Dr. R. Purnima, Chairperson, Department of Studies and Research in English, Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) and Founder of Children's Literary Club, apart from being an academician, has also donned many roles in her life — as a teacher, researcher, guide, singer, instrumentalist, Kathak dancer, a mentor for underprivileged kids and a writer. However, the field that is closest to her heart is theatre. The versatile academician spoke to Star of Mysore on her varied interests:
Shwetha Halambi: You have been doing a great service to kids through your Children's Literary Club. What made you start the Club?
Dr. Purnima: One day 21 years ago, I watched my niece playing a game again and again in the house for the whole day. Watching that for a whole day, I thought I should engage this child in something interesting. I started the Club with my niece and her neighbour kid. Then I started tapping on the doors of people's homes and asked them to bring their kids to me. The Club is a 100% voluntary organisation. I brought together kids of maids, underprivileged, slum-dwellers, etc., and engaged them in cultural and literary activities. When we wish to do something, we should have no ego. If we think that people should come to us, any venture is bound to fail. These kids are so much into theatre activities. I teach them songs at the end of every session and they love it. I encourage them to come out and speak without fear or hesitation. Now, if there is no theatre component or singing at the end, they feel the session is incomplete.
At first, I gave a topic to the kids to discuss, act etc. Later, the interests and subjects taken up branched off. Whether in music, dance or any other field, creativity evolves when a straight line starts bending.
Shwetha: Why do you go to their doorsteps?
Dr. Purnima: If such kids are asked to come to Kalamandira or Rangayana to learn, they cannot. It is because they have their own limitations and also because when they are kept away from their world, either they don't develop a taste for art or those who live in a privileged world or have access to such a world, say underprivileged kids are good for nothing. People fail to realise that maybe the kids too may have an inclination towards arts. Hence I strongly believe in taking things to their doorsteps. Once again, if we have to do good to somebody, we should never nurture an ego. Once when my photo came in the newspaper, one of the kids asked me, "Miss, this news is about Children's Club. Hence the photo of children should be published. Why is your photo published in the paper?" I felt this was the height of my success — when the kids don't hesitate to ask such questions.
Shwetha: Where do you conduct the Club programmes?
Dr. Purnima: When I began the Club, my target was to conduct 100 programmes at my home. Then it rose to 1,000. Then I thought I would stop conducting programmes at home and started visiting SC/ST hostels, areas of underprivileged kids, slums etc. I conduct literary programmes not just in Mysore, but also in Sringeri, Sullia, Chikkamagalur and other places. In Mysore, I go to Suruchi Rangamane for story-telling, with Pratham Mysore to children beyond the portals of my Club.
I had arranged a campus tour for the low-profile kids of Bharathi Sthree Samaja to KSOU some six months ago. My intention was, since this is an Open University, people come from all strata of life — married, working, aged — and I wanted the kids to know that in case they cannot continue studies, there is an opportunity for them to study.
Shwetha: You were awarded the Fulbright Fellowship and you chose to do research on "Empowering young lives through arts: The role of theatre in America." Why did you choose that subject?
Dr. Purnima: I teach English at KSOU, but I am also interested in fine arts. I founded Children's Literary Club in Mysore 21 years ago. Then a thought entered my mind that I should evolve different strategies to educate kids because at the Club, I was handling children from different strata of society like underprivileged kids, school dropouts etc. I wondered what the problem was with the education system in the land and how to address it, in what manner and methods. Then I thought fine art was the one field through which we can tackle the issue. In all the fine art forms that I have covered in the articles of my book "Sharing Experiences...," there is a gamut of theatre in it.
I not only teach students the prescribed text in the class but also enact the characters of the story. For example, I myself enacted the character of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's play Macbeth in the classroom while teaching the play.
When my sister Prof. R. Indira (Sociology Department, Manasagangotri) went to a village in Australia, she met a nun who said she was a student of KSOU English Department. When Prof. Indira mentioned that her sister teaches there, the nun immediately exclaimed, "Oh, is it Lady Macbeth?"
Theatre has that potency to create that indelible impression on the students' mind. And if you make them participate in the classroom, they can never forget it. So when I applied for Fulbright, I decided to walk out of pure literature and do something related to literature. And since I was working with kids in Mysore and experimenting with children and theatre, I decided to choose that subject for research.
Shwetha: What did you discern from your experience in USA?
Dr. Purnima: Though connecting to people in America was a bit difficult at first, I gradually succeeded in it. When we work intensely and with commitment, people will surely recognise our work. I thought I should do something to connect both the societies. I started approaching people for their views and in the book "Sharing Experiences...." Many people ranging from 13 years to 90 years of age have contributed their perspectives. I approached youngsters because I believe in next generation voices. We do some work, but how will the beneficiaries accept it? We may have done a fabulous job, but what does the second generation feel about it? I needed answers to these questions.
Shwetha: You have been a teacher for 39 years. What do you love about teaching?
Dr. Purnima: I love the learning part of teaching. If you are a real teacher, you are always learning. It is a continuous commitment to learning and sharing what you have learnt. And society needs committed teachers. I have always been satisfied with my work. During contact classes of KSOU, I take extra events to students and after the classes, I try to identify the talents in students by making them enact dramas, sing, dance, English speaking hour etc., and I too participate in it.
Shwetha: You have done Ph.D on the "Concept of the ‘Fallen Woman': A Study of the novels of Hawthorne, Flaubert, Hardy and Karanth" under Jnanpith laureate Dr.U.R. Ananthamurthy. Who is the 'fallen woman' in your view?
Dr. Purnima: According to me, 'fallen woman' is the one who has crossed the boundaries set by society. For the research, I took up 'The Scarlet Letter' (Nathaniel Hawthorne), Tess, Maimanagala Suliyalli. Fallen woman is the woman who has stepped out of the institution of marriage. Manjula from Karanth's book, who is a sex worker, Scarlet Letter's Hester Prynne feature in my thesis. The novels deal with failed marriages, where the lovers become husbands and husbands fail to remain so, due to varied reasons. These women wish to show that they too have an identity.
Shwetha: What do you feel is the impact of drama on kids' minds?
Dr. Purnima: I will give you an example. Once when I was walking down the road near my home, I heard some kids calling out 'Miss.' I thought they were calling somebody else and kept walking. But they all ran upto me and said, "We are 'chitte manushyas' miss," and started reeling off dialogues from the drama. Then I recognised them as kids from an orphanage in city whom I had taught the drama some three-four years ago. This is the potency of drama and see how it gets internalised.
If you are enacting a drama in class, it makes a great difference to student clientele. Though we teach superbly in classrooms, it is hard to engage students. But drama and such creative events create an interest in kids. Parents who visit my Club with their kids would pressurise and prompt kids to answer my questions as they take it as their failure if their kid fails to answer. I suggested them not to pressurise kids as their behaviour itself was contributing to the child's failure.
Shwetha: What other activities do you engage yourself in?
Dr. Purnima: Theatre in education is the best way to teach. The year 2010 was the death centenary year of O'Henry, Leo Tolstoy and Mark Twain. I conducted programmes based on the three authors for higher education students. I made the students enact O'Henry's stories by making the script, which made them realise how difficult it was to write a script. The students said they enjoyed the creative class which was a new experience for them. They came to realise that a story can also be converted to script and brought on stage.
In KSOU this year, I framed 20 questions under the title "What is common?" I took up Nehru's autobiography and Khaidigala Kathana (by Ganesh Amingada). Research students come to us asking for topics. I ask them to attempt giving their own point of view.
February is commemorated as 'Celebrating February as the Month of International Languages.' As part of it, I took up programmes both in the Children's Club and KSOU. I created a chart of countries and their official languages, apart from a quiz for students. KSOU Vice-Chancellor Prof. K.S. Rangappa too participated in the quiz. He asked the participants which language starts with the letter 'Q.' No one knew. But when I went to the KSOU Study Centre in Udupi, I visited a govt. college in a village for a special event. I conducted the same programme there and was astonished to see a village girl answering that question. She said the answer was Quechua, a Peruvian language. When I asked for her source, she said she had read it in Peru Yatre, a book by Nemichandra. This is where reading habit gets you. When I couldn't get the answer in so many urban locales but got in a village, why should we underestimate village children?
This is Charles Dickens' bicentenary year. I conducted various events in the Club and also for MA students. Then I came to know that Dickens had written a play. I requested Dr.C. Naganna to write a poem on Dickens in English. He obliged. The poem was translated by himself to Kannada and I read it out in the class. I also asked a student from Sringeri to translate a chapter of Dickens' Hard Times and read it aloud. Such events can be conducted by other organisations also.
[Dr. Purnima was awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship in 2009-10 by the Fulbright Foundation and conducted research in the University of Texas, USA. Dr. Purnima has the distinction of being the only KSOU teacher to be awarded the Fellowship. She has edited a book titled Sharing Experiences: Varied Voices, a collection of articles on fine arts and theatre by the young and old.
Founder of Children's Literary Club about 21 years ago, Dr. R. Purnima has been conducting literary and cultural programmes to underprivileged kids of the city. For her endeavour, she has been awarded the Karnataka Nataka Academy award for achievers in Mysore district last year.]
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