Charras- building a new identity

This project is based on the apathy of the state, the law and the mainstream population that assumes the right to treat a community of people as ‘born criminals’. Can we bring a change?

This project is supported by the ANA - Arts Network Asia (www.artsnetworkasia.org), a group of independent artists, cultural workers and arts activists primarily from Southeast Asia that encourages collaboration, initiated or sited in Asia and carried out together with Asian artists.

Today,

a tortured face by itself no longer tells a story…

a petition letter with thousands of signs no longer has value…

spoken words cannot be heard…screaming only grabs attention….

and in the end

it is violence that makes news in the country of Satyagraha…

Three years ago, I visited Charranagar with a senior colleague for a felicitation programme. My colleague is very well aware of the issues of the De-notified tribes and is a chamipon of their cause. The evening function turned into night, as the crowds cheered the hero of the day- a young singer who had been selected for the final round of Sa Re Ga Ma (a prestigious singing competition at the national level). A rare achievement in this settelment. But what is even more rare is the capability of this person to compete with the rest of the participants, who have been trained under masteros since their childhood. This young singer is self taught with no mentor. As the voice of the young man resonated in the air, I strayed across to look around the ‘notorious’ settlement. My colleague sitting on the dias noticed my wanderings. She quietly sent two men for my ‘security’. (a single girl wandering alone in a ‘criminal’ society).It amazed me to notice how deeply embeded our fears are, that they can defy all rational reasonings. Equipped with all knowldege regarding the tortures inflicted on this DNTs my colleague still feared for my safety. Even knowledge could not fight the fears instilled in us since childhood of the ‘others’. Our fears have overcome our rationality.

Can anyone be a ‘born crimnial’? Havent we lost our rights to be called rational beings when faced against such myths? And above all fear of whom? Who are these ‘others’? History has made these ‘others’, but then history has certainly not been democratic in its labeling. Some Charras have been involved in thefts. Some of the incidents have been gruesome also. But did you punish the whole white world because their ancestors made the rest of the world a slave colony? Does one brand every bearded man a terrorist because some bearded men are terrorists? What kind of rationality promotes the logic of attributing the character of the part to the whole?This fear is reflected in our eyes and in our words.

And if media is truly as influential as experts say, then it is the fear reflected through the word that reflects in our eyes. The written word says that the ‘others’ are habitual offenders under law and so the eyes say that they have potential of ‘offending’ us. The written word says that the theft that took place a month back was committed by three Charras. It does not say that the theft was committed by two Indian men or by two unemployed youth, or two hungry youth or simply two men. The written word reiterates our fear into a belief which soon becomes a rational.Charras= Thieves

The ones who hold the power to torture also hold the power to uplift. The ones who hold the power to reiterate a myth also hold the power to shred a myth into pieces.

Hence the need to be heard- to be able to tell your story in your own words and not through the words of others. To determine what is said about you, where it is said and also how it is said, which in turn necessitates the ownership of the medium of communication. But medium of communication today are expensive both as equipments and as spaces to be broadcasted. Today voicing an opinion for your rights and needs requires you to not only be conversant in a foreign language but also in that of the media- a media that has no place for the marginalized.

The De-notified tribes

This place today is used as a 'beggars home'. It was formerly used as a prison for the Denotified tribe in Ahmedabad called the Charras. The Naukholi, were 9 rooms allotted to the tribe.

"Former director of the Baroda-based Tribal Literature Project and noted tribal scholar G.N. Devi suggests that the story goes back to the early years of the colonial rule. “In those times, whoever opposed the British colonial expansion was perceived as a potential criminal. Particularly, if any attempts were made to oppose the government by the use of the arms, the charge of criminality was a certainty.” The other plausible theory is that after the 1857 rebellion, the colonial authorities grew nervous about nomadic people who moved around carrying important commodities such as salt and honey, and possibly carrying intelligence the British could not control.The British labeled these nomadic tribes as “criminals” or “Notified tribes” under India's Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, to solve their law and order problems. This Act gave them powers to declare certain "tribes, gangs, or classes" as ‘born criminals'. The act required all the members of the “Notified tribes” to register with the local magistrate. The notified tribes were forcibly moved to permanent 'reformatory settlements' that acted as virtual prisons for the tribes and sources of cheap labor for the imperialist. The general rule being that, for any offence in the locality, without enquiry or evidence the people of these tribes could be arrested with non-bailable warrants."

In 1952, five years after independence, the Criminal Tribes Act was finally repealed. But instead of accepting these tortured tribes, whole heartedly in the main stream system, Independent India declared these tribes ‘denotified’. This new label is a forced memory of the past in the minds of these Tribes and that of the general public. The Government of independent India simply replaced the ‘criminal act’ by the 'Habitual Offenders Act' which preserved most of the provisions of the former Criminal Tribes Act. More than 50 years after independence, we still refer to these tribes as De-Notified Tribes (DNTs). They are still living with the tattoo of ‘born criminals’ on their forehead!

The Charras

Chharanagar is an urban settlement in Ahmedabad, dating back to the 19th century. The Chharas are just one of the many tribes that were labeled as “criminals” or “Notified tribes” by the British under India's Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, to solve their law and order problems. Independent India in 1952, declared these tribes 'denotified. Released from the forced labor camp (nau kholi- nine rooms were allotted to the entire tribe in the outskirts of Ahmedabad as a reformatory cell ) which had been their prison for the past forty years, the Chhara were resettled on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, in Chharanagar. Roughly three square miles, with a population of over twenty thousand.

In 1952, the constitution of Independent India changed only words and not acts. Members of denotified tribes are still harassed by the police and carry the stigma of their formerly “criminal” designation. They are still treated as Criminals by birth and subjected to harassment and persecution at the hands of the police and the state machinery. In the eyes of the society they are still criminals- the criminal label is enough to close the doors to regular employment and social segregation is common.

Aims and Objectives of the project

The aim of the project is to build a marketing strategy to bring dignity in the life of the de-notified tribes .The rhetoric of the media will be built through the collaboration of the languages of advertisement and theater.

The project will initiate new platforms for information dissemination and building public opinion such as projections in multiplexes during intervals, cabel advertisements, entertainment screens in outlets of Barista, CCD, local film clubs, windows of retail outlets etc.

The project is an exploration in the field of participatory art in which the theater artists of Charranagar will collaborate in shaping and designing the syntax along with the use of their bodies as the medium to be on record.

The project aspires to bring about awareness of the inhuman treatment meted out to the De-notified tribes and at the same time help to build a positive attitude towards their struggle.

Genre- Theater-Advertisements

Lasswell's maxim, "who says what to whom in what channel and with what effect," will determine the future of not only the channel owners but also of those of the ownerless ones. As we steadily move from an industrial age into an information age, it becomes more and more imperative that we learn to structure our own information and be capable enough to decode anothers, inorder to establish the rhetoric.

This project is an effort to reintegrate the Charra community with the mainstream society by breaking the myth of ‘Born criminals' The project aspires to construct a strategy of marketing human dignity for De-notified tribes in the country. The language of marketing and advertising has been restricted to the fields of tangible commercial products only. The rhetoric of marketing, if applied to social advertising with the same fervour, keeping in mind the psychology of the viewer, may yield the same success as aggressive marketing has done to the consumer market. The strategies of mass communication of appealing to the emotions, rational, and cultural facets of the targeted audience to persuade, can structure the given information to exhort change.The emphasis of todays advertisements has shifted from the product to the life style of the buyer. Advertisements today no longer tell us what to buy but how to live our lives and so they say ‘think apple’ and not buy apple, ‘just do it’ and not just buy it. This is very much true for social advertising and persuasion.

In the social rhetoric, one is not involved with the oppressed object but with the ‘upliftment’/ ‘empowerment’ of the attitude of the un-oppressed lot. The change in perception to a loftier attitude automatically changes the code of conduct of a person towards the socially under-prieveliged without preaching the non-enticing morality of goodness.

But today voicing an opinion for your rights and needs requires you to not only be conversant in a foreign language (English/ Hindi in the context of India) but also in that of the media- a media that has no place for the marginalized.

Theater advertisement is a pastiche of the languages of theater and advertising. It is said that the Chharas were born on the stage. They are excellent actors and singers with many productions to their credit. This unsung genre of theater has been used repeatedly by these artists to voice their opinion, but the galmour of other medium have always faded the lights in their stage. Considering this, I propose that the entire spot be created in the language of theater with heightened emotions, strong lights, limited space, props and exagerrated make up to highlight the unknown side of the Charras as artists. The recordings of these theater pieces ‘glamorously’ edited could be then used as spots.

If ‘the medium is the message’ today the vehicle of the advertising language driven in celluloid can become the message that theater has failed to convey. These cryptic advertisements of 30 seconds to 1 minute would be a participatory process where the Chharas would not only determine what is said about them but also how it is said- something that has never been in their hands. The actors will decide not only what needs to be said but also how it is said through their acting.

Display and dissemination

Ahmedabad is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of almost 51 lakhs. There are 9 multiplexes and 35 theaters in the city of Ahmedabad. The city has six local FM stations at Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHZ), Radio City (91.1 MHZ), My fm (94.3 MHZ), Radio One (95.0 MHZ), Gyan Vaani (104.5 MHZ), All India Radio (96.7 MHZ). All India Radio is broadcast on the AM band. Satellite radio was launched in the city by WorldSpace in 2005. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Ahmedabadis perform two basic sets of activities- Watch films (bollywood) and eat food and Eat food and watch films, in between they also shop. The media savvyness of these people is apparent by the above mentioned statistics. Therefore the most appropriate display and dissemination structure for our information will be multiplexes. Multiplexes have a dual advantage. They provide maximum viewership and high recall value possible due to the ease of repetition of the information. The Cinema Advertising Council reports that advertising in movie theaters is experiencing double-digit growth each year, partly because research suggests it is one of the best ways to reach young and affluent consumers.

Theater advertising takes on many forms, but generally speaking, it is any paid advertisement that appears on the movie screen or in the theater lobby. The two major methods are theater slides (ads that appear on the screen between movies) and filmed spots that appear directly prior to the movie trailers or during the intermission. While only large national advertisers such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola have the budgets for filmed ads, theater slides are affordable and can be a very effective persuasion device.These campaigns will be inserted in between the film intervals at various multiplexes, targeting the cultural and social upholders of society that reserve themselves the right to segregate an entire community from the mainstream.

The maximum audience at the multiplexes belongs to the younger age group (recently employed). These spots and slides will act as an awareness campaign for many who are not even acquainted with the issue, but are still passive participants in segregating the tribe. The notions of such segregation are embedded deep in the social structure which are imbibed much earlier by the children, if not through explicit learning but atleast implicitly through following actions of their elders. Other possible avenues for projections can be the screens in major food outlets such as Barista, Mc Donalds, Mint, Sub way and the likes. These outlets have small Plasma televisions which screen advertisements and songs. As almost 80 percent of Ahmedabadi families have their dinners outside on the weekend, these spaces become lucrative ground for persuasion.

Radio Mirchi has become a big craze in Ahmedabad. Radio theaters can be interspersed between popular programmes while getting the issue endorsed by a RJ (Radio jockey). RJs are becoming a cult figure in such cities with a huge fan following of their programmes. Retail outlets in Ahmedabad thrive on the shopping sprees of Ahmedabadis which to their benefit happen very often. Retail designing especially window displays have become an important part of wooing customers. These window displays can be utilised for slide presentations which will ensure a good visibility.As the campaign progresses, more such avenues can be included.

About Budhan Theater

"The Budhan Theatre was created in 1998 at Chharanagar, Ahmedabad by Dakxin Bajrange and Roxy Gagdekar.‘Budhan Theatre was founded on 31st August 1998 in commemoration of the day when India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, lifted the stigma of criminality from the settled tribes in 1952. Since 1998, Budhan Theatre has performed street plays to raise awareness about the condition of such tribes. Their goal is to demonstrate that Chharas are not “born criminals,” they are humans with real emotions, capacities, and aspirations. Each of their productions has dramatized the events surrounding custodial deaths, abductions, beatings and torture of such tribes throughout the country. Chharas are "born actors" and are inherently talented. Budhan Theater hopes to raise awareness about the plight of India's denotified tribes estimated to be anywhere around 60 million. The Chharas are traditional performers; their families have been acting for hundreds of years. Additionally, the youth now feel they are acting to change their lives, and in many real ways doing it to keep themselves alive. They are performing with what little they have — their bodies, their voices and their creative talent — to change their society so that they may have a future within it.’ "

http://budhantheatre.org/