MUMBAI: In 2016, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran had taken a year off. “I got to the end of a five-year tour, and had everything to show for it professionally, and nothing to show for it personally,” he said in a British talk show. In a bid to visit places where he was anonymous, he came up with a plan: “I looked at sales lists and where I was sold out, and Japan was the lowest. So, I decided to go there.” If figures were available for Dharavi, he might have picked the area first.
In Mumbai for his Mathematics tour, to be held on March 16 at the Mahalaxmi Race Course, Sheeran first made a beeline for SHED (Society for Human & Environmental Development) primary school in Dharavi. With Smile Foundation, an NGO that works to empower the underprivileged through education, healthcare and market-focused livelihood programmes, he sang for the kids from grades 1-7, some of whom performed for him as well. He posted later on Instagram, “Visited a school in Mumbai this morning and swapped performances with the kids. So much fun. Great being back in India, too.”
In a white tee and black shorts, Sheeran sat on the floor as the kids rapped and sang nursery rhymes for him. Vikrant Dukhande, principal at SHED, said, “His visit to the school was a shock for us. We found out only yesterday afternoon that he was arriving. In 2021, Miss Universe Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu had also come to our school. But this was quite a big thing that an international artiste of his renown was stopping by. He was there for almost an hour and he looked quite happy.”
At the same time, Dukhande said, “To be frank, most of our students know only local music and musicians, such as the rappers. They don’t listen to music in English. Even if they have heard the song, they don’t know who the singer is or where he’s come from. But I have to say that our students performed very well: with confidence. One boy rapped, one girl sang, even a female cop sang a song. She was inspired when she saw kids from second and third standard singing. Her idea was not to impress Ed, but to show the students that if you have talent, you should perform.”
{{/usCountry}}At the same time, Dukhande said, “To be frank, most of our students know only local music and musicians, such as the rappers. They don’t listen to music in English. Even if they have heard the song, they don’t know who the singer is or where he’s come from. But I have to say that our students performed very well: with confidence. One boy rapped, one girl sang, even a female cop sang a song. She was inspired when she saw kids from second and third standard singing. Her idea was not to impress Ed, but to show the students that if you have talent, you should perform.”
{{/usCountry}}SHED was established in 1983 at the request of the Dharavi community by Padma Shri recipient Bilkees I Latif. In her founder’s note, she had said, “There was then a ‘dada’ for every street. I came across groups of children who were employed in brewing alcohol for them, lured by a good salary with a free daily lunch. I held a meeting with over 90 of the dadas and asked what future they planned for their youth, apart from criminal activities?” With the school for 10 years, Dukhande said, “I have seen the attitude of the students and their parents change in the time I have been here. We have a STEM lab now, we have guest lecturers who provide vocational training, we host excursions to Maharashtra Nature Park and IIT Bombay. Earlier, parents would not send their children out. So, we are trying to change their mindset.”
On the Sheeran visit, he said, “It helps in exposing them to different aspects of the world. When they met the students of IIT Bombay, they thought, ‘We should also do something.’ As a result, we saw how well they performed in our science exhibition, looking up things on the internet. It creates the urge in them to see beyond their immediate environment. Dharavi is like a pond. Most of our students live there, attend school and college there, and marry there. They don’t mix with the rest of the city. So, when they interact with people from different walks of life, they start speaking up.”
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