Everyday Heroes! Jyotsana Parmar

 As One Shot Thought goes on one side, I am getting to meet new people here in Ahmedabad who through their passion and optimism have helped make a difference in the lives of many around them. What I have learnt through interactions with them is that the deed does not need to always be a big one, only the love with which it is done should. I only thought it would be fair to share with you all snippets from the conversation I had with these people who in my eyes are the real heroes. It is their journey that I hope to share in Everyday Heroes.

“Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.”

I looked on as she imported files to work on and set to edit on Premier Pro with the expertise of a master. ‘I simply love documentary filmmaking! It’s just so interesting no!’ she told me as I settled down next to her to talk. I learned that she enjoyed every bit of her work at MAM Movies and truly believed in the power of film. ‘Everything becomes so much clearer when people see it on film. Things happen around us all the time but we never question it. We take it for granted. But this is what films break. It breaks this blind belief and encourages questioning. For all of 24, she was speaking with a conviction that was much beyond her years.

Jyotsana comes from a locality where girls are not allowed to work. ‘I am the first girl they allowed to go out and return back home by 8 in the night.’ She said. What made her different from the other girls? What made her chose a path no one had dared to dream about in the little slum she grew up in? ‘I have always wanted to be independent. It bothered me immensely when I saw young girls around my home accept everything being told to them without questioning why it was so. They had no aspiration to study for they had taken their lives and their future for granted. I did not want this for these girls. I wanted them to dream and believe that they too can lead their lives as and how they wanted. So I decided to live by example. I decided that I would work and show the girls around me that it was possible to be whoever we wanted to be.’ Jyotsana today has helped in a number of projects undertaken by MAM of which Swagyaan is one of the most recent.

Through Swagyaan, Jyotsana believes that it would be possible to instil in children faith and belief that they could chase their dreams. ‘Swagyaan would show children how to go about becoming who they dream to be. If a child wanted to be a writer, he would be guided in becoming just that!’ she said talking about Swagyaan. Jyotsana also holds workshops at Manav Sadhna teaching children to use cameras through the One Shot film project. Having started off by being a volunteer teacher at Manav Sadhna, the rapport she shares with the children here is one that dates back to many years and has only grown stronger from the roots. ‘I want to be a social worker.’ she tells me. ‘Though I am using film as the medium for social change now, I want to broaden my field of work in the future. I want to use very many media so as to reach to a wide number of people to spread the positive ripple. Gender equality is one area that I surely want to focus my attention on in the near future.’

With her path being sprinkled with everyday obstacles but her mind with double the power to fight them all, Jyotsana is our everyday hero! To her passion and to her dream... we applaud!