Bombay: First stop of our book tour

March 8 – 13, 2024

Here are some impressions of a few events we held.

Besides Asha, Priyanka  (15 or 16) and Sachin (15 came to Bombay to be part of the book tour. We’ve chosen them because Priyanka is quite interested to work with kids and she always puts efforts to come front to take responsibility for our community center with kids. So we thought this trip might be a good chance for her to experience and learn and see new things and gain confidence.

Sachin always struggles to go to school but when it comes to our Villa Janwaar (= community center) he is always ready to help.He is very creative, always comes up with new  ideas for activities in art and craft, He is a very good listener and only replies after thinking about the topic. He doesn’t rush things – which is important. Here is a very interesting story about him – he was very sick.

They seamlessly fit into the team and stepped out of their comfort zone and engaged with and spoke in front of many children – a first for them.

Our first event at Bandra West skatepark

Janwaar was warmly welcomed at the skatepark – some Bombay skaters had been to Janwaar and were very happy to see us coming to their town.

With soccer girls and coaches at Parcham Collective, an NGO working out of Mankhurd, Mumbai

This event brought a breakthrough for Asha. She heard from the coaches there that they are dealing with the same porblems she is dealing with in Janwaar and she realised how much daily work they put in in comparison to her own efforts.

At Oberoi International School in Jogeshwari, Bombay

Here is what Kanjal Ahuja wrote on linkedin about this event – Kanjal organised the event from the school side:

“I am struck by Asha’s reality and where she comes from. Being “an adivasi, an untouchable,” she shared how girls and women in her village are not allowed to look people in the eye as it is perceived as a sign of disrespect. She broke free from this to go on to represent India as a World Champion Skateboarder. This, thanks to the skating park Ulrike decided to build in the tiny village of Janwaar where Asha, Sachin and Priyanka are from.
We had the privilege of having Skater Girl Asha, Sachin and Priyanka ”look us all in the eye” to share their stories with our students at school. Ulrike and I believe a portal between two worlds has been opened.
This one will be a to be continued…”

Avinash Kothuri thank you for joining us, you are the most amazing MC!”

At Kitab Khana, my favourite book store in Bombay

We did a book presentation at Kitab Khana, Churchgate, Bombay. It is a beautiful old book store. Thank you Sumit Mullick for your support to make this happen. It was wonderful.

Asha told parts of her story and performed her rap song, Priyanka and Sachin told their Janwaar story and the audience fell in love with them. Avinash flew in from Bangalore to be once again our “MC”, Gaurav paid us a visit, he once did a photography workshop in Janwaar and “Dodo”, aka Faredoon Bhujwala, a classic Bombay-Wala, invited us for Vada Pao. A Bombay special. Street food at its best, just outside the book store.

We walked down to the Gateway of India where a great day came to an end

It is so nice to see how everything is coming together again – the “old” Janwaar gang making new friends and enlarging the community of changemakers. Thank you all!

At a school in West Bandra

The book “Skater Girl Asha” and the book tour celebrates the simple fact, that Asha, just like other children in the village of Janwaar, have found their voice and are heard. Our interactions with the young learners and changemakers at various schools in Mumbai focus exactly on this: How do give young people a space where they can find their voice and be heard!

Yesterday we are at a college in Bandra West to do exactly this.

I could already sense in the preparation for thiis event, that the organizers were very busy with the annual exams and many other things and that our event wasn’t high on their priority list – which is somehow accaptable, not at all necessary though.

So, yesterday morning turned out to be – from my perspective – a disaster. The organizers greeted the “guest”, the foreigner which was me – and simply forgot about Asha, Priyanka and Sachin. I told the organizer on the school yard that the kids are here and I introduced them to her. Half-hearted she shook their hands, visibly uncomfortable doing so, and she rushed us to the principle’s office and disappeared.

We moved on to the auditorium where more than 100 students were waiting for us. Again only I was introduced as the guest. I felt annoyed and my anger grew.

Avinash our marvellous MC “saved” the situation, took over and gave Asha, Priyanka and Sachin centre stage. The students who were present had no questions for us after they’d heard Asha’s and the kids stories and articulated no need for any change in their environment. Quite stunning, I thought. There wasn’t a single student who had a spark in his/her eyes.

As it turned out later, they were “pushed” into this “meeting” and had to participate – in the middle of their exam preparations. This is what some of them told me afterwards. Their mind was clearly somewhere else. Only at the very end a little interaction finally happened, which we welcomed with open arms.

Once the session closed the organizer came to me and “ordered” me to join the photo opt for the school’s archive. I refused to join. I didn’t want to be used as a document for the school’s activities and interactions with people from outside. And I told them so. I said: “How dare you to only ask me over and over again and ignore the main actors, the kids!”

For me it was unacceptable that the same people who just applauded Asha and the children for their achievements were NOT capable to accept Asha and the children on eye level.

I articulated strongly, probably too strong, and clearly my discomfort with the situation. They were in disbelief: “We fed these kids, gave them a chair …. how can you say we didn’t treat them well!” They said: “We were told by “Sir” that you come for a book launch and we prepared for that!” I said didn’t you read the emails we were sending back and forth which were clearly stating that we are 5 people?” I asked. The principle answered: “I didn’t read your emails! I did what I was told to do!” Then I said: “But you saw for at least half an hour before the event, that we were 5 and not only me, no? Wouldn’t this be the time to realise that there are more guests than me?”

There was no way that the organiser and the principle would understand what I was saying. I give them the benefit of the doubt that they didn’t act like this on purpose. Yet their behaviour to draw this clear lines between me and the rest came out so naturally because it is so deeply embedded in their culture and their minds – kids have no voice and no space in auch a situation. It left our message as a “sweet” idea, it didn’t show ANY respect at all for the children and it really annoyed me.

It was in sheer contrast to the Oberoi International School yesterday, where the teachers AND the principle communicated absolutely on eye-level with Asha, Priyanka and Sachin. They looked them in the eyes, really took their time with them and wanted to know from them – in order to better understand where they are coming from and to value and respect their voice.

The Big Final at the Museum of Solutions

After another book interaction at a school in Bombay, I took the Janwaar kids to the Museum of Solutions (MuSo) – what a wonderful place it is!!! A museum for children!

Play, discover, make, grow – that’s their motto.

As you can easily see, we had a blast This museum is kids’ heaven. It only opened last November 2023.