Dr. A’s Glasses

ambedkar

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s iconic glasses were the theme of the day for Team CJAM. Yesterday, we got a green light for our concept and we now had 2 days to pull it all together in time for the final presentation on Friday. By using Dr. A’s glasses as a symbol for our awareness campaign, we could tie the Indian constitution to the cause while also speaking of Dr. A’s vision for equal human rights.

The tactic for the day was to divide and conquer: Hannah, Nicole and I visited Pune in the morning while Ali and Sonali stayed behind to prepare for filming at Dehuroad. The Pune goers spent a long hour and a half on the train to get into the big city. We were on a strict mission to print templates of Dr. A’s glasses and gather art supplies for our group’s video. Oddly enough, the first print shop we visited was on Dr. Ambedkar Road. His presence was felt via an elevated full length bronze statue of the great man which overlooked the busy boulevard of pedestrians and auto rickshaws. Following our errands, we managed to squeeze in a quick visit to Naturals for fresh scoops of chiku, mango, coconut and almond ice creams. If there is one thing I’ll be craving once we’re home in Canada, it will be Naturals!

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In the afternoon, the team at Dehuroad began filming footage for our video. We wanted to involve as many members of the cantonment areas as we could, bringing together different communities and age groups. In our video, we wanted our local actors to literally and metaphorically share Dr. Ambedkar’s vision for equality. This was done through the passing and wearing of his iconic glasses. In post-production, we will cut the video to make it appear as though the actors are passing the glasses through space and time to another person in a different setting! Throughout the filming process, we were swarmed with community members hoping to take part or get a closer look. It was a great success. We now have momentum and tomorrow we will head to the great city of Mumbai for video and sound editing.

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