Week Two in Bow Bazaar: The Session

December 3rd, 2007

Session Two: Personal Para

Objective: To facilitate young residents to go inside their heart and mind and investigate and express what their neighbourhood means to them personally.

Energizer
Matching emotions (10 mins)

Pass out pieces of paper or note cards with emotions written on them. Some suggested emotions are: anger, fear, happy, nervous, sad, peace, embarrassed, loved, proud, shocked, hate. Two participants will have the same emotion. Ask each participant to enact the given emotion until the other participants can identify who they share an emotion with. When participant think they have found their partner, they should have a seat together. Continue until all groups are seated.
Finally have each group strike a pose of their emotion for other participant what emotion is being enacted.

Activity: Profile Form (10 mins)
Pass out profile forms in which participants will write a brief bio about themselves. This will be kept for Kalam and Neighbourhood Diaires.

The Bio form
• Name
• My age
• Where I live
• What I do
• What I love doing in my spare time
• Something about me that everyone knows
• Something about me that no one knows of

Activity One: Ground Rules for Workshop Series (20 mins)

We will be working together for 15 weeks, indoors as well as going outside into our para, talking to people, taking interviews, sometimes taking pictures and writing. We will be working as para journalists. Do you think that in order to work and learn together, we need any rules?

• Brainstorm Ground Rules (Do this on a Chart paper). Write out all the ground rules every participant comes up with.

• After all ground rules have been explored, vote on each of them as a group.

• Write all finalized rules on a new piece of Chart paper. Have all participants sign the paper.


Some Ground Rules of neighbourhood diaries should include:

  • Cell Phones Off
  • Don’t laugh at each other’s art, ideas, thoughts, stories, viewpoints etc.
  • Whenever anybody is sharing something, give full attention to him/her.
  • Be open to constructive criticism. Before saying something negative about somebody’s work, say something positive.
  • Maintain confidentiality about any personal stuff that may emerge during the session.
  • Take permission before clicking people’s photos wherever possible.
  • Do not be intrusive while interviewing people. Be sensitive.
  • Laptop and camera are strictly to be used for neighbourhood diaries only and not for personal entertainment.
  • .
    Activity Two: Para Map Making: Personal Map of Bow Bazaar and You

    Each participant will create their personal map of Bow Bazaar and them. This is very different from a regular map with street names, lines, and official landmarks. Rather, this map should represent what Bow Bazaar intimately looks like to the participant. It is a map in which each participant notes, identifies places/spaces/people/animals that carry intimate significance to them personally.

    On an A4 size piece of paper create a personal map of Bow Bazaar — mapping what is important to you. Be creative. Use words, colors, art, images, etc.

    Prompt Questions:

    • When you are feeling sad, where do you go in your neighborhood?
    • Places where you fell in love?
    • Where do you enjoy having an adda?
    • What places do you go to in your para where you feel the need to dress up?
    • Do you have any favorite pets in your para?
    • Who are important people in your para?
    • In crises, who do you go to?
    • Who do you go to for advice?
    • If you need to get things done, who do you go to
    • Who are your enemies?
    • Who are closest to your heart?
    • Who are you afraid of?
    • Somebody you are intrigued by?
    • Places in the para which make you Happy? And Make you Sad?
    • Your favorite tree in the para?
    • Favorite eating place?
    • If you have visitor, what parts of the para do you take them around to?
    • Are there some special games that you play in the para?
    • What are you favorite festivals in your para? Where do they happen?
    • What are your favorite sounds inside the para? Specific sounds at night? Specific sounds during Morning? Or afternoon?
    • One thing in your Para that you want to change? One thing in your para that you don’t want to change?

    Go around the room and share the parts they are comfortable sharing.

    BREAK (Optional)

    Activity Three: Para Vignette: Bow Bazaar Means….
    Write a vignette on what Bow Bazaar means to you personally, using the Five Senses. See below for model. This writing activity will facilitate participants to think about their neighborhood through five senses. The use of fives sense will foster participants to approach neighborhood observation and writing through sensorial consciousness. They can pick images from the Personal Para Map they have just created, and put them into words in detail.

    Bow Bazaar Means….

    A smell
    A sight
    A touch
    A sound

    Sample Poem


    Poddar Nagar Mane…

    Sagor Sweets-er goli diye, baan dike beke jawa.
    Poddar Nagar mane Meroon dorjaa wala ekta bari.
    Dutor shomoy rasta shunshaan.
    Petrol-er gondho niye ekta matador-er chole jaoa.
    Poddar Nagar mane baire railing-e dhulo joma.
    Tube-weller teto jal, time-koler mithey jaler ashshad.
    Poddar Nagar mane ghoomiye pora dusho chollish er line.
    Aashe pashé officejatrir parota alur dom khaoa.
    Poddar Nagar mane Monohara Mashir elo haathkhopa.

    Check Out
    How was this session like? Good/bad/okay okay?
    How do you feel about participating in the coming sessions? 1 word.

    (See our Next Post for Participant Profiles and Photographs as well as discussion and responses from Session 2.)

    One thought on “Week Two in Bow Bazaar: The Session

    1. i quite fancy the warm-up.
      and the sample poem on Poddar Nagar is lovely! so Bengali!

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