Have you ever come across the hearing impaired staff at any of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s outlets? Well, spend a day communicating non-verbally and experience how what it must be like. An introduction to the world of expression sans sound was given at the two-day workshop that was conducted in the city at Our Sacred Space in Secunderabad. With about a dozen curious people turning up, all aged below 10 years they were taught the alphabets, numbers, days, animals and communicating through sign-language in order to communicate with the mute and hearing impaired.
Started in January this year, Our Sacred Space has been increasingly engaging citizens of the city in soft skills and cultural arts that broaden our horizons.
Reading the signs
Shreyansh Mishra who communicates through sign language taught the basics at the workshop on sign language with Nalini Chatterjee, forming the bridge between the two worlds. The two tutors from the Deaf Enable Foundation (DEF) believe that learning sign-language can work towards creating an inclusive world. DEF was set up in 2009 in Hyderabad and was founded by TKM Sandeep who also doubles as the CEO. The foundation has six branches across Southern India and has 55 members on their rolls who are all hearing impaired and are trained in the three progressive levels of sign language.
“The toddlers are most benefited out of sign languages as it helps them develop into less aggressive people,” says Nayantara Nanda Kumar, whose one and half year old son participated in the workshop. As the founder of Our Sacred Space, she relates to the workshop as an alternative means of expression. An accomplished dancer in Bharatnatyam and Odishi she understands only too well that the performer communicates with the audience through the body instead of speech.
the beginning
Nayantara is a civil engineering graduate and post-graduate in environmental engineering from Virginia Ploytechnic Institute and State University. However, her love of art led her to trade her life as a Non Resident Indian at San Francisco for setting up the performance space at her hometown in Secunderabad. The idea behind Our Sacred Space, she says, was to set up a platform to experience various forms of art. Trained in dance, she has performed at the Konark Dance and Music Festival, the National and International dance festivals at Bhubaneswar, the Puri Beach Festival and also Ethnic Dance Festival at San Francisco. A practitioner of the art for 14 years now, she teaches 27 children of an orphanage free of cost. “I perform excusively for non-profit organisations and have worked with various NGOs from Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Tibet so far,” adds the woman who dons many hats. “Degrees and competiton are not the end and one should open up to participate in more outlets that renew the soul. And I’m trying to open ways to help others.”
Also trained in yoga, Carnatic music, painting and pottery, she says, “Art has enriched my heart. It washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. I wish to spread it across my city and hence Our Sacred Space.”
creative healing
The joy of enjoying art is the founding principle of Our Sacred Space. “Sign language is a way of expressing oneself, and communicating deeply without much effort,” says Nayantara, also a DEF volunteer, while explaining the latest activity. But the workshop is just one of the many activities that the space propagates. They also teach arts like music, dance, yoga, meditation, pranic healing (a method to release pain) and Ikebana (a Japanese art of flower arrangement). “This place has trained experts with more than 10 years of experience in each of these fields,” she proudly shares, adding that the space has been built on eco-friendly ethos with mud-flooring, rubble walls, rain water harvesting pits and a roof made out of palm leaves. Even the chairs are made out of rubble in the spirit of recycling. It was designed entirely by Nayantara who is an environmental engineer by qualification. “I wish every engineer should think this way in order to save our environment. The place justifies the sacredness of mother earth,” says Nayantara for whom a life with a degree was just not enough.
Our Sacred Space is located on Sardar Patel Road.
Details: oursacredspace.in