Singing Skylarks in Deccan Herald

•'Singing SkYlarks'to the rescue ofKereThanda

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Founded in 2008, the 'Singing Skylarks' is amusic groupand has taken up singing as a tool to serve humanity .

singing as a tool to serve humanity. younger siblings while the elders areTheyareinvolvedinvarioussocial-up- away at work in hence a conunon

HUBlI: The Kere Thanda is a liftmentactivitieslike providing educa- scene. Strangling their educationsmall hamlet with around 275- tionfortlieunderprivileged,helpingin rights, children are also sent to300 houses in the blazing district de-addiction, and supporting the de- Mysore, KOlar and other places toof,Bellary, It Is barely four Ion prived population ofthe societyily-rais" "'WmMnsagarcane fields.from the World Heritage site .ing funds through their music con- Alcoholism is another setback.Hampi, and five Ion from Kama- certs. Even women consume considerableIspur, which has the distinction of . The 'Kere Thanda project', an ambi- quantities of alcohol ending up spend-housing the lone Kannada uni- ,tious project taken up by Singing Sky- ing half of their wages-on it. Owing toverS1t!f.The 'Thanda' or tribal larkswas basically triggered by Singing these habits, the families have lib-group has a population of around Skylark members Vibha Venkatesh solutelyunaygenichumansettlement : .1,500, mostly belonging to the and NaridiniArunkumar, along with a conditions.Banjara tribe, migrated originally group ofvolunteers led by Girish. "Wefrom Rajasthan. However, the ge- do not believe in wasting our free time. Second'phaseosraphicalproximityofthethan- Rather, we would like to contribute our . Under the second phase, thedato acclaimed plaas like Hampj pie to the society. The Kere Thanda Singing Skylark. members have al..and Hospet serves no advantage project is very near to us as it is achal- ready begun collecting clothes. andto these people. ' lenge for us. Observing the sorry con- pedagogic materials for the children;

ditionofthethandawedecidedtohold This would persuade children to re-The appaling condition of the pop- , the project in two phases. The first join schools or either gain education

ulation can well narrate the tale of phase involved collection of data and informally.neglect here. A galore of problems the second, which is still on, involves The team has planned to educatelike over-sized families, illiteracy, un- mobilisation of funds, inviting and im- the women folk about growing veg-

, employment, child labour, extreme plementing practical and progressive etables around their houses whichalcoholism and poverty, besides civic solutions to improve the thanda", says can at least meet the nutritional de-problems likegrave scarcity of drink- Vibha Venkatesh; mands of the family.ing water, crampy roads, and unhy- - . They will betaughtto grow flowersgenic living conditions just form the First phase which can add some more to the faro-surfaciallevel of problems. Inspiteof During the first phase of their visit, iIy income. ,this unsavouryhuman conditions, they dividedthemselves into fiveteams . The seeds for this will be collectedthe hamletisjust another quarry for and identified the day-to-day chal- from.the Forestdepartmenteffieeatthe Igovernment which has recon- lenges that the people ofKere Thanda Malleshwaram illBangalore. 'They'ciled itself to the grousing popula- are facing. . will also be distributing ORS packetstion. Each family here had 8-10 people and packaged food to families with

With 2-3 members working as daily tiny tots tQ prevent the spread of sum-11le 'Singing Skylarks' wage workers to feed the entire family. mer borne epidemics. They are hold-But, a Bangalore-based music This fetched them just around ~ 200 ing talks with. the concerned officials

group 'Singing Skylarks' did not just per day, which is grossly insufficient to divert a bus to the thanda atleastsulk on the failure of the govern- for a basic living. ' _ a day. They are also arrangingment, but havethemselves come for- The financial constraint is such that addiction and health check-upward to help the people of Kere theyareunabletocultivateevenasmall camps to make the populationThanda. patch ofland that theyown, And ifat all healthy. ' .Founded in 2008, the 'Singing they get some yield, they cannot reach .All these practical efforts by the

Skylarks'is a music group compris- the market as there is no facility of plucky Singing Skylarks has proved toing of engineers, consultants, film transportation from the thanda. They be a 'Talisman'to the thanda people.makers, heads ofNGOs, radio jock- have to walk down 18km to reach the They are now hoping to dispel the, eys, media persons, and others. Un- nearest market. clouds of despair and breathe it new ,liketheir cosmopolitan counterparts, To meet the growing financial de- air of progress ..who spend their time buzzing mand, children and women are put to Further, the Singing Skylarks arearound the luxury malls or taking work at the sugarcane fields where also planing to reknit the villages ofpride in forming an inert social com- they earn a meagre of~ 50 for per day Raichur district which were affectedmunity looking forward for social of hard IabOltf1: by the recent floods.service! this te,am has taken up Snot-nosed'eh'' DH News service

Dlvyashri Mudakavi

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