit. That was also in English! 
I have learned a lot of things from this experience.