the greatest of stones begin with the
rain drop the greatest of all changes
begin with a mere thought the graces of
all changes begin with a ripple in fact
I’d like to believe that in a single
lifetime ripples rather than change are
possible in the beginning of last month
the city of Delhi saw a ripple a group
of 12 won’t leave oils as I like to call
them fear Leslie took over the stage at
an international spoken word poetry slam
to tell their stories of truth and hope
they use juxtaposition leaves allegory
they used all of the literary devices to
talk about things that were important to
them from female feticide to their
dreams for their country they later said
that writing and speaking poetry helps
them to find their voice somewhere in
this country there’s a child sitting
under the streetlight next to a fly over
take the exit from the circle walk
another kilometer there’s another child
squatting outside a one-bedroom toppling
tent and this is not the first time that
it isn’t a game of pirates and tents
crusto houses take a turn there’s a park
bench that’s home to a family of two an
orphan and a stray dog smelling like
city smoke and scars what is common in
all these stories is a smile that seems
it was two and a half years that I
convinced my 22 year old self to take a
decision that would change my entire
life I joined the fellowship at teach
for India and started teaching fifteen
bundles of all kinds of emotions in a
low-income classroom in the community of
the Dragonoid Extension in death it was
there probably more than my own years as
a student that I realized that in
classrooms centered on mastering the art
of memorization and never-ending race
for Marx was overtaking the everlasting
desire to create day in and day out
our children are consumers of TV of
internet and even literature where our
children as creators and what about
their voice it’s a big question mark we
live in the times of the global D
prioritization of the arts and our
dreams especially for children from
low-income communities are limited to
academic outcomes and the security of
employment but for children who’ve never
seen open doors to voicing their
opinions telling their stories leaving
their words into metaphors to imagine a
world of self-aware and empowered others
seems next to impossible I know that I
come from a country where a very social
economic fabric is twisted into the
buckets of the haves and the have-nots
and yet I believe something as
fundamental as finding one’s voice being
able to express oneself should not be
what is the issue that we’re really
talking about here for children who
cannot decide the circumstances of their
birth for children who cannot decide
their religion and the list goes on and
on and on the issue is the lack of the
ability to say yes the lack of the
ability to say no the lack of the
ability to say anything at all we’ve
made our children to hold back so much
now they now hold back from living from
sinking from believing the absence of a
button doesn’t imply the lack of
problems
it only means that we haven’t learned to
see any better the question remains who
gives them their words this is Jenna
she’s smiling right now and she smiles
during her polls but in all seriousness
once she said something that has made a
lasting impact my name
there are poets virgin poems but still
something is missing
the problem with poets jealousies is
that they do not use their art for a
greater purpose poetry can be used in
classrooms to learn to gather knowledge
and if you don’t believe me let’s have
an example of it right here right now
write a poem with me I invite you to do
that
let’s go choose emotions one emotion let
me connect to right now right emotions
can be happiness anger sadness
excitement euphoria any emotion choose
an emotion in your head take 10 seconds
to choose your emotion when you are done
choosing your emotion give me a snap
like this height so many of you’ve
already chosen emotions lovely the first
line of your poem has to have your
emotion and then is attached with it so
I choose the emotion of love and the
first line of my poem they got the sense
love it now I’d like you to
of a color that you associate most with
your English as you do that I’ll do the
process for myself as well when I do
workshops for children they come up with
a Leslie green blue orange yellow for
love sometimes Adhan as an adult I get
restricted to choose between red and
pink for love and I choose pink so my
color is pink if you’ve all chosen your
color give me a snap again lucky
now think of something which really
brings that kind of life wave so if it
is pink children usually give me the
responses of notice neither your lips
the new your cheeks many responses like
that um and ask them to think that
they’re walking on the street and
there’s this little red puppy that comes
walking to them and the puppy opens his
mouth
that’s tongue is it pink is it really
really pink
yeah so love is as pink as a little
puppies time for your emotion and for
your color think of an object that
brings your color or life I make his
second line when you are done making
your second line put your hands on your
heads perfect
all right let’s move to the next place
and now we’ll play with some sounds
right I want you to show me your hands
like this jazz yeah perfect take a small
pinky finger yeah I’m going to make you
listen to the sound which reminds me of
love and we all think of the sounds that
remind us of the emotion that he chose
for the phone okay let’s stop tapping
our pinky finger on a hand close your
hand start using the second finger me a
little louder with you yeah start using
yes I can see those is not loaded both
Enya 15 I like talking it it sounded
like applause in the end but it wasn’t
really a choice here I love that it is
the sound of raindrops I grew up in that
Uppsala where it rains almost all the
time and now that I live in Delhi I miss
the rain so much that every time it
rains reminded of love it sounds like
the pitter-patter of the rain think of
one sound that connects to your emotion
and build upon when I done building your
phone give me a beautiful smart the best
smile yeah now I can see so many smiling
imagine if teachers and poets want their
powers together and used tools of art as
a means to learn in the classroom
imagine if the chose to build a word
when every child would find their voice
imagine then building leadership
expression and mindfulness in children
through using the arts and not just
poetry using all of the odds a big
question that a lot of people ask me and
its response starts with an eye roll and
generally ends with the poem that we
just did is it art
for Shakespeare and Picasso lovers and
mm-hmm well as a child I woke up two
garlic’s versus playing on the tape
recorder every single morning it is a
heart I need not a stone it Wells up
with sadness and why not I don’t know
where I’d be without that cousin but
when I say pretty talk about women in
her bones I see what heart belongs to
everyone really looks like we need to
bring that halo that however on the head
of artists because as for expression is
no longer an elitist movement something
that makes someone valuable to the world
is that opinion that point of view and
arts help is to express that is the
greatest magic of finding our voice and
every individual has the capacity to
find their voice I will not show you a
video of my try little coils and they
experience finding their voice
with which you don’t last everybody is
like I wasn’t hydrogen kaha go dial it
in concomitant yahoo sonic museum new
puzzles you stay login it
[Music]
Salani test irani paris le couteau
father to talk in Malayalam film Kabhi
neurotic Kevin Harvick – no Milton could
you study here with us even to cube the
poem Riddler
no this man is definitely but because it
is my first of all first phone and like
when I wrote that poem like many ideas
like the first one was my like about old
feeling I described in that but now in
poems like I’d at home I use volume
issue like so that was that one
contained like happiness sadness that’s
later taught at home yeah coup de
Camargo me not to take you jelly Oh
meaning Jesus Mega Man has such happy my
name is Aldo studying a chapter of
Fisher so in my party telling them is
farmer typically came to with a Bugatti
this cupcake is not about that you up
today passes problem man
but going batty maybe mammoth lung like
you’re taking Nijo Hotel put a lorry
runs in a minute why do you shy and
mustard only something happen this
chemical say sup puts his maximum would
your farmer that gives up
if me parish Arlington’s economy Nevada
ha boo social that he made a change in
the health arena but person a human
scale cookies of nature up everything
just a so Shikata accepted these are the
head then move like 12 or so you are and
try please let an invisible they walk so
sink a proper thing getting your team
your designer wear and your Diwali
quietly taking home early lungs and
weekly package for me the happiest
memory general cloud that when we went
cuckoo together beyond for that trip and
that love because over there we spend
five days together and we got to know
each other because it boba didn’t know
each other so we really like that we are
together and we wrote poems we like drag
get so many things you like so many fun
things which jelly like made us feel
that we are getting some other and one
[Applause]
before I talked about Anjali let’s
debrief the phone that widget a little
bit and what the children idle when you
all load that home today one of the
things that experience the first thing
they experience that your choices were
not bound by the constraints of being
right or wrong all motions were right
okay
the second imagination when you have to
think about colors and make connection
your imagination was part but think of
what it does to children
the third thing expression being able to
express yourself using art as a self
satisfying and self-justifying end in
itself all these things happen when you
were writing this that form and when all
these children wrote the poems that they
wrote now let’s come back to Antony
and Lee whose eyes refuse to accept
things as they are whose eyes refused to
stop shine
Anjali I entered this community looking
at so much scarcity around but until he
dropped me the meaning of abundance last
year Anjali decided to help other
children in her community to start
finding their voice as she found her own
yours in this life we can all do great
we can only do small things with great
love I think about Anjali and I think
about how we cannot love our children
greatly until we give them spaces that
give them a voice that no longer treat
them as unfortunates in spaces where
children feel then they get
unconditional positive regard and they
have a voice they create success for
themselves and replicated children feel
so empowered by a love then they are
able to achieve in going back to the
sound of Delhi traffic after an Israel
workshop is almost like breaking out of
the dream in these times of climate
instability when the researchers called
summer mountain a natural resource that
has to be exploited in the best way as
possible I think about pooja and her
ways of engaging with the world and they
remind me that mountains and lakes are
not items on an document when dunwyn
speaking speaks fondly of her dog who
sleeps like a log and Kashmiri news rod
was only 8 years old saying that hunger
is the emotion she connects to must have
unlearned about perspective how being
with children and hearing their voice
has changed my life if I try to explain
that it’s an effort in futility
I only know like Emily Dickinson said
that sometimes I look at
and it begins to shine let us all join
our head hearts and hands to collaborate
and create ripples in the young minds
with touch borne by giving them a nod a
mic obtain a boy so that they can claim
their voice and accept the voice of
others only in them can we say to them
as peasant mudfest said bull boy hateful
on but Bob justman tsubaki matzah boy
he’s such sinned ahead boy jo kuch kehta [Applause]