Fiddlers on the Thatch — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00e
2. 0:01[Music]
3. 0:19[Music]
4. 0:39[Applause]
5. 0:44[Music]
6. 0:51I was in Kolkata when I first saw the
7. 0:53film The Sound of Music as I watch Julie
8. 0:57Andrew sing the hills are alive with the
9. 0:59sound of music on a Misty Mountain I
10. 1:02remember the beauty of the sun rising
11. 1:04over the Ken janga
12. 1:07ranges I felt like she and I had
13. 1:09something in
14. 1:11common we can both hear music in the
15. 1:14Hills the only difference is that mine
16. 1:17is real
17. 1:21[Music]
18. 1:33I keep expecting this enthusiasm to
19. 1:37win I keep waiting for that one morning
20. 1:40when I wake up not raring to
21. 1:43[Music]
22. 1:45go it hasn't come
23. 1:48yet I've been to this Monastery hundreds
24. 1:51of times to offer morning prayers yet
25. 1:54each time I find something new to
26. 1:56inspire me
27. 2:02[Music]
28. 2:04I love the cold wind the Mist that flows
29. 2:07from one Peak to another I love that I
30. 2:11came back to calimpong
31. 2:25I always felt I was different a Mis in
32. 2:30my
33. 2:31environment I looked around gazed at The
34. 2:34Surge of life that surrounded me and I
35. 2:37knew that I was
36. 2:38special somehow I knew that I was meant
37. 2:42for something
38. 2:51more I have lived in calong all my life
39. 2:56maybe that's the reason I want to leave
40. 2:57it
41. 3:00but until a few years ago I never
42. 3:02thought that I could until a few years
43. 3:05ago I saw my Bleak future in the
44. 3:07weathered faces around me and felt
45. 3:11trapped I don't feel that way
46. 3:14[Music]
47. 3:21anymore one
48. 3:26[Music]
49. 3:33[Applause]
50. 3:37I never asked myself why I was always
51. 3:41hungry I just
52. 3:43was with five brothers there were a lot
53. 3:46of us to take care
54. 3:54of it's difficult being a middle child
55. 3:58it always seemed that my turn came
56. 4:02last I love my family especially my
57. 4:05younger
58. 4:06brother someday I hope to take care of
59. 4:09all of them like my father never could
60. 4:13[Music]
61. 4:31I pray every
62. 4:33day my board exams are coming up and I'm
63. 4:35looking for all the help I can
64. 4:39get but I'm also here to give my thanks
65. 4:43my friend got married yesterday her
66. 4:45parents had arranged the marriage and
67. 4:47had given her no choice in the matter no
68. 4:50one is going to force me into marriage
69. 4:52for this freedom I have come to give
70. 4:55thanks
71. 4:56[Music]
72. 5:15my father is a truck
73. 5:17driver he believes that you have to play
74. 5:20the cards that Life deals you with a
75. 5:23wife and a family of five to support I
76. 5:26think my father stopped dreaming a long
77. 5:28time ago
78. 5:38[Music]
79. 5:40but my mother is
80. 5:44different her face lights up when she
81. 5:46looks at me she knows that I am
82. 5:49different that I Dare To
83. 5:52Dream perhaps in my face she sees the
84. 5:55Fulfillment of her own aspirations
85. 5:59[Music]
86. 6:03it happened a few years ago there was a
87. 6:06school close to my house that had
88. 6:08started music
89. 6:11classes I was needed at home to help
90. 6:14with the chores and run the tiny shop
91. 6:16outside our Hut but it seemed like an
92. 6:19invisible hand guided me into the school
93. 6:21walls and there I have been ever since
94. 6:26[Music]
95. 6:29oh
96. 6:31[Music]
97. 6:59[Music]
98. 7:14my parents sent us to the Gandhi asham
99. 7:16school so that we could eat the three
100. 7:18free meals they gave us every
101. 7:20day the first change I noticed was that
102. 7:24I wasn't always hungry
103. 7:26anymore it's a great thing to have a
104. 7:27full stomach it GES gives you an
105. 7:29opportunity to think about something
106. 7:32[Music]
107. 7:34[Applause]
108. 7:34[Music]
109. 7:37else
110. 7:40forch
111. 7:41spech
112. 7:44forch I love seeing the look on my
113. 7:46aunt's face when she sees me after
114. 7:48school in the
115. 7:51morning my uniform my books my
116. 7:54confidence they're symbols of my
117. 7:57Liberation I can see that she admires
118. 8:01me my mother who works as a mid servant
119. 8:04in Delhi is proud of me too for her I am
120. 8:08like a son the first person in my family
121. 8:11who will finish
122. 8:12[Music]
123. 8:21school byebye
124. 8:27[Music]
125. 8:33[Music]
126. 8:35every day on my way I pass the Gandhi
127. 8:38asham
128. 8:39school every time for a moment I
129. 8:42silently utter the same words thank you
130. 8:45for changing my life thank you for
131. 8:47giving me a chance thank you for setting
132. 8:50me free
133. 8:53[Music]
134. 9:02every morning when I walk into this Hall
135. 9:05I know I made the right decision by
136. 9:07coming back the violins are like old
137. 9:10friends that I get to spend the day
138. 9:13with it's almost
139. 9:168:00 the children will start arriving
140. 9:18soon and the day's activities will begin
141. 9:26[Music]
142. 9:47[Applause]
143. 9:48[Music]
144. 9:58hello
145. 10:06[Music]
146. 10:26I used to come to class even before the
147. 10:28music lessons started at that time it
148. 10:31was just something to do between needs a
149. 10:34time out from home I never made any
150. 10:37effort to study I never understood the
151. 10:39importance of doing
152. 10:44so most of my friends are from the same
153. 10:47Village as me and we all come to school
154. 10:49together it takes us one full hour to
155. 10:52walk the distance and during the monsoon
156. 10:54season when the bamboo Bridges get
157. 10:56washed away it takes us two full hours
158. 10:59but once we are here it feels good to
159. 11:02play and laugh and forget about
160. 11:04everything
161. 11:05[Music]
162. 11:15else I've always been a good student I
163. 11:18knew from the beginning that education
164. 11:20would help me achieve something in life
165. 11:23but big events are made up of tiny
166. 11:26everyday moments and for me a 12 year-
167. 11:29old girl in rural calimpong going to
168. 11:32school became a struggle against society
169. 11:35and against my own
170. 11:36[Music]
171. 11:45leari when I first picked up a violin I
172. 11:48was
173. 11:49petrified but rudra sir made me practice
174. 11:52again and again and slowly I realized
175. 11:55that I could make sense of the
176. 11:57notes after a few months not only did I
177. 12:00have a knack for playing a violin but I
178. 12:02was performing much better in my studies
179. 12:05as
180. 12:06[Music]
181. 12:13[Applause]
182. 12:23well when we first started learning
183. 12:25music I failed to understand what use it
184. 12:28would be to me
185. 12:30personally at the time I would have
186. 12:32preferred something more practical like
187. 12:34carpentry or car
188. 12:36mechanics after all becoming a carpenter
189. 12:39or a mechanic was a definite step up for
190. 12:42my father who works as a laborer for a
191. 12:44few months in a
192. 12:45[Applause]
193. 12:47year now I've changed my mind I know I
194. 12:51can be much better than a mechanic
195. 12:58[Applause]
196. 13:09[Music]
197. 13:13ready before we the this we have to
198. 13:17exercise going
199. 13:19[Music]
200. 13:22exercise 3 4
201. 13:31aren't they
202. 13:33wonderful these children endure a life
203. 13:35of poverty and deprivation and yet they
204. 13:38play Western classical music as if they
205. 13:41were born doing
206. 13:43it 1 2 3
207. 13:474 look at the concentration on that
208. 13:51face I think my biggest achievement is
209. 13:54that I'm able to get a 9-year-old child
210. 13:57to concentrate on one thing for full
211. 14:03art when I look at my students faces I
212. 14:07see my own 30 years
213. 14:12ago my story began in darjiling
214. 14:15I was an Oran hovering around
215. 14:18construction sites earning a few Mega
216. 14:20rupees a
217. 14:23day then a helpful coie took me to a
218. 14:26missionary school where I started
219. 14:29learning to play the
220. 14:31violin it was a new
221. 14:33beginning I soon graduated and got a
222. 14:36college scholarship to learn music in
223. 14:38Kolkata I joined an orchestra earning
224. 14:41more money than I had ever imagined this
225. 14:44was the life I had always dreamed of
226. 14:51[Music]
227. 15:05a few years ago I was studying at the
228. 15:07Gandhi asham school that's where I
229. 15:10learned to play the violin and joined
230. 15:12the senior
231. 15:13Orchestra the principal of Dr Gram's
232. 15:15homes a public boarding school came to
233. 15:18listen to one of our performances after
234. 15:20hearing us play he offered 11 of our
235. 15:26scholarships I'll never forget the
236. 15:28moment when I told my mother that I
237. 15:30would be attending Dr Gram's
238. 15:32homes she hugged me tight and said that
239. 15:36I needed a new pair of
240. 15:38[Music]
241. 15:55shoes my classmates in the school don't
242. 15:58come from poor families they don't know
243. 16:01what it's like to be
244. 16:03me I have to work harder than anyone
245. 16:06else especially now that my board exams
246. 16:08are coming
247. 16:11up but if I've made it this far I have
248. 16:14no doubt I can go much further
249. 16:19[Music]
250. 16:36I came first in class again this
251. 16:39year English is my favorite subject and
252. 16:42I love reading the
253. 16:44classics I must have read Little Women
254. 16:46about 20
255. 16:48times when I go down to Delhi for my
256. 16:50vacations I tutor my mother in English
257. 16:53she actually speaks it quite well now
258. 17:07[Applause]
259. 17:12[Applause]
260. 17:18[Applause]
261. 17:23[Music]
262. 17:25when I play I Feel Like a different
263. 17:27person this new person is full of Music
264. 17:31separated from the world
265. 17:34outside as I watch my fingers move on
266. 17:37the strings I Marvel that this melodious
267. 17:40sound filling the silence is me
268. 17:45[Applause]
269. 17:47[Music]
270. 17:59I love playing Nepali folk songs and
271. 18:02Symphonies by
272. 18:03Strauss a lady tourist from England once
273. 18:06told me how people danced to Strauss in
274. 18:09what is called the
275. 18:11Walts I hope to learn that dance
276. 18:14someday I wonder if you can dance and
277. 18:17play at the same time
278. 18:20[Music]
279. 18:41[Music]
280. 18:41[Applause]
281. 18:43[Music]
282. 18:45[Applause]
283. 18:47[Music]
284. 18:48[Applause]
285. 18:50[Music]
286. 18:52[Applause]
287. 18:53[Music]
288. 18:54[Applause]
289. 18:56when I first started playing the violin
290. 18:59I saw that people noticed me here was
291. 19:02something I could do which no one else
292. 19:05could I could read music from a sheet of
293. 19:08paper where others only saw a confusion
294. 19:10of lines and
295. 19:13[Music]
296. 19:14[Applause]
297. 19:16dots I love showing off my skills on the
298. 19:18violin in front of people and seeing the
299. 19:20awe and amazement in their eyes
300. 19:23[Applause]
301. 19:28[Music]
302. 19:29[Applause]
303. 19:33my favorite songs are those from Hindi
304. 19:35movies I have never seen a movie in a
305. 19:37hall but rudas sir told me that I play
306. 19:41the violin almost as well as Shah ruk
307. 19:43Khan in a film that he had seen
308. 20:03when I pick up my violin it's like
309. 20:05coming home for me this is not just an
310. 20:08instrument this is my friend and
311. 20:16companion the only time I have ever
312. 20:19heard modart Symphonies is when I've
313. 20:21played them in the
314. 20:23orchestra yet the music has become so
315. 20:26much a part of me now that it comes as
316. 20:29naturally as
317. 20:34[Applause]
318. 20:36[Music]
319. 20:54breathing why did I come back to
320. 20:56calimpong to teach music
321. 20:58it's a question I've been asked many
322. 21:01times I came back because I wanted to be
323. 21:04able to give my students the same
324. 21:07opportunities that I had
325. 21:10had I wanted to prove that children who
326. 21:13had never heard Mozart or Vivaldi or
327. 21:15Strauss in their lives could create
328. 21:18music as well as any connoisseur of
329. 21:20classical music
330. 21:24[Music]
331. 21:32[Applause]
332. 21:35[Music]
333. 21:46my senior Orchestra now numbers 75 with
334. 21:50children from the ages of 6 to
335. 21:5216 in last year's batch 15 of my
336. 21:55students got scholarships for higher
337. 21:57education in expensive
338. 22:01schools 15 more children were given a
339. 22:03chance they would never have had
340. 22:08otherwise this year 11 more will become
341. 22:11eligible for
342. 22:13scholarships Anu has a good chance this
343. 22:15time she has a lot of talent and can
344. 22:18even teach music later on if she wants
345. 22:23to in the end it all comes down to the
346. 22:27performance
347. 22:282 3 go
348. 22:33[Music]
349. 22:37[Applause]
350. 22:49[Music]
351. 22:49[Applause]
352. 22:56[Music]
353. 22:58oh
354. 23:21[Music]
355. 23:28oh
356. 23:34[Applause]
357. 23:58oh
358. 24:01[Music]
359. 24:12[Music]
360. 24:28oh
361. 24:46[Music]
362. 25:01[Music]
363. 25:06[Music]
364. 25:16a film star that's what I want to be
365. 25:18when I grow up if I study really hard
366. 25:21and practice my music I'll probably get
367. 25:23a scholarship to go to a higher school
368. 25:26like Dr Graham's homes after that I'll
369. 25:29go to Mumbai and work in
370. 25:31films can I do it of course I can if
371. 25:35there's one thing I've learned it is
372. 25:37that I have a
373. 25:39[Music]
374. 25:44choice I'll go down to Delhi and enroll
375. 25:47in a women's college there I plan to
376. 25:50study economics so that when I graduate
377. 25:53I can find a good job and work like a
378. 25:55man I want to do this for many reasons
379. 25:59a better life more freedom but most of
380. 26:02all for respect I want people to look at
381. 26:06me and say see that's what a mid
382. 26:08servant's daughter can
383. 26:10[Music]
384. 26:15achieve I never want to stop playing the
385. 26:18violin I want to study the great
386. 26:20Symphonies of all the classical
387. 26:22composers and learn about them and their
388. 26:26lives when I leave the Gandhi asham
389. 26:28school I'll study Western classical
390. 26:31music I'll be a professional violinist
391. 26:34and play in an international
392. 26:43Orchestra I've never seen thei dance so
393. 26:45well before he's obviously getting
394. 26:49better Anu is still as serious as
395. 26:52ever and of course Sony who now looks
396. 26:55and talks like a lady
397. 26:59they still don't understand the entire
398. 27:01significance of what is happening in
399. 27:03their lives or do
400. 27:06they I remember listening to a song by a
401. 27:08group called Abba the lyrics of the song
402. 27:12Went thank you for the music the songs
403. 27:15we are singing thanks for all the joy
404. 27:18they are
405. 27:20bringing no one will ever know the
406. 27:22extent of which the lyrics of that song
407. 27:24have touched my
408. 27:26life now I hope it will touch the lives
409. 27:29of these children so that they too can
410. 27:32sing the way I have
411. 27:38[Music]
412. 27:50[Music]
413. 28:08[Music]
414. 28:12[Applause]
415. 28:13[Music]
416. 28:26[Music]