Amit Kumar Sinha

My name is Amit Kumar Sinha, one of the founders of Jamghat. I was born in Siwan, Bihar, and have been living in Delhi since 1999. I am an alumnus of Delhi University, where I pursued a Bachelor's degree in Arts with Political Science, History, and Economics in 2003, excelling in my subjects. I have been an active student since my school days, participating in various extracurricular activities at both school and inter-school levels.

After completing my senior secondary education in my hometown, like other youth in small towns, I aspired to build a promising career through higher studies and eventually secure a stable job in the emerging corporate sector. A few years ago, Delhi became a new center for all those corporate giants. To advance my career aspirations, I planned to relocate to Delhi for further studies, and accordingly, I embarked on my journey to Delhi.

This journey marked my first visit to the city of dreams and Delhi. Until then, I had no idea what Delhi was like, and according to my imagination, Delhi was just a collection of historical landmarks such as the Red Fort, Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, Parliament house, industries,and the crowd. I couldn't imagine anything beyond that about the city.

When I stepped out of the station for the first time, I was amazed to see a completely different world from what I had imagined; I was far behind the times; a completely new culture; a completely new society entangled within itself and having no time for others. Seeing formally dressed men rushing to offices and drinking in pubs and bars, witnessing women smoking cigarettes while romantically engaging with boys clad in Western attire, and hearing my peers effortlessly speak fluent English were all novelties to me. If all this had been done in my hometown, it would have been nothing less than scandalous. It was also my transition period as I was immersing myself in a new city.

During my tenure at DU, I came into contact with many other students who were actively involved in various social awareness campaigns through different mediums. After being persuaded by my seniors to join theater by participating in street plays, I also developed an interest in theater, although it was not easy for me because I was an introverted person who had hardly spoken in class. Performing in a theater was a mix of both, and as it was also in front of a large audience there was no room for any mistake or confusion. I hesitated to audition but succeeded and while continuing my education at DU, I was selected as a mainstream theater artist, and starting from there, I began to participate in street plays, overcoming the fear of public performances. Consequently, when an opportunity arose to perform in a prominent program organized by Pravah, where Pravah aimed to present 400 plays in a year, I was a part of the team as a member and got the chance to perform in all 400 plays, which gave me a significant boost and polished my personality to a great extent.

As soon as this project was completed, I suddenly had many projects to work on, and now I was also promoted as a professional theater teacher. Consequently, I, along with my friends, started a new organization named "Steps for Change," through which I conducted street plays to raise awareness about the facts of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and urged people to demand the closure of such highly toxic plants from the government.
Amidst all this, one day I received a call from Action Aid, asking me to assist in a play to be directed by Lokesh Jain and to be staged in front of the Prince of Wales - Prince Charles. It was a moment that amazed me and took a whole new turn in my life. This play was about the life of children living on streets and the complete cast of the play were also street children. During the preparation of this play I got the opportunity to live with these children, to understand them and to work with them. The play was presented in front of Prince Charles and was a great success, adding another achievement to my list.

This play brought a dramatic change in my life because until then I was professionally associated with theater, but after the great success of this play with the street children, they refused to return to the streets from where they came because after joining the theater they had seen change within themselves. Consequently, I put aside my personal interests and started working with those children under an NGO named Jamghat and stepped into social service.

All this happened in the early years of the 21st century, i.e., 2003-04, and since then, I have never looked back and have seen many ups and downs in my life but have continued to serve people tirelessly, wanting to fulfill it until my last breath.
Amit Kumar Sinha