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This image is taken from a card produced in Bihar by Koshish which is one of the groups within NBJK. Similar hand drawn cards are available for sale. |
During 2007, AVI's main fundraising activities will be to support EktaParishad's action.
Get involved by writing a letter to the Indian prime minister.
More information on the action
is available here.
Special fundraising activities will include a sponsored walk around
Virginia Water (date tba) and the London 10km run on Sunday 1 July.
Helena Drakakis and Simon Williams' booklet, Truth Force, on Ekta Parishad's 2003 Chhattisgarh yatra is now being published in German. And following Rajagopal's contact with MST at the World Social Forum and subsequent visit to Brazil, AVI is supporting its publication in Portuguese.
Truth Force, a 64 page booklet of writing and photographs from the Chhattisgarh yatra is available from AVI for £4 (inc p&p). The first two chapters can be previewed here. A pdf of the text is available here.
The latest issue of our newstetter Village Matters is available here as a PDF (3Mb).
We are working on a website for the Madras Cafe. If there is anything you would like to see on the site please contact us.
Thanks to all who helped make WOMAD 2006 our most profitable by far. The takings were over 30% up on last year at around £30,000. The experience of one new volunteer is described below:
My first experience with Madras Café at WOMAD
WOMAD provides a unique opportunity for AVI to meet new people who share our deep interest in India and also to raise funds for our partners. Each year for the past years the turnover and profit for WOMAD has increased and each year new people support us by volunteering to chop vegetables, wash dishes and serve food in the vibrant community created by the café members.
Madras Café has made its mark at WOMAD. Regulars at the festival and at the café came looking for us. Some had their breakfast, lunch and dinner with us and still came back late at night for chai.
The tantalising smell of the idli sambhar, the vegetable curry, the high spirits of the cooks and the music from the surroundings mixed in Madras Café and created an environment of great joy. There were queues long into the evening waiting to enjoy the food in this unique environment. A typical day at Madras café began with calm but cheerful spirit, preparations in the kitchen began with the chopping of vegetables, boiling the rice, making the chai. As the day progressed and the music became louder, the pace of work in the kitchen increased, number of people coming to eat grew and the dancing began while cooking, washing dishes, and serving the food.
I tried to get involved with everything; right from painting the menu to stirring the curry, grating the carrots, eating the tasty food and drinking chai with all the wonderful people. Everyone stayed there for the few days like one big family giving back massages if in anyone was in pain, grabbing someone's hand for a sway and a dance and bringing food for each other. You could take a nap in the afternoon wherever you were. I slept in the van only to be woken up by the extraordinary sound of frantic violins by Les Yeux Noirs.
Over 20,000 people gathered in one place for music. Everyone moved together with the beats and rhythms and Madras Café stood opposite the white flags witnessing these festivities. The atmosphere at WOMAD builds up to a climax on Sunday evening and the Monday morning comes with an unusual calm leaving behind empty tents, cans, and fields. Campers pile up their belongings in their vehicles and roll out slowly to the life outside WOMAD.
Madras Café volunteer
