How often does it happen that you know very little about the life journey of someone you have been working with for many years? About their childhood, parents, school days, challenges, joyful moments and more…? When you know more about a person’s journey, how does that change your relation with that person?
With some of these questions in mind and a few observations of our own, we started this podcast series, called ‘Safar Zindagi Ka’, at the Dongri Observation Home. We realized that the staff here has been working for many years and have known each other for a long time, however, we all knew very little about each other’s life journeys. We were all seeing each other’s images and perceptions based on the position that we hold and our job roles. For example, the Superintendent is the head of the institute, the medical team is there just treating the kids, the guards have an image of their own, and so do the probation officers; but behind each individual, there is a life story, a human being beyond the position and role – and we wanted to bring out this human element. And not just for the staff, but also for the children, who were part of these podcasts too! We wanted everyone to feel a human to human connection with people they meet and work with everyday. When we presented this idea to the Superintendent, Rahul Kanthikar sir, he was immediately supportive of it, and in fact, he was the one who coined this name, ‘Safar Zindagi Ka’.
We started this podcast series with Kanthikar sir himself, to set the context and also so that he could lead by example. He was extremely candid and open to share about his life, and his story was very gripping and inspiring for the children and the staff. He shared about his journey from childhood to college, to married life, to his relation with his son, to his work as a superintendent and more! He spoke about his early days when he was influenced by power, bullying, fights, and early stages of addiction during his high school days. He went on to share how he shifted gears and the role of his mentors to make this transition. During his college days when he was doing his MSW course, he had a strong desire to serve the community and there was a sense of giving back. He shared about this desire and the journey from there on, and how this sense of purpose has been a driving force for the work he does. His words were powerful, precise and profound.
We had also added an element of surprise and fun in this podcast. We took video bytes from Kanthikar sir’s wife, son, and a few staff members who work closely with him, and played these clips at various points during the podcast along with some childhood pictures of his. This really brought out a different element as people close to the speaker were sharing their thoughts on him. The children watched these clips very closely and so did the staff. Kanthikar sir himself expressed various emotions of surprise, laughter, joy and more! He also got a little emotional at various points seeing his son and wife speak about him. All this brought out a wonderful human side of his which we all cherished to witness.
Towards the end, he shared a very relatable message with the children: “Kal acha hone ke liye aaj pasina bahana padega. Jaise ek soldier war se pahele pasina bahate hai taaki war ke vakt vo strong khade rahe paye. Aap ko 18 saal ke bad yudha ka samna karna padega… islie apane hunnar ko jan ke use badhao to aap ka kal ujjwal ho aur abhi jo tay kar rahe ho vo ammal me lao .. ye sab se jyada jaruri hai!” (“For tomorrow to be good, you need to sweat today. Like a soldier sweats while preparing, so that he can stay strong when he is at war. After you turn 18 years old, you also have to face a war in the outside world, the real world and for that identify and polish your skills and talents so that your tomorrow is bright and you can make your dreams come true… this is the most important thing!” It landed very well for the children since now they knew that it is coming from a person who has walked that path and the advice is coming from a genuine space.
I was surprised to hear that, among the many mentors, he also mentioned Gandhiji as an inspiration, who also is a huge inspiration for me. This sparked many other ideas in my head, one of which is starting a dialogue between the Kanthikar sir and myself on the principles of Gandhiji and its relevance in today’s time. We are still exploring how to take this forward. Interestingly, we had also created a ‘Ladder of Values’ for Kanthikar Sir’s cabin and we had titled it ‘My life is my message’, a famous quote by Gandhiji. 🙂
This new beginning of the series, ‘Safar Zindagi Ka’, started off on a high note. The staff simply enjoyed listening to the story of the head of the institution and felt a new connection with him. They were now eager to know about everyone else’s life stories but were a little hesitant to go on the hot seat themselves. 🙂 However, the nurse from the medical unit, very courageously and gracefully agreed to be the next speaker on this series despite being scared of being on the “stage”.
Our team received a lot of appreciation from everyone for ideation and execution of this new initiative. We felt very happy and satisfied with the overall response and it gave us a boost to experiment with new ideas with a willingness to fail. The next day, we had organized our first staff session too, which went on to be a solid hit as well! :)) …
After these two events, I got a message from Sheetal, “Mai aise sessions ho is ke bare me sochati thi…sach me koi aisi team milegi aur kam hoga kya aise sawal aata tha… Par yeh ho raha hai… thank you once again” (“I used to think about such sessions but always questioned if I would ever get a team with whom this would be possible… but now it is happening… thank you once again”)… And I simply echo this thought and feel blessed to be a part of a team that is able to do such work. 🙌🏻🙏🏻
Love Joy Peace
