The Narayanpura experience

The project was a lot of fun, and people loved putting the face of someone they admired next to or on their own. For the two hours that we interacted with them, they all seemed thoroughly entertained. Many even made suggestions, like, we should have gone there in the evening, as there would have been more people. We managed to get pictures of 57 people, with another 10 or so who were too shy and said no. After taking their pictures, each person was shown how it came out, and all of them were satisfied with the result!



The women were shy and mostly shied away from attention, but the men were much more interactive and encouraged the women to interact with us. It was amazing to see the respect the men had for the women. We didn't see any woman who was suppressed. The men teased them and joked around with them if they chose a man mask. They all laughed seeing the other's picture. It was amazing to see their interactions with each other. One encouraged the other and they all had a great time.

The kids were the most fun of all. They were bold and enthusiastic. They loved being a part of the activity, and made us a part of them immediately. They even ran home to home, and called others to come join them. It was partly due to their enthusiasm that our activity gathered the attention that it did. The kids followed us around, and hounded us to see the photographs taken.

The people were very interactive, friendly, and fun-loving. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and made sure we enjoyed ourselves too. We collected a band of little admirers as we went along. About 6 little children followed us wherever we went and helped us explain our task to others.
Oh and I met all the people we had met the previous time again. The shopkeeper, the jovial man on crutches, the cute little boy in the auto, and the shy woman who painted pots. It was amazing. They made me feel completely at home. The jovial man even invited us into his house for food. Again, I made a mental comparison to cities and how the people are so suspicious and cold.

Anisha who was in my group also commented on how she would love to live in a close-knit place like this. They were all like one big happy family, and for some time, we were part of that family.