Skip to main content

Covid-19 lockdown: Confronted with hardships, 15-year-old Sania chose to rap

Sania Mistree
By Arun Kumar, Jonita Colaco*
'Will there be singing in the times of darkness
Yes there will be singing about the darkness'
— Bertolt Brecht
***
"Par kabhi socha hai
Jo Govandi mein rehete hain
Unka kya hota hai
Vote dene wala
Har ghareeb rota hai, kyun?" 
This is an excerpt from 15-year-old Sania Mistree’s rap that she wrote during the lockdown. “Rap is a powerful medium and I want our voices to be heard,” says Sania, who lives in Shivaji Nagar (Govandi), M East Ward of Mumbai. The feisty teenager began rapping two years ago to speak about the difficulties faced by the urban poor.
Sania is a Class 10 student and lives with her parents and younger brother. Her father rides a rickshaw, while her mother runs a small provision kiosk in the area. When the government imposed the lockdown on March 25,  2020, her family was one of the many who were left with no means to sustain themselves. According to a study by Apnalaya, an NGO that works with the urban poor through a multi-dimensional approach, 47% of the population in Shivaji Nagar reported having zero income during the lockdown.
M East Ward is ranked the lowest out of 24 wards in Mumbai with respect to the human development index. Civil Society Organisations (CSO) believe that more than 12 lakh people live in M East Ward, as compared to the government figures of 8.07 lakh. Of this, 77% live in slums, with a large population living in Shivaji Nagar, the largest slum cluster in the ward.
With a population close to 6,00,000, Shivaji Nagar has no school for secondary education, in addition to the poor infrastructure and lack of healthcare facilities. In a post-Covid study, Apnalaya found that 47% of Shivaji Nagar residents had reported having no income during the lockdown, while 56% people took loans, especially to buy ration and water. 
Coming from an orthodox Muslim family, the path to music wasn’t easy for her. Her poetry defies her age. It is alive to all-pervasive inequities. To resist, she writes
Over 13% people migrated, and many moved within Shivaji Nagar to cheaper areas. The people depended on NGOs for their food, and claimed the government’s response was slow and inadequate. Sania pithily captures the situation, what many would consider an archetype voice from the slums of Mumbai:
"Koi iss baat pe insist nahi karte
Ki hum sarkaar ke liye exist nahi karte."
 
Amid the pandemic, while children from privileged backgrounds were attending schools online, the ones from the slums felt ignored, as they could not afford access to the digital world. Upset Sania chose to express her angsts through this hard-hitting rap. “I associate with rap music because I can convey my feelings and speak about the distress of my community in a rhythm,” she says. “Children in slums also want to study, but they do not have the means for it.”
"Hai sab kuch chal raha online,
Band hai kitaab,
Train sari band hain
Par bik rahi sharaab
School saare band hain,
Hai padhai online
Bachha chatting mein ghusa hai
But let it be fine, yeah!" 
Sania is aware that there were huge problems in her area during the lockdown, and people had to flee the city with no means to sustain themselves. She detests the fact that they are routinely left to fend for themselves and politicians who come asking for votes and make lofty promises are invariably missing from the scene. “Nobody helped us during the lockdown,” she adds. “It was only the NGOs who were looking out for us.”
"Kyun ki mahamari hai
Public bechari hai
Phir bhi dikha rahi hai
Neta-giri nakhre
Waade bade wakhre
Vote mil gaya,
Ab chal baaju hat re?"
 
Coming from an orthodox Muslim family, the path to music wasn’t easy for her. Her poetry, however, defies her age. It is alive to all-pervasive inequities. To resist, she writes. She found inspiration in Emiway Bantai and Vivian Fernandes, better known by his stage name DIVINE, who shot to fame after the release of Bollywood film Gully Boy. “Their words have the power to touch people and inspire them, and that is exactly what I aim to do,” Sania shares.
"Par in sab baaton se pare
Sab yahi baat bataa rahe
Sanitizer lagana
Chalo theek hai
Ab dooriyan badhana
Chalo theek hai
Zaroori mask hai lagana
Chalo theek hai
Band milna milana
Chalo theek hai…" 
Sania was 14 when Apnalaya, during its 2018 event, Ye Bhi Hai Mumbai, Meri Jaan, encouraged her to perform her first rap about the life in slums. Today, Sania’s friend Taufiq Shaikh, a Class 7 student, accompanies her with his beatboxing. “When my friend refused to teach me, I decided to learn beatboxing myself and get better at it,” he says. Sadia joins Sania in chorus.
These teenagers are a powerhouse of talent in more ways than one. Sans any formal training, they have self-taught themselves rap, listening to successful rappers on YouTube. What is truly remarkable is their ability to talk about their everyday lives, pick up their moments of hardships and turn them into a song that seeks to inspire and encourage others to change what is not right about today.
She signs off with these words:
"Kaafi jazbaat hain jatane ko
Kaafi baat hai bataane ko
Zubaan phir bhi khaamosh hai
Log kehte hain chup ho jaane ko."

Let’s hope her voice is never silenced.  
---
*With Apnalaya, an NGO working to empower the urban poor in Mumbai. Click here for link to the rap

Comments

Amit said…
Link to her song shud be given here

TRENDING

Reducing emission? India among top nations whose coal as energy source going up

By NS Venkataraman*  The State of the Global Climate report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that the year 2023 was the warmest year on record, with the global temperature of 1.4 degree celsius above pre-industrial 1850-1900 base line.

Lockdown 'total failure' of science more than of politics: Open letter on 4th anniversary

Counterview Desk  In an open letter to fellow academicians, scientists and medical practitioners in India, marking the fourth anniversary of India's lockdown (25 March 2024), the Managing Committee* of the Universal Health Organisation (UHO) has insisted on the need to "repair two years of immense damage to science".

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor*  Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

'Wrong direction': Paris NGO regrets MNC ArcelorMittal still using coal-based steel

By Rajiv Shah  A new report by Paris-based non-governmental research and campaigning organization, Reclaim Finance, has blamed the MNC ArcelorMittal – formed in 2006 following the takeover and merger of the western European steel maker Arcelor (Spain, France, and Luxembourg) by Indian-owned Mittal Steel – for using use “climate destructive” metallurgical coal for its projects in India.

Attack on foreign students: Gujarat varsity's reputation, ranking at stake, say academics

Counterview Desk  Expressing anguish over the attack on international students in Gujarat University hostels, a letter claimed to have been signed by 122 current and former academics has asked the Gujarat Vice Chancellor, Dr Neerja Gupta, to provide emotional support to the attacked students and to ensure their physical safety.  

Poor private sector engagement 'impacting' carbon pricing policy in Global South

Counterview Desk  The joint report by Environmental Defense Fund and Observer Research Fund, "Navigating Carbon Pricing: The G20 Experience and Global South Prospects", delves into the complex landscape of carbon pricing, examining its application within the G20 nations and the potential implications for emerging economies in the Global South.  The report claims to provide insights and recommendations for effective carbon pricing strategies in diverse economies.  A note: The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) have launched the Navigating Carbon Pricing: The G20 Experience and Global South Prospects” report. The report delves into the complex landscape of carbon pricing, examining its application within the G20 nations and the potential implications for emerging economies in the Global South. The report offers a comprehensive analysis of various carbon pricing instruments currently in existence, providing valuable i