Methodology:Biographies penned by the catalyst
Language: Marathi
Catalysts: Gopal Ajgoankar
Youth Fellows:
Ramesh Aptekar
Sunder Gawde
Ravji Ilage
Baban Tejam
Anil Gawade
Prakash Patil
Coordinator:
Vandana Khare
About the Subject:
Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, is a city of migrants which ends up feeding millions of people everyday in many small eateries scattered across the city. Majority of these eateries are staffed by young boys who also migrate to the city in lure of livelihood. Gopal Ajgaokar, the catalyst, attempted to study a few of such youth.
Challenges & Learnings:
Most of the boys who were studied hailed from the hinterlands of Maharashtra and were working as cooks, waiters, cleaners in this small canteen which served the governmental employees. These boys had to work twelve-hour shifts starting at 6 AM and would attempt to go to the night schools to finish secondary education. All 10-12 of them were housed in one single room and many would sleep on the floors of the canteen. Most of them were totally exhausted by the time they reached their night school. Writing about anything, including themselves, was a very difficult process for them.
Conclusion:
This research brought in sharp focus some important issues related to the lives of these boys. According to their interviews, even though their life in Mumbai was very difficult, full of hard work and no personal time, these boys preferred living in Mumbai as opposed to returning back to their villages. They had no time for entertainment and no holidays except one Sunday and they found school studies very difficult, and uninspiring.
End Product:
Gopal wrote three stories based on the lives of these boys and produced them in a small book format.
