My experience

My name is Deepika Passi. I became a part of the “Apna Haq” team two years ago and my feelings have been incredible ever since. The topic chosen in “Apna Haq” which is very a significant part of our lives came out as a very important topic, especially for girls our age since these issues are prevalent in communities like ours. It affects our daily life and identity.

I am really happy that I got an opportunity to contribute to the issue, which has benefited women and other members of our community. The experience also helped me understand myself in a better light. I have always been interested in photography and filmmaking; ‘Apna Haq’ took my interest further.

When I found out that Pooja Pant would be teaching us the required skills to make our own movie is when I felt joy and direction in life. From the very first class I learnt a lot which helped me to better myself and also teach others till date. It started feeling like it was time for my dream to become reality. I knew little bit about camera technicalities but I also wanted to learn more and get better. When she started teaching is when I felt I was finally on my journey.

Meanwhile my brother’s health started corroding and he was hospitalized. I started missing my classes and it worried me since they were both important to me. I decided to tell Pooja about my situation and as soon as learnt about my situation I was given a camera to take home and use at my own time. I used the camera skills that were taught in our workshops and started taking pictures. The experience of doing what I liked so much was exhilarating and to know that my pictures would be a part of a photo book made it even more special. Some of my pictures were framed and printed; when I look at them today they give me a sense of pleasure and pride.

‘Apna Haq’ the movie followed shortly after and it was screened for the first time in my community right outside my house. The line of events that were to be taken care of made me nervous, I had never spoken about the movie at home with any of my family members. While my brother was helping fix the screening equipment I worried the movie might upset him since the issues were a bit taboo in out community. I was extremely nervous to think that my association with FAT might be questioned and scrapped. I was really worried about my brother’s reaction while the movie played but to my surprise he liked it but did not say much. I was really relieved and it felt like I was finally free to do what I loved to do, my biggest fear had vanished. The motivation stays with me even today, after two years after ‘Apna Haq’s launch.

Two years later we were working in the project ’Todo Bandishen’ on ‘Early and Forced Marriage’, another issue that affects the lives of girls, especially in our community. This was an important and special point in my life where I had become Pooja’s assistant which I could only dream of even while we worked on our last project. This new project took me a little higher in spirit and made my wish come true.