By Alipta Jena
‘Once upon a time’ is a wonderful
beginning to most stories we’ve all heard in our childhood. Stories are key to
human understanding; they are soul-stirring, sometimes tickle our funny bone,
but primarily they build an emotional connection.
Humans of Belagavi is a social media
page founded and administered by a team of five (who wished to remain
anonymous) who wanted to narrate human stories of people in Belgavi. They post
pictures of people and unfold their life tale showcasing their personality,
stories of their trials, tribulations, everyday joys, inspirations, successes
and sorrows. They have a Facebook as well as an Instagram page and have also
launched a page in Kannada called humansofbelagavi_kannada.
Lokdarshan caught up with one of the founder members to take a behind the scenes look at their motto and their noteworthy endeavour of documenting life in all its colours.
Who are the team members of Humans of Belagavi?
We started out with a group of 5 to 6
members and now are a close-knit group of five. We are a bunch of college friends in
the final year of engineering who wanted to do something different with our
lives. We decided not to disclose the names of the people. One of us handles the
content of the pages and writes the stories, two take photographs and we work
as a team. We wish to be identified as a team rather than as individuals. Some of us are from
outside the state. This way, people will only see the product, what we are giving to the
people, and not our identities.
We first came up with the idea in
October 2019.
How did the idea take shape?
We undertook a lot of research
regarding the kind of stories we want to cover.
We first thought of holding an open mic to interact with speakers and submit their stories. But then we thought of doing something different, as there are many open mics in and around Belgaum. We started collecting stories for a month, doing the rounds of the markets and streets and went around mingling with the people, keeping our eyes open for little nuances of life.
What was your first story?
Our first story was that of a vegetable
vendor.
What is your objective?
“Life is all about
creating your own stories.”We believe everyone has a story worth sharing,
every life is unique in its own way. So we want to take those stories, give
them a platform, to inspire others, to bring people closer, to make them feel
that every life matters. A story might be or might not be inspirational but every life has a path
of its own, and to us each of these is worth sharing.
Who are the people you cover?
We cover a wide gamut of people. Anyone
can share their stories at humansofbelagavi@gmail.com.
Entrepreneurs, traders, shop owners, free lancers, singers or travellers,
anyone, who wishes to share their lives with us and others.
What are your future plans?
We were thinking of doing an open mic,
as we had initially thought of doing.
We want speakers to come in and do some
open mic storytelling, with some good narrators, to inspire others with their
stories. The Covid-19 pandemic unfortunately interrupted that, but we shall be
doing it at a future date.
Are you planning to do any stories
related to the current Covid-19 pandemic?
Yes, regarding some caregivers, their
stories, their sacrifices. Also, essential service workers and of life during
the lockdown…We want the public to know their side of the story as
well. Some of the stories are underway and those will be out in a week or
two.