Hello Everyone!
I have spent over five decades on earth so far and it is an exciting time as I am still learning more about who I am!
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| Looking towards the future |
Here are some things that will help you get an idea of who I really am.
Music
I used to be glued to the radio and was often located by my singing while I did most things.
I love music and singing since childhood. It was literally my life since I was a quiet child who didn't speak much.
I would listen to all kinds of music and sing both western and Hindi film songs.
I participated in many singing competitions and won many prizes for singing solo and in groups too.
Here are a few memorable highlights:
I started writing and composing songs in 1982. In July that year I performed my original song for the first time in public at a St. Francis DeSales Church parish programme. It was a programme for the Parish Priest, Fr. Thomas Thoomkuzhy's birthday. My sister sang along with me.
1985 - Winning the First Prize in the 'Youth Festival held to commemorate the International Year of the Youth in Delhi. Sang my original song “True Love” written and composed by me. I was accompanied by my sister and a band. This performance caught the eye of a person who was instrumental in getting me a chance to sing on television.
1986-1987 - Sang 6 of my original songs for 3 television programmes on Delhi Doordarshan - first in the Delhi Metro Channel followed by the Doordarshan National Channel. In these 3 television programmes too I was accompanied by my sister and a band. The programme on DD's National channel was repeated several times because of the very good response.
Here's an excerpt from one of the television programmes aired on national TV. The video quality is poor as it was recorded on a prerecorded video cassette and is very old too.
1990 - Wrote and composed an original song 'Song for Women' on request for the Bicentennary Celebrations of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, held at Mumbai. The song was recorded in a studio, Leon D'Souza gave background music while Aarti Rao gave her voice for the track used in the special programme.
1991 - Sang 6 of my original songs on All India Radio, Goa during a holiday visit.
I went on to write several songs through the years including secular songs, gospel songs and cause related songs.
2001 - Wrote, composed, produced, sang and recorded a song, 'Say No to Hate’ which was inspired by the tragic World Trade Centre bombing on September 11, 2001.
2007 - ‘Suggested Artist’ at the Song of the Year Contest 2007 for my song ‘Say No to Hate.’
2008 - Semi Finalist at the U.K Songwriting Contest 2008 for my song – ‘The Power of the Blood’ in the Gospel Category.
2009 - Semi Finalist at the U.K Songwriting Contest 2009 for my song – ‘Say No to Hate’ in 2009 in the Open Category.
2010 - First Indian Finalist at the U.K. Songwriting Contest 2010 for my song – “Follow Me” in the Faith/Christian Category
- Suggested Artist at 'Song of the Year Contest' 2010 for my song - "Follow Me"
Some years ago I was very happy to hear my song 'Follow Me' plan on an Internet Radio Station - 'I AM'
I have written, composed, sang, recorded songs and published some of my songs online through various websites including Reverbnation, Soundcloud and YouTube. A few of them are finished recordings with background music while a good number are sung acapella without background music.
Writing
Being a very quiet child, I hardly conversed with anyone in my family. I found a new lease of life when my Class Teacher from school in Std IV, Mrs. Anies Sebastian taught us to write poems. Suddenly the world of words opened its arms and welcomed me into itself.
Mrs. Anies encouraged our class to write articles for our school magazine. Thus I wrote my first piece 'A Prayer for Courage' which got published in St. Francis DeSales School's Annual School Magazine 'The Quest.' It was written in the aftermath of the Delhi Riots following the assassination of Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Since then I wrote a poem or writing for the school magazine and even for our Class Magazines every year.
I wrote my first letter to the editor in 1985 when I was in the 9th Std! It was a short note thanking the Times of India for the new 'The Times Offspring' section which later became its 'Education' section.
One day I came across the 'Teenager' magazine in the SFS school library. I saw some poems published in it and decided to send in my poems too. To my surprise they got published! The first one titled 'Autumn' was published in the July 1986 edition, while the seond one 'The Reawakening - When' was published in the January 1987 edition.
I also wrote for a newsletter published by some youngsters titled 'Vicinity' and for the Parish Bulletin of the St. Francis DeSales Church. Sadly I lost all the copies of the Parish Bulletins I had saved up as my father gave it away without asking me. I still grieve the loss of those Bulletins.
A Shocking Discovery
Art & Paintings
Drawing and art has been a part of our family. I guess that is because my Dad was a very good artist. I was blessed to be able to draw well even during myschool days. However, it wasn't until after several years that I discovered how therapeutic it is. During a time of great stress, I painted the 'Mughal Princess' painting and found the experience very calming. Since then I didn't look back!
I experimented with various mediums and allowed art to flow through me! The result is here for you to see.
Here are some of my paintings and artwork:
Cover Songs
Singing was a passion when I was a child. I was so glued to the radio that I learned songs very fast. Not just that I used to mimic the sounds of the singers and try to sing just like them. I would sing the male voice and female voices too.
As I grew up and got more involved with spiritual matters over the years, those songs faded away. It was only recently that I realized that I have a gift and that I should use it well to glorify my Creator. Since my voice is unique and different and hard to find, I felt I should sing more and give all the glory for my voice to the Lord Who gave me such a voice. Thus began a new chapter in singing cover songs.
One of the biggest discoveries I made since I started singing these cover songs was that many of the old songs I loved were sad songs. They revealed that I was able to relate to them well and that was why they were close to my heart.
They too were a kind of therapy for me as it helped me express my suffering without really saying anything to anyone.
Acting, Scriptwriting & Direction
I got my first chance to act in a play in Std IV. I acted in various stage and street plays too.
I was asked to write a script on the theme 'What is happening to our Mother Earth?' And this play was performed by various groups at various places. I was happy to be invited as a special guest when the play was performed by a school's primary section in their annual day programme!
Participating in school, college and hostel programmes kept me busy through the years. Later I got to be a part of a short film and also play the part of Mary in a Good Friday Drama presented by my church.
Scriptwriting - My first play
I used to write poems and stories but it was by request that I wrote my first play. Ms. Gracie Joseph, Registrar of the College of Social Work told me that the nearby church (Our Lady of Dolours, New Marine Lines) needed a play that the children can put on during Children's Mass. The title of the play was to be 'What Is Happening to Mother Earth?'
I think she felt I could do it because I worked for the environmental project 'Forum for Environmental Concern' (FEC) then. I remember I had a week to write it. A couple of days went by and then suddenly there were just two days left.
In those two days, I envisioned mother earth being in a broken and bruised state and a court case being held with God as the Judge. To segregate the ones who abused the earth and those who cared about it, two characters were made. All of creation came and testified before God about what man had done to mother earth.
I was able to write the script in time and the play was given to the church. I didn't get to see the play being performed. After that I wondered what I should do with the script. Since I was setting up a Library and handling documentation for FEC. I kept the script in the library thinking perhaps it could be used by more people.
True enough, there was an enquiry from someone who was part of a youth group. He took the play and their teams performed it in different places. He then came and informed me that the play had been picked up by St. Paul's School at Dadar and that the children from Primary School would be performing the play on their Annual Day. In fact I was invited to come and see their performance.
I remember how special they made me feel as they introduced me to the children who were getting ready for the performance saying, 'This is the Aunty who wrote the play you are acting in!' Later as I sat in the auditorium and saw this big group of children perform my play I was overwhelmed. I hadn't thought that the play would reach this far! I just wrote it on request.
Scripting Street-Plays
When I was a student of Social Work. I volunteered to act in a street play for Sakhya the Anti-Dowry Guidance Cell. After many performances of the play, I got to be part of another play. The script was not developed and Probir Bose gave me the opportunity to put into words the anguish of an unborn female foetus whose mother was considering abortion. I wrote more scripts for street plays too.
Scripting Stage Plays
While working with children in 2005 I thought of ways to bring the Word of God alive for them. This gave me the idea of writing plays that the youth would perform for the children to bring stories from the Bible alive for them.
Fr. Aloysius Selva Kumar was a very open minded leader with vision. He facilitated everything that was required in bringing everything together. The volunteers of St. Anthony's Church, Gandhinagar were excellent. Whether it organizing things for the children's camp or acting in the Bible plays they did it so well.
I started with the Parable of Talents. After the youth performed the play, I got the children to list out the characteristics of the three servants during the discussion. The whole board was filled with their answers and I was overjoyed to see how much they learned from the play. Any teacher could not have conveyed so much with a lecture.
This led to more Bible plays. As we had a Children's Sunday once every month, it was a chance to showcase one more story. The best part was that at the end of the year, we got the children to pick their own stories from the Bible, write, direct and act in their own plays. It was a very special Drama Competition! The children were very excited, they would get together in the evenings and prepare their play.
The plays we wrote and performed as part of the Children's Programme included The Parable of Talents, The Rich Man & Lazarus, Three Men & The Fiery Furnace, The Prodigal Son, Jesus & Zacchaeus, The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax- Collector, The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith and Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant.
Scripting for Television
I was very excited when I got a job in CBN - Christian Broadcasting Network. They produced programmes for television which were broadcast through mainstream television channels. I was given the opportunity to write host scripts for 'Ek Nayee Zindagi' and wrote a set of them before the programme's production was moved to New Delhi.
After this, I was asked to write host scripts for their children's programme 'Khushi Ki Duniya.' As I had worked with children for many years, I loved doing this job!
One of the exciting things I thoroughly enjoyed doing was writing a song depicting how the children's programme was produced. This was for the 100th Episode of Khushi Ki Duniya. Sangeetham Prabhakar asked me to write a song and said the song should have different styles in it.
I wrote and composed the 100th Episode song. It was fun recording for this song with different voices. The last part of the song had to be sung in a qawwali style. Sangeetham got Ruknuddin, a professional qawwali singer to sing it! Then came the video recording. The whole team had a great time shooting for this unforgettable episode.
Social Work - Voluntary & Professional
As a teenager, I encountered the bitter truth about the great suffering some people have to endure when I met a 12 year old gangrape victim in a remand home. Though I had suffered due to rejection too, my suffered seemed like nothing before what that girl was going through.
Here is a poem I wrote in my blog based on my encounter with the 12 year old gangrape survivor's predicament -
Lone Girl - A Survivor | A poem on my experience of meeting a gangrape survivor
It was a series of meetings that made a great impact on my life. I began to think about those like that girl who had no voice or ability to make a better life for themselves. I wondered what happened to such people.
The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that something needed to be done for these people and I decided that I would study Social Work and become a social worker. This led me to get admission in the College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan in Mumbai. This was the beginning of one the best chapters of my life.
Volunteering as a student
While I was still a student of Social Work, I began volunteering for various activities and supporting causes.
1988 Coordinate Committee for Vulnerable Children, Mumbai. Assisted as a volunteer in organizing the first rally of street children held in Bombay
1988-91 Sakhya, Anti-Dowry Guidance Cell, Mumbai. Volunteer, helped in organizing the yearly awareness programme called ‘Avhan.’ Did the main role in a street play titled 'Mukhauta' to raise awareness among people on dowry. It was performed several times on the streets of Mumbai. Co-wrote, composed and sang a song on Anti-Dowry Awareness for a Cassette produced by Sakhya.
1993- 2000 Tulsiwadi Slum Community, Mumbai. Concept Creator, Social Worker. Worked with riot-affected children who were first generation learners. Organized tuition classes, extracurricular activities, 7 residential camps and a behavioral modification programme. Reported about in the print media in Times of India, Indian Express and on television news through Star News and Kiran, a programme on Doordarshan.
November 2001- July 2002 The Deaf Way Foundation, Hyderabad. Taught and conducted a 7 month course in English for adult Deaf students
June - December 2005 St. Anthony’s Church, Hyderabad. Conceptualized, organized and implemented a Children’s Programme and a 6-day Summer Camp. Wrote and directed 9 plays based on Biblical stories that were performed by the church youth.
2003 to 2014 Various NGOs, Hyderabad. Volunteered for events and activities organized by various NGOs working for:
- Street children,
- Orphans,
- Physically challenged children,
- HIV positive children,
- Cancer patients,
- Beggars and destitute
- Youth and
- The elderly in an Old Age Home
2004 Prison Ministry of India, with Sisters of Charity S.C.C.G, Hyderabad. Volunteered and assisted activities specially organized for the women prisoners in the Chanchalguda Special Prison for Women
May 2009-April 2012 Deaf Enabled Foundation, Hyderabad. Prepared website content, wrote project proposals, promotional letters, press releases, handled documentation and legal paperwork. Prepared presentations and conducted training programmes for deaf women, students and workers. Was MC at the International Day of the Deaf Celebrations programmes where major dignitaries including Governors and Ministers were chief guests.
January - June 2011 Carpe Diem Foundation, Hyderabad. Conducted sessions on values for the children who are orphans and semi orphans
June 2013 – March 2014 Prison Ministry, Hyderabad. Conducted talks and organized activities for the women prisoners of the Chanchalguda Special Prison for Women
September 2014 to 2021 SOI – Street Heroes of India, Kochi, Kerala. Conducted and supported activities at Children’s Homes for SOI. Took English classes for the girls in Valsalya Bhavan, Don Bosco Centre, conducted and co-ordinated other activities such as workshops on music therapy, art therapy and a picnic to Marari Beach.
Looking forward to the future
I look back and realize how blessed I am because I am able to enjoy doing so many things and be a part of so many activities. God has been so wonderful and good to me.
Yes, there have been a lot of ups and downs in my personal life, but I understand that God allowed them only so I could understand the pain of others who suffer a lot in their lives. With His help, I hope I can be a beacon of light to those who are struggling in their lives.
I thank God for every single person who has been helpful, kind and supportive to me over the years. There were a few good people who stood by me during the most painful times of my life, I pray that the Lord would bless them a hundred time more, meet them at the point of their need and fulfill the desires of their heart. A special "Thank you!" to each of you!
The future beckons and I have said 'Yes' to my Lord for all that He has planned for me. I don't know what lies ahead but He surely knows and I totally trust Him.
I know I can trust Him because I have felt my Lord's presence in my life during the darkest days and nights of my life. He never left me alone. Even when I was at the lowest point of my life and feeling suicidal He was with me. He sent His angels to ensure I was safe.
My prayer for everyone is that you would personally experience the love of God, the Father Who created you for there is no one who can love you like He does!
Thank you for reading through this very long write-up about me.
I wish you the very best and pray that you live to fulfill your uniqueness and bring out the talents, gifts inside you - no matter what kind - so you too can shine wherever you!
My joy is to shine and bring glory to God my Creator! I pray that you will know that joy too.
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