The collective memory of an era, the folk culture adopts a form and action and thus assumes a new

meaning. The macro text of the epic is brought down to micro situation when it is made relevant to the contemporary society. Traditional folk arts have been carefully cultivated by various movements. India has numerous slum children who are illiterate and poor. More commendable is the work of Ravi Varma of Vikas Lok Manch who with the help of slum children has been creatively interpreting social realities in a way that makes sense to the children. His theatre workshop for the slum children of Bombay normally begins with discussion on topics like alcoholism, pollution, religion, inequalities of caste and class, communalism and so forth. One of the group's street plays, Hame Jawab Chahiya (1985) on the Bhopal gas tragedy began with the children peering together information and suggestions. The play reminds the audience who are mostly children that the Bhopal incident is not a dead issue and that its aftermath still haunts the lives of many. It makes the issues real for the children as it is interwoven into the fabric of folk dances, choral singing and humour. Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP), a voluntary non-governmental organization in Kerala organized Science Jatha (Science Procession) in 1977 to spread the message of people's involvement in the development process. In 1980 and 1981, the Jathas used the folk arts as a medium for conveying the message of science. The main themes were on education, health, environment and social inequality. The repertoire consisted of songs, street dramas and other several forms of folk arts. Since then there have been many such Kala Jathas, not only in Kerala but in some other parts of India also where the local organizations and people have received inspiration from KSSP and have started delivering messages through folk arts. At present, this is being done in many states of the country to build an environment for literacy. Other groups like Chipko and Apiko movements that say Ecology is Wealth and create mass awareness about the fragile ecological balance among the villagers have also been instrumental in creating a quiet revolution through the medium of folk arts. Folk Singers of the region played vital role in arousing awareness among the villagers. They composed songs in folk tunes and sang them in the street. The rural children picked them up

immediately and sang them all the time. Thus, they played the role of communicators. Accepted religious books like the Bhagavadgita were interpreted in a different manner through songs and stories to make the villagers conscious of their rights and duties. In the south, The Save the Western Ghats (1985) campaign headed by Seva Sangh and supported by a number of other activist groups also found environmentalists resorting to folk arts. Rajasthan Adult Education Association (RAEA) had conducted an experiment in a village Devakishanapura for bringing about a change by using the text of the epics in the present day situation. Ravi Chaturvedi, an ex-student of the National School of Drama sponsored by RAEA had taken up the challenge of using theatre for change. Chaturvedi's main tasks were to be friendly with the villagers, observe the problems faced by them, draw up their priority in the terms of their adverse effect on their villagers and identify change agents. Over a period, he could pin point three main problems such as Untouchability, Health hazards and Internal feuds. He selected some episodes from the epic Ramayana which had dramatic elements and action and reinterpreted them in the context of the problems prevailing in the village. The village youth decided to enact an episode of two monkey kings, Bali and Sugriva in which the younger brother does not help the elder brother in his fight with the demon because the relationship between these two brothers was strained. The elder brother dies in the fight. The younger one repents later. Chaturvedi taught the boys to prepare masks from old newspapers. They were needed for the makebelief context of the street play. Secondly, the villagers may not accept their fellow-man as Lord Raman nor would the actor have the courage to face the familiar faces in the audience when he is posing as a God. The mask would hide his hesitation and the audience would also accept Rama with mask. The enactment was successful. Only a storyline was given to the actors. They managed the rest on their own. The musicians and singers played popular folk tunes. The play ended with the famous Rajastani folk songs "Digipurika Raja, baje. Chhe nobata vaja". Another experiment was conducted in the village Garudavasi of Jaipur district. The whole village was devastated due to floods. The villagers were convinced that the floods are manmade. Their anger was aimed at contractors and the government. After about a month's stay in that village Chaturvedi conducted a folk theatre workshop as a therapy for

rehabilitation of the villagers. In the workshop some scientific reasons behind the flood were explained. Their enactment was based on their problems sung and narrated in folk tunes. The audience participation was hundred percent. Even as the performance was on some people got up from the audience, went up to the actor, whispered his grievances against the Patavani or Tehasildara in his ears. The actor immediately interpolated those issues. Communication thus was fast and effective. There are many organizations all over the country which perform folk arts on topics relevant to the society with the purpose of generating awareness for change. They use popular folk form of dance, music and theatre. It shows that the importance of involving the mass at the grass root level for any change oriented program is widely realized as inevitable. Even political parties use this medium to impress upon the people.