Six youngsters standing in a semicircle on a busy road suddenly catch your attention when they start talking loudly about the Surat fire incident which resulted in the death of several teenagers. All dressed in white, gesticulating frantically and shrugging their shoulders wildly while talking, they immediately draw your attention.
As you wait for a moment to understand what all this is about, more people gather around. It is when the group has considerable attention of the public that they start their act. And it makes sense. They are talking about how you can keep yourself safe when caught in a fire incident. One by one, they give 11 tips after which they quietly gather together and walk away. To the next crowded street, that is.
This is a group of artistes from Mitr Rangmanch Group, a local theatre group, performing a street play on fire safety. The group has launched a month-long drive to educate people on how to save themselves when faced with a fire incident. The group is holding street plays all across Delhi, Faridabad, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Noida with a special focus on electrical markets, malls, railway stations and bus stations.
Under this campaign, 150 shows of the street play will be performed by the young artistes to make people aware of the reasons of fire and various safety measures. The attention of the general public is attracted through fire safety slogans they shout as also the tricks they perform to save themselves posing as if they are caught in a fierce fire.
“Fires don’t kill people. It is lack of knowledge about what to do during such a situation which does,” says Anil Sharma, director, Mitr Rangmanch Group, recalling the Vasant Kunj fire that happened around five years back in which most Indians were killed but foreigners survived. “Indians perished because they didn’t know what to do in such a situation and this is what we are telling them,” says Sharma, adding he had been thinking about taking up the issue since long.
The Surat coaching institute incident which resulted in a number of teenagers getting killed in a fire acted as a horrific trigger which jolted Sharma into action. He also informs that it was an advertisement by electrical equipment company, Havells — Wires That Don’t Catch Fire — was something that forced him to think on the lines. The director informs that they start performing at 9 every morning and end the day at around 5.30 in the evening.
“Our target is to hold at least five shows in a day,” he says. The campaign, that took off on July 11, has already covered over 25 colonies in Delhi and Ghaziabad. “Our campaign ends August 9 and we plan to cover as many areas as possible so that maximum people can be educated on these issues,” he adds.