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On Rathayatra, chariots trundled in a single file down the lanes and bylanes of Mahishbathan, to the right of the New Town bridge, but there was no sign of the divine siblings Jagannath, Subhadra and Balaram in them. Instead, the mini chariots were wrapped with papers carrying a variety of social messages and pastel-shaded illustrative pictures.
Thursday marked the start of Tathyajatra, an initiative of the Salt Lake-based NGO Prayasam which has seized the occasion to disseminate social awareness. The programmes will continue till Ultarath.
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| A child with a chariot carrying messages on conservation of trees and the need to wash hands before eating. (Sudeshna Banerjee) |
Explaining the rationale behind the move, Piyali Mazumdar of Prayasam said: “All religious festivals are social festivals. We try to capitalise on these occasions. Because of large-scale participation of people there is scope for visibility. Tathyayatra is underway in all five centres of the NGO in and around Salt Lake — Sukantanagar, Mahishbathan and Nabapally, all added areas of Salt Lake, Rishi Aurobindo colony near Lake Town and Arjunpur near Nagerbazar, Dum Dum.
More than 200 kids are involved in Tathyayatra. Children enrolled with Prayasam aged till seven are the ones pulling the chariots. Helping them with decorating the chariots by devising the slogans and ideating the accompanying paintings are older kids, aged till 12 years.
At Mahishbathan, on the eve of Rathayatra, children were spotted writing slogans and pasting them on chariots. The slogans encompassed issues as diverse as hygiene and preventive health, seasonal diseases, right to education, child domestic labour and child marriage.
“We have never seen so many chariots together. It is so much fun decorating them together,” said Ateshwar Mondol, a rickshaw-puller’s son who has got a first division in Madhyamik exams this year.
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| A child with a chariot carrying messages on conservation of trees and the need to wash hands before eating. (Sudeshna Banerjee) |
The awareness campaign did not start with Tathyayatra. Prayasam started work with the community children about nine months back. Since then, they have observed Haat Dhowa Dibas (Handwash Day) and attended nutrition classes. “We learnt which food items are good for us. Now we are passing on the message to children,” said Bina Majhi, who has passed Higher Secondary examination recently and is awaiting admission in college.
The countdown to Rathayatra was marked by long hours put in by the Mahishbathan children who stayed huddled together to get all their 20 chariots ready for the road. They also rehearsed a street play in which a butterfly and a grasshopper discussed ways to prevent diseases.
“Over the weekend, we will visit nearby villages with our chariots and our play. We will return to our neighbourhood for another tour with the chariots on Ultarath. We expect more children to join our Prayasam classes after this,” said Rama Majhi, one of the senior girls in the group.
Prayasam is facilitating beautician and house-keeping courses for disadvantaged youths. The chariots bear contact numbers to enroll in such courses too.
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