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Dr. Mallika Sarabhai's visit to Sarala Birla Academy

How many times do we cross that little child on the street and think that just a mere token of giving money is enough? Yet there are many like that child on the street, who are oppressed and depressed; tired and lonely. To highlight the plight of the suffering, silent millions of this country, the renowned theatre personality and danseuse Dr. Mallika Sarabhai and her team of artistes from her Academy of Theatre and Performing Arts called Darpana enthralled the school community, with the show called Unsuni — unheard voices on 23 June 2007.

The entire school community had gathered to witness the event, which began at 6:00 p.m. The show was a combination of narrative, acting and lyrics for songs from some of the popular Bollywood numbers. The play was an hour and a half long and had five segments dealing with various oppressed communities of India. There were the heart moving stories of the street children, landless labourers, manual scavengers, communal clashes and the plight of lepers. The audience sat spellbound as they were amazed at the thoroughly professional show put up by Dr. Sarabhai and her team.

After the show was over, Dr. Mallika Sarabhai and her team interacted with the audience and there were many hands that were raised to ask questions, ranging from whether these conditions still exist in India to if there were any ways that the students could help remove the sufferings of these people. Dr. Sarabhai was able to guide the students that they could sign up on the website www.unsuni.net to become a volunteer to take this movement forward. All in all, it was a wonderful evening's performance leaving all who had witnessed the show to consider how best we can contribute in helping our less fortunate fellow human beings.