#Water puppetry constuction free

' The Ramjas Grounds transit camp where the residents are likely to be resettled lack proper water and sanitation facilities close to the accommodation', says Raju Bhaat, a puppeteer.

Raheja, a private developer will construct the huge 54-storey Raheja Phoenix in place of the puppeteersвЂ™ colony. As per the Delhi Development AuthorityвЂ™s (DDA) plan conceived in 2007, the colony's residents will be shifted to temporary housing. Kathputli Colony is the cityвЂ™s first in-situ slum redevelopment project. Puppets to pave way for DelhiвЂ™s tallest phoenix Another puppet breaks of into a song for a clean, healthy home and village. Vinod Bhaat dons on his handmade, turban-clad, painted face and with elaborate actions begins a story - a story of a village where there are no toilets, where young girls fear going out in the open, and children fall easy prey to diarrhea, dysentry and other health issues. Their modernВ 21st century puppets talk on sanitation, the perils of open defecation and even the good practice of hand washing!ДЄs a part of the 'Swach Bharat' initiative, these puppeteers have put up shows that encourage people to understand water, sanitation and health issues in a more local flavour. What began as a pilot project of 4 people, has scaled upto 14 puppeteers who hold shows and workshops across the country today. They can now carry their socially relevant messages further and also improve the income they generate. Project вЂ KayakalpвЂ™, an initiative of ENACTUS, SRCC, has helped them reach a larger audience. Muppets, paper mache masksВ or the bunraku puppets all channel their talks on what affects people in the colony today. Artistes today are carrying forward their legacy and writing scripts that pack a punch. No longer are enacted stories only those of brave kings and simpering maidens. In this colony of nearly 2500 households, there is no drinking water pipeline people queue up at the few public water standposts to fill their pots and buckets.ДЄnd so the little man puppet conveys the story of his times. In this make believe world, RaviвЂ™s puppet talks on issues that affect his real life world - water and sanitation, or the lack thereof. The puppet swings and dances, an exaggerated expression painted on his face, while Ravi mouths his speech in a sing song way. Ravi Bhaat is a master performer who makes a crisp, white вЂ kurtaвЂ™ attired man jump to his command. Yet, amid their depressing midst, we watch Ravi unruffled, cleanly and smoothly moving his fingers through a motley of strings. Added to this are the overflowing drains, sewage cluttered roads and dismal water conditions.

#Water puppetry constuction free

Here, soft songs turn into a cacophony and the closed spaces cramp their free artistic spirits. Tight lanes, haphazard houses and open sewers spilling into the pavement is their world.

Here folk dancers, jugglers, magicians and acrobats among others share their passion, practice their art, and live in this seemingly magical world but their reality isn't one big magical. What began as a temporary pitching of makeshifts tents in the early 1940вЂ™s by street performers from Rajasthan, has today bloomed into a quaint, quiet settlement. вЂKathвЂ™ means wood and вЂputliвЂ™ is the Hindi word for a doll or puppet. Kathputli Colony in Delhi is living testimony to this.

All the worldвЂ™s a stage and all men and women players in it, said Shakespeare.