Ashikul Islam & Saiful Mondol
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| Ashikul Islam & Saiful Mondol |
Ashikul Islam’s father was killed by thieves when he was still in his mother’s womb. When she died Ashikul’s grandmother had no choice but to send her four-year-old grandson to beg on the streets. Later Ashikul got a job in a tea shop where he was often beaten for minor transgressions. Fortunately for him his miseries came to an end when he was admitted into the CCD Destitute Children’s Home in Madhyamgram, West Bengal at the age of eight. Within three years Ashikul not only began scoring high grades in school, but went on to direct a documentary film Aami (I am) featuring 12 children of CCD. Last June Aami was awarded the first prize from 323 entries at the prestigious Kids for Kids International Film Festival in Athens.
Swapan Mukhopadhyay, founder-secretary of CCD, says that this award winning 20-minute film has its genesis in crayon illustrations and short essays written by the home’s children of their hopes, dreams and aspirations. These illustrated stories were transformed into theme videos.
Eleven-year-old Ashikul has directed every scene with artistic poignancy. "I focused on making each shot realistic. In the scene where Raju Biswas is wishfully thinking that only if bones of human beings were hollow could they swim like ducks, I advised my friend to chase a duck right into the pond. The documentary depicts the ambitions of my friends to become doctors, pilots, chefs or engineers. The Athens jury greatly appreciated the social message — downtrodden children in India cannot only dream big but work towards achieving their dreams leaving their tragic pasts behind," says the young filmmaker.
Though Ashikul won the lion’s share of the credit in his capacity as director, he happily shared the limelight with another CCD child, Saiful Mondol (12), the cinema-tographer of the documentary. Saiful’s childhood too was hard until a neighbour convinced his mother to send him to the orphanage. "I lost my father in an accident when I was five. My mother is a mentally challenged housemaid. A brother of mine is dead and my sister has been trafficked," says Saiful.
From a young age Saiful saw the world with a photographer’s eye and began taking pictures of people and landscapes with a still camera of the orphanage. "I like to take photographs of people and places which tell a story, especially of children involved in various activities. To cite an instance if I see a child making a handicraft, I wonder who he learnt the craft from and whether he wants to be a craftsman when he grows up," says Saiful who despite minimal training handles a movie camera like a professional.
On their return from Athens, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya invited the two boys to lunch in Writer’s Building and arranged for them to learn the nuances of professional filmmaking from acclaimed filmmaker Goutam Ghosh. "Ashiful and Saiful have natural abilities and talent. Their innate aptitudes need to be fine-tuned and nurtured. We will give them our unstinted support," says Mukhopadhyay.
Wind beneath their wings!
Pallavi Bhattacharya (Kolkata)
Sanket Bhirud
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| Sanket Bhirud |
Despite being almost fully visually impaired Mumbai-based Sanket Bhirud (12) has won three competitive scholarships. "When Sanket, a victim of bulls eye macula was about three months old, we were told that he would always be 95 percent visually impaired," recalls his mother Varsha.
Determined to provide their son a full education in an inclusive school, Sanket’s father V.S. Bhirud, a senior manager with Hindustan Petroleum knocked on the doors of 14 schools in Mumbai before the Indian Education Society’s (IES) New English School admitted him. Subsequently after completion of class IV he shifted to IES Manik Vidya Mandir. "He did not learn Braille because we had been advised by experts to try to get him to read with whatever sight he had. But it proved impossible. We are now teaching him Braille. He learns by listening and writes his exams with the help of a writer. At home my wife reads to him and tapes his lessons so that he can listen and learn," explains Bhirud senior.
Looking back, Sanket is grateful to the progressive management of IES which practised inclusive education long before it became fashionable to do so and has been "hugely supportive". The school’s faculty gave him special attention and developed his learning skills. The recognition he has since received for excelling in academics is widespread. "In 2001, he received a distinction in the University of New South Wales’ interna-tional assessment test in mathematics," recalls Bhirud senior. This inspired him to study hard to secure a fifth place for himself in the class IV scholarship examination run by the Maharashtra state education department, in which over 10,000 children participated.
Shortly thereafter he was selected as one of the ten young achievers in the country by the pharmaceutical company Roche Diagnostics. To his delight, Sanket received a cheque for Rs.10,000 and a cricket bat signed by former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram. More recently Sanket bagged a silver medal in the Maharashtra Homi Bhabha Young Scientists contest, organised by the Greater Bombay Science Teachers’ Association. He was one of 32,000 contestants and the first with a disability to participate.
Keep trucking, Sanket!
Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)