Forty five students stood in three lines as three songs, famously adored by Mahatma Gandhi, played. The students, wearing orange, white and green – the colours of the Indian flag – adeptly expressed the lyrics in sign language. A video of the same will be officially released on Gandhi Jayanti in Thiruvananthapuram. The presentation is called Satyameva Jayate.
It was a teacher named Silvy Maxi Mena who trained 45 deaf students from the National Institute of Speech and Hearing to present three of Gandhi’s favourite songs and bhajans in sign language. “On his 150th birth anniversary this year, we wanted to do something special. The three bhajans we chose are Ekla Chalo Re by Rabindranath Tagore, Vaishnav Janto by Narsini Mehta, and Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram by Lakshmanacharya. It was a challenge translating these, especially Ekla Chalo Re which is in Bengali. But the students were so talented; and they enjoyed working on this together,” Silvy says.
The idea came to her when she reckoned that this was a way for the students to understand more about Gandhi’s principles. “They have very little reading material about the father of the nation and know just the basics. The lyrics of these songs also give them a better understanding of his principles,” Silvy says.
The students who performed these songs are aged between 17 and 21 years, and are pursuing Higher Education Foundation Program and degree courses. Students and teachers at NISH helped with the camera and other technical work. “Executive director Samuel N Mathew has been very supportive,” Silvy adds.
This is not the first such unique idea that Silvy has executed. Three years ago, she got the students at NISH to perform a classical dance using sign language as mudras. “It was called Mudra Nadanam,” she says . Another time, she got them to perform the national anthem and Vande Matharam in sign language.