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Clips of history
MANGALA RAMAMOORTHY
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A collection of newspaper clippings by street children tracks the Revolt of 1857.
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For Leaf Foundation, a New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, it started as an effort to keep the street children engrossed in reading but soon it turned into a mini research of a sort. The topic was 150 years of India’s First War of I
ndependence – the Revolt of 1857. And it was a packet of toffee that actually lured these kids into finding news items related to the topic in various English, Hindi and Urdu papers. Soon the collection of newspaper clippings went into a couple of hundreds and the organisers realised that it had become a good source of information.
“We had gathered so much information, which we thought would be a good educative tool for common people and researchers alike,” says Madhu Rohila, President, Leaf Foundation.
The result is the exhibition that’s being held at Poorva Sanskritik Kendra (PSK), Laxmi Nagar, till this month-end.
The innumerable clippings of different sizes have been pasted on plain thermocole sheets and displayed across the corridor on the first floor of the venue, so as to catch the attention of not only the dedicated visitors but also of the casual passers-by.
Editorials too
At the look of it, the display seems amateurish but it is the content that matters. Information ranges from small events held to celebrate 150 years of the Revolt in different parts of North India to news items about the mammoth rally of 30,000 youth who travelled from Meerut to New Delhi tracing the famous Kranti Path taken by the soldiers during the Revolt.
The clippings also includeeditorials of different newspapers on the various political and cultural issues of the revolt, along with controversies and debates on the subject. For example, stories on why the remains of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Moghul ruler who surrendered to the British and was deported to Rangoon where he died later, are not being brought to India. Also, there are cuttings on various heroes of the Revolt, their legacy and the important monuments of that time.
Other than the ones displayed, due to lack of space, nearly 100 clippings have been kept on the counter for those interested. Later, the material will be available for reference at the NGO office and on its website too.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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