[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”468″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Arthur Carmazi, an Italian-American author and founder of the Directive Communication Methodology, said \u201cEvery action we take impacts the lives of others around us. The question is- are you aware of your impact?\u201d<\/p>\n
At 3 Peepul, we continually ask ourselves this question, and this in turn guides our decision-making process.<\/p>\n
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, \u201cWhat impact am I making? Is it positive or negative impact – on my family, friends and loved ones? On my colleagues and peers, or at my workplace? On the larger community?\u201d<\/p>\n
At 3 Peepul, we ask ourselves yet another question \u2013 \u201cWhat is the long-term impact that we can and want to make? What is the legacy we aim to build? What is the legacy that we want to leave behind?\u201d These may sound like profound, even philosophical questions but at the core, its very simple.<\/p>\n
What we ask ourselves is \u2013 How would we like to be remembered? How can we make our lives and our work have value and meaning? How can we effect change? What\u2019s our contribution to the community?<\/p>\n
With reflection and conversations, we three co-founders have discovered that we feel strongly about the need to build and leave behind a legacy that we\u2019re proud of, that has a positive impact on the community. The stories we\u2019ve chosen to tell, support and produce are a direct reflection of this thought process. The collaborators we\u2019ve aligned with are storytellers and filmmakers with a heart, who believe strongly in our shared vision, and who want to make an impact through their films.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Our very first short film \u201cVishwamitri Villas\u201d, an experimental, improvised and path-breaking film as it was shot entirely on Zoom, has a lofty objective \u2013 to create inclusive spaces for the deaf within the community. How are we achieving this?<\/p>\n
Our film revolves around a day in the lives of domestic staff, during the pandemic lockdown, and delves into their struggles, relationships with each other, with their employers and children, while living in an apartment
\ncomplex somewhere in India. The film has deaf and hearing actors, where Sign is a language along with other spoken languages (Hindi, Gujarati and English). The film is subtitled in English and Hindi. The film is not about the deaf, though some of the cast is deaf. It\u2019s not about sign language, though sign is one of the languages used among others.<\/p>\n
This is how we have chosen to normalize sign as a language, and create an inclusive space for deaf within the community. When watching the film, we hope the audience will watch the film with a deeper appreciation and curiosity to learn sign to be able to better communicate with deaf people.<\/p>\n
Currently, we\u2019re holding special screenings of \u201cVishwamitri Villas\u201d at the schools which our young cast belong to in Vadodara. After screening the film, we have a Q-A interaction between the cast members and students of the school. With sign interpreters and translators to aid communication, our hope is for these interactions aid in normalizing sign, in turn creating sensitization for the deaf, and hopefully some bonds between these students.<\/p>\n
As we continue on this journey with \u201cVishwamitri Villas\u201d, we hope to raise awareness and funds to support the educational initiatives of one of our collaborators – Akshar Trust (Centre for children with deafness) in Vadodara.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n