This Children’s Day, one of our members, Mrs Ruby Banerji, shares her experience of espousing the cause of underpriviledged children with Mousumi Gupta.
“Will you come to meet us every day Dida? Will you come with us to our house?” That was the first reaction Mrs Banerji got when she became associated with Divine Life Mission, several years back. Though their house is nothing but a plastic cover over their head, yet they felt proud and happy to show it to her. Their unconditional love made her feel that they too deserved to feel safe, valued, and loved and she began to work to better the lives of these street children. Mrs Banerji empowers the street children with skills and attitude to make them socially acceptable and have a positive outlook in life. She arms them with skills that will help them to at least earn enough to meet their basic needs in future, and also helps them to envision goals for themselves and motivates them to achieve their dreams.
She is associated with two schools that work for street children—one at Swinhoe street and the other at Garcha. She had initially decided to teach children under 10 years because she thought, and was also advised by her mentor at Divine Life Mission, that if something is taught to children at such a tender age, it gets reflected in their moral behaviour. But one day, she saw a few children between 12 to 14 years watching her from a distance. When she went up to them and enquired, they replied “Can you please teach us? We are all school dropouts”. That was the biggest reward for her sincerity and efforts, and that was the kind of attraction they felt towards her. She couldn’t ignore their earnest plea and decided to take them under her wing. And now she is excited to mention that one of them is preparing for class 10 board exams. The children are so attached to her that now, when she gets down from her car near the school, they are eager to help her and compete with eachother about who will carry her bag, who will help her to climb the stairs and so on. It is indeed heartwarming to see the sparkle in her eyes when she talks about them.
Mrs Banerji now has some volunteers, who are as dedicated as her, and help her to teach these children different subjects like drawing, dancing and singing. They also provide meal for the children every day. The children celebrate all the important calendar days, which not only gives them the opportunity to showcase their learning and talent, but also teaches them about the importance of those days. New clothes are distributed during festivals for Mrs Banerji believes that just like the privileged section of this society, they too deserve to wear new clothes during festivals.
Mrs Banerji is extremely happy to do something for the society and feels amply rewarded by their love and respect for her. Mrs Banerji does not celebrate children one calendar day but the whole year around!
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Radiant Days in the AIR
Our member Kumkum Banerjee talks to Rimjhim Bhattacherjee about her illustrious career with the All India Radio.
As a young girl, did you always aspire to join the AIR?
– No, it was entirely serendipitous. I had completed my Masters and was working on a patrika named Ekaleen with great zeal. A few of my friends and I had started it and we handled the all the work— from gathering material to arranging for its publication. Writers like Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shirshendu and Shankha Ghosh wrote for us.
Meanwhile, a brother of mine heard of the vacancy at AIR. He himself filled the form, made me sign it and delivered it. When I received the joining letter, it was for AIR Siliguri. It wasn’t possible for me to join there. I let AIR know that. Finally, Indira Devi herself wrote to me to join AIR Kolkata. I couldn’t believe it. It was as if the job was meant for me.
What was your work like at the AIR?
– It was challenging in the beginning, like all new jobs are. I had to learn the art of queuing, fading in and fading out and so on. I learnt quickly and well. Soon, even artists were praising my work. I usually didn’t do announcements; I worked for special shows like Mahilamahal and so on. I got transferred to various departments as the years wore on but everywhere my work was met with enthusiasm and praise.
Can you share with us some of your golden moments at work?
– I worked with the AIR for a long 38 years. Asking me to relate a few golden moments would be like looking for needles in a haystack. (laughs)
I cherish the entire journey and the people I had the opportunity to meet, interact and work with. I still cannot forget the day I spoke to Pankaj Kumar Mullick. I stood staring at him in total awe. I was a little child when he had composed the music for ‘Diner sheshe ghumer deshe.’ When I asked him about it, he told me how he had visited Rabindranath Tagore and presented the composition before him with a lot of trepidation. Can you imagine the good fortune of meeting such people and hearing stories like these almost every day?
The day I met Birendra Krishna Bhadra also remains indelible. Nobody would look at the slim, fair man and imagine that he would have as powerful a voice as he did.
Tell me some more about the people you had the opportunity to work with.
– (laughs) This can take ages. People like Kanan Devi and Manju Dey left deep impressions on me. I have never met a woman as genteel and as warm as Kanan Devi.
Did you know Manju Dey drove and could even change the tires of her car herself?!
They were women who both inspired me a great deal. Apart from this, I have worked with the likes of Gouri Ghosh, Sarajubala Devi, Suchitra Mitra, Kanika to modern day artists like Moonmoon Sen and Rupa Ganguly.
And you are an artist in your own right…
– (smiles embarrassedly) I wrote and I used to recite but I was never one for self-publicity. I love poetry and I still recite when acquaintances ask me to. I have also written several songs and books of poetry, rhymes and other writings. As I said, I never liked to publicise but people close to me know that I write.
What would you say is your greatest achievement?
– I don’t look at achievement in terms of awards or as a solitary great event. For me, my achievement lay in my building friendships with certain artists, which went much deeper than the strictly professional. It lay in my work being deeply appreciated by artists and audience alike. My name used to be announced for some shows I hosted or organised. I had people writing to me from both Kolkata and Bangladesh telling me how much they liked my show and the way I presented it. I still have some of those letters. Once, a young boy from Bangladesh even visited my house to congratulate me on my work! I have had several letters inviting me to visit Bangladesh, but that has not been possible as yet.
Is there anything in particular that you would like to share with your readers?
– I’ve often been asked what I did to maintain my voice. I always laughed when I heard this question because I really took no special effort. I think that if we love our work enough so much so that it becomes a passion for us, it will always express itself in the work we produce. It becomes unnecessary then to focus on ancillary things. I’ve learnt another thing from my interactions with all the artists and great people I’ve had the fortune to meet. The greater you grow in Art, the more humble you become and the more respectful towards others. When your profession teaches you so much, you know you’ve lived a fulfilling life and the journey, with its ups and downs, was completely worth the effort.
As a young girl, did you always aspire to join the AIR?
– No, it was entirely serendipitous. I had completed my Masters and was working on a patrika named Ekaleen with great zeal. A few of my friends and I had started it and we handled the all the work— from gathering material to arranging for its publication. Writers like Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shirshendu and Shankha Ghosh wrote for us.
Meanwhile, a brother of mine heard of the vacancy at AIR. He himself filled the form, made me sign it and delivered it. When I received the joining letter, it was for AIR Siliguri. It wasn’t possible for me to join there. I let AIR know that. Finally, Indira Devi herself wrote to me to join AIR Kolkata. I couldn’t believe it. It was as if the job was meant for me.
What was your work like at the AIR?
– It was challenging in the beginning, like all new jobs are. I had to learn the art of queuing, fading in and fading out and so on. I learnt quickly and well. Soon, even artists were praising my work. I usually didn’t do announcements; I worked for special shows like Mahilamahal and so on. I got transferred to various departments as the years wore on but everywhere my work was met with enthusiasm and praise.
Can you share with us some of your golden moments at work?
– I worked with the AIR for a long 38 years. Asking me to relate a few golden moments would be like looking for needles in a haystack. (laughs)
I cherish the entire journey and the people I had the opportunity to meet, interact and work with. I still cannot forget the day I spoke to Pankaj Kumar Mullick. I stood staring at him in total awe. I was a little child when he had composed the music for ‘Diner sheshe ghumer deshe.’ When I asked him about it, he told me how he had visited Rabindranath Tagore and presented the composition before him with a lot of trepidation. Can you imagine the good fortune of meeting such people and hearing stories like these almost every day?
The day I met Birendra Krishna Bhadra also remains indelible. Nobody would look at the slim, fair man and imagine that he would have as powerful a voice as he did.
Tell me some more about the people you had the opportunity to work with.
– (laughs) This can take ages. People like Kanan Devi and Manju Dey left deep impressions on me. I have never met a woman as genteel and as warm as Kanan Devi.
Did you know Manju Dey drove and could even change the tires of her car herself?!
They were women who both inspired me a great deal. Apart from this, I have worked with the likes of Gouri Ghosh, Sarajubala Devi, Suchitra Mitra, Kanika to modern day artists like Moonmoon Sen and Rupa Ganguly.
And you are an artist in your own right…
– (smiles embarrassedly) I wrote and I used to recite but I was never one for self-publicity. I love poetry and I still recite when acquaintances ask me to. I have also written several songs and books of poetry, rhymes and other writings. As I said, I never liked to publicise but people close to me know that I write.
What would you say is your greatest achievement?
– I don’t look at achievement in terms of awards or as a solitary great event. For me, my achievement lay in my building friendships with certain artists, which went much deeper than the strictly professional. It lay in my work being deeply appreciated by artists and audience alike. My name used to be announced for some shows I hosted or organised. I had people writing to me from both Kolkata and Bangladesh telling me how much they liked my show and the way I presented it. I still have some of those letters. Once, a young boy from Bangladesh even visited my house to congratulate me on my work! I have had several letters inviting me to visit Bangladesh, but that has not been possible as yet.
Is there anything in particular that you would like to share with your readers?
– I’ve often been asked what I did to maintain my voice. I always laughed when I heard this question because I really took no special effort. I think that if we love our work enough so much so that it becomes a passion for us, it will always express itself in the work we produce. It becomes unnecessary then to focus on ancillary things. I’ve learnt another thing from my interactions with all the artists and great people I’ve had the fortune to meet. The greater you grow in Art, the more humble you become and the more respectful towards others. When your profession teaches you so much, you know you’ve lived a fulfilling life and the journey, with its ups and downs, was completely worth the effort.
