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Pablo Picasso famously said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up.” But what if you’re forced to grow up too soon? What if you have to see and experience things that would rob you of your innocence at the age of 8? 23-year-old Manasi Mehan interacted with several such school children from disadvantaged areas of Mumbai that were forced to grow up, during her Teach For India (TFI) fellowship. Through their interactions, she soon realised that what they needed was an outlet. Manasi, along with Chhavi Khandelwal (co-founder) set up Saturday Art Class (SArC), an unconventional space where she has set out to teach values and “provide basic exposure into the classroom through the process of art,” she explains.
“We wanted to bring back the essence of childhood into these children’s lives,” says Manasi. “We used art as a medium because in school, it was a break from everything and we realised these kids have lost their childhood at a very young age. At the age of 8-9 they can talk about alcoholism, murder and eve-teasing. They didn’t have space to just be kids like we did,” she added.
“Two and a half years ago, I decided to join the TFI fellowship because I was frustrated with the fact that people lacked basic civic sense, so going into a government school my basic agenda was to teach this to kids. One of their parents asked me to teach art but I had to refuse because I had too much on my plate,” she lamented. “I met Chhavi, who’s an architect, through a common friend, and she really liked the idea of teaching art to kids and even came on a Saturday. She would teach art and I would take care of the discipline bit. Chhavi came every Saturday since then and before you know it, she became the art teacher and the kids coined the term SArC,” Manasi laughed.
The SArC initiative has extended its reach from 30 children in a classroom at Shankarwadi Public School to eight schools across the city as well as an orphanage, now reaching a total of 1126 children. Aside from the core team, 10 coordinators ensure the smooth functioning of the Art Class by acting as the link between the schools and 161 mentors (volunteers who are trained to teach at different schools every Saturday).
During my conversation with Manasi and Chhavi, the one thing that was apparent was their emphasis to inculcate in their all pupils basic moral values through art, making art a priceless medium, yet again. “We wanted to teach kids the value of responsibility during the festival of Diwali,” said Chhavi, as she went on to share an anecdote from the Art Class. “We explained how bursting crackers is harmful to the environment and made them paint diyas but instead of lighting up the diyas, we made them plant saplings in them. Each kid had to ensure the well-being of their sapling, which essentially taught them responsibility, in an artistic way,” smiled Chhavi.
Manasi and Chhavi are sagacious when it comes to selecting which artists’ work can speak to the children most. “Yayoi Kusama (world-renowned Japanese artist) always wanted to paint but her mother restricted her from doing so and her father was an alcoholic, which meant she had a tough childhood, like most of our kids,” said Chhavi. “Kusama would make and keep repeating patterns, calling them infinity nets, something that helped her relax. We don’t want to remind the kids of their backgrounds but we want them to know, art can be a therapeutic way to express themselves,” she added.
These girls on a mission have had to overcome their fair share of challenges to get to where they are. In fact, they quit their old jobs in order to serve those in need. So how do they fund SArC? A ketto campaign held in July 2017 saw SArC raise an overwhelming 4 lakh rupees, which is something they are, remarkably, still utilising.
The good work done at SArC has evidently influenced the lives of over a thousand underprivileged children and has admittedly helped Manasi and Chhavi grow as individuals. “Change takes time but once it’s reinforced it’s constant and brings about other changes. We’ve learned how to handle adults – teachers, parents, mentors, coordinators, stakeholders. The pressure is very high trying to provide a quality of education the kids deserve but do not get,” reflected Manasi. Chhavi adds, “’Art changes lives’ is something I’d heard but now I have experienced that first-hand.”
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