Methodology: Questionnaire and Interviews
Language: English
Catalysts: Vaishali Jawlekar
Youth Fellows:
Gitanjali Rane
Pradnya Tamore
Anuja Mestri
Sushama Jadhav
Kadambari Vaze
Vidya Malgave
Meet Shinde
Tanvi Paradkar
Sunita Kharat
Mansi Sawant
Sangita Navale
Kedar Thakurdesai
Coordinator: Kapil Chavan
About the Subject:
When a girl and boy walk together, they are always looked upon either as a couple or as a team of brother and sister. Can they not have any other relationship like friendship? Does each friendship between the opposite sexes require a specific label beyond a simple friendship? What about the friendship between two people of the same sex? Is that considered natural or abnormal? These were some of the questions which were harassing this group of students from Ruparel College. So they took help of their teacher Vaishali Jawlekar and decided to explore the subject.
Challenges & Learnings:
During the process each of the researchers had to reflect upon her or his ideas of friendship and what it means to them at an individual level. They were also interviewing college students who were their colleagues and were trying to judge the transparency of their answers not only through the oral answers but also from their body language and eye contacts. Not only about friends but they also discussed their relationship with their teachers and mentors in a candid fashion. This expanded their own horizons and understanding of friendships and broadened their own canvas about friendships between youth.
Conclusion:
Today’s youth expect to formulate friendship which satisfies their innermost need of communication and sharing of many things. This sharing without postural judgment is the most crucial part of friendship as the research revealed. But many youth cannot seem to get to the sharing part until some barriers like gender, caste, class are overcome. Even these efforts do not guarantee a pure friendship between a boy and girl!
End Product:
This book crated booklet, T-shirt and varied bookmarks showing various conclusions of their research in single sentences.
