Changing Lives One Book at a Time

Mumbai, 9:30 am.
It was a normal morning for Nikita Barton. Between day dreaming and procrastinating about the many assignments lying in front of her, she finally decided to have a look at that summer internship by Sunbird Trust that her best friend had asked her to apply for, as an escape from her workload.
Boy, did it intrigue her. As a kid, Nikita had always been awestruck by the enormity of the different worlds that fictional story books possess. She developed a passion for the different media of Story-Telling techniques at a very early age. Hence, this internship resonated with her strongly. Sunbird, in association with The Open Door Project, was setting up libraries in the remotest parts of Manipur. The idea of opening up the avenue of literature to children in some of the remotest villages of Manipur sounded nothing smaller than a dream. Of course, it was a super interesting Internship and of course, a lot of people were going to apply for it. Hence, Nikita applied, day dreamed some more about Manipur, googled ‘facts’ about Manipur and forgot about it.
Bam! 4 weeks later, Nikita found herself in the land of the green hills of Manipur. A little confused, a lot nervous; Nikita set foot in her first northeastern state of India. Like many others, she had thousands of preconceived notions about Manipur, the safety issues it entails, tribal conflict, not-very-developed villages; to name just a few. In her words, she ‘got over herself’ when she reached her first village, Singhat.

While Nikita was floating through this entire experience a little dazed, there was a certain Ms. Simran in the neighboring city of Pune, who was searching frantically for interesting projects to take up in summer. She got through a Summer School for Photography in London but decided to give that a pass and apply for the Sunbird Internship Program that was making the talks in her Teach for India circle. After a few hiccups and a few reassuring phone calls from our Sunbird Team members to Simran’s parents, Simran decided to set alone on this journey. She was really anxious, naturally! She knew nobody here. Little did she know, however, that she was about to earn herself a few new families and friends. Teach for India had given Simran exposure and experience with children and classrooms but this was her first time stepping a so far away from her comfort zone. Manipur was a distant dream still, the land of the unknown. She came with an open mind, this wise 21 year old and decided to not give this another thought and just go with the flow.

Nikita and Simran met eachother for the first time at the Imphal airport. They knew they were going to be each others go-to people for the following month and hence very keen on giving off an excellent ‘First Impression’. But it worked like a miracle, their chemistry. Fast forward to today, 2 weeks later, and they are being asked questions like ‘How many years have you guys been friends?’. Amazing, right? I definitely think so. The pair is like peanut butter and jelly. Appealing individually as well as together- that’s a tough one to come across!

Their first week in Singhat was all about realizations, introspections and adjusting to their new life. They took their time to come to terms with the fact that they were in a tiny village with limited resources and they had to make do with whatever little (but enough) that the village had to offer. After crossing the first few hurdles of the different food habits, insecurities of being treated like an outsider and homesickness, they really got into it. I mean, who wouldn’t! It is a luxury for the city folk to wake up to mountains and warm strangers- we don’t get it too often. But here, no dearth of lovely smiles, friendly faces and warmth. The two of them, in their brief duration at Singhat, put in a lot of effort to make a beautiful, comfortable reading space for the children. The Lyzon Learning centre was full of life and laughing children with them around. The two of them were spoilt with happy time with our beautiful children of the Lyzon Friendship School. They read stories together, had an exciting Treasure Hunt, colored rocks which are now used as bookends at the library, translated books in local languages and indulged into art and craft activities with the children to decorate the library space. The result was happy children, happy interns and a beautiful library space at the end of one week.

The next week the two of them found themselves in the picturesque village of Ijeirong. A complete change of scenery, the two of them instantly left their fatigue and skepticism behind and made themselves at home. They were welcomed by rains and yet another bunch of curious, cute faces.

This is where I met them. Not that I play a role in their journey at all, but I had a chance to interact and spend time with them. I was particularly interested in knowing their stories as they were as new as me in this place. Was is comforting? Yes. Was it fascinating? I am writing a blog about them, so what’s your best guess? 😀

I was fortunate enough to spend some quality time with Nikita. In one of our (many) heart-to-heart conversations, she spoke about how grateful and fortunate she feels about the life that she lives back in Mumbai. She spoke about how the last two weeks have filled her with gratitude- about life in general. She said, ‘People keep talking about “Apna Time Ayega”. Little do they realise that “This” is their time. I took time to realize it, and I am so grateful for where I am today, for all lovely experiences that I have gained in the past two weeks.’ It didn’t take much for her to snap out of the bubble that she created for herself and have a reality check. She stressed on how overwhelmed she feels to be here and to experience things she didn’t know she could experience. All her naïve fears about the northeast, the tribal communities, and their conflict are out the window, now that she has seen everything first hand. She really wants to bring city children to places like these to show them the various other ways of living. Simran was at a loss of words when I casually asked her how she feels now that she is here. She did have a dreamy face and a big smile on her face though. She is still soaking it all in. She looked at peace. The hills seem to have had a positive effect on her. I am looking forward to the blog that she is writing about her experience in the NE.

Simran and Nikita have two more weeks and two more libraries to set up. Simran talks about how enriching this whole journey has been for her. She is rich with experiences, stories and some friends that will stay with her for life. I hope the next two weeks are as incredible for them as the first two. There is so much to learn from the hills and I’m sure they will make the most of it!

For me, I just feel deeply indebted to life for placing me here amidst all these inspiring people. I am in constant awe. I may never get used to the beauty of the people and nature here, I don’t intend to anyway. ^_^