How do good journeys begin? In good faith ofcourse. Here is the story of the Bangalore based Header and Footer Club (HAFC). The club was started in late 2009, primarily as a space to air opinions and discuss issues via satire and fun events, street plays, stage plays and stand up comedy. At the time, the students of  Indian Institute of Science  had issues with the hostel administration but wanted change without being a part of it- they wanted the easy way out where one could sit and complain and not participate. This triggered a thought process in  some students who had seen this general tendency in the disgruntled citizenry of the country. And a couple of months later, they had a script ready that relied on a mix of pop culture references, wit and satire. The subject was funny but meant to drive home the point. Safar, an English comedy went on to become an acclaimed production.
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Inception: Nada, a team member responds, “It was about changing the perception of comedy and presenting an issue, initially. Initially, it was nonsense mostly. But then it became about the need to create a piece of everyone’s life out there. Our strength now is how we connect with our audience.”
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The club had a bunch of avid theatre goers who knew that the theatre scene in Bangalore comprised an audience which watched plays about stories from distant shores and those that patronized vernacular theatre. There were hardly any scripts which spoke to the college going crowd. There was an opportunity to present plays on issues that affected the youth and over the last three years, the club has entertained more than 3000 people and no story is just cooked up without a reference.  The club’s second play 52 was about  a woman who moves into a big city and shares a co-dependent relationship with her friends and battles great pressures in her personal and professional life. About two dozen women were interviewed as part of the background research for the  script.
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Choice of scripts: Vyasa, a team member responds, “Every single thing in life is funny but not all get it at all points of time. This leaves us with a lot of material. We also thrive on misery and there is loads of it everywhere, including some from the minutiae of life. In the truest of satire tradition, we try to have fun and highlight an issue at the same time.”
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On the response: Jitha, responds, “When we say that we’re not in it for the money, we mean it! It is quite heartening that we’re getting noticed now by the media. A funny thing happened the other day- my friends saw my photo in the paper and thought I had taken up a new career. Atleast this way they give me a call. Another way to look at it is, in IISc, they think we don’t belong to IISc. Outside IISc, they think we don’t belong to IISc. Wait, where do I work again? “
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On  who the audience is: Adwait responds, another team member responds, ” Anybody who has this stand- “Nothing is sacrosanct. Bring it on.” Yes we are anti-establishment and do not pay lip service to babudom. We work mostly word of mouth publicity. The first time, a non- technical event from IISc might heighten curiosity might draw a bystander. People end up being pleasantly shocked the first time and attend many shows of ours subsequently. So we’re thankful for any repeat offenders! “
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On the far reaching impact: The team says, “It has been a good journey so far. The audiences have lapped up our content, we’ve had some good words spoken by the thespians who’ve guided us in the right direction from time to time. Our charity drives have hit the right notes as well. People are readily collaborating with us for forthcoming events. We hope to get even better now that we have a good balance of sponsors, media, actors, script ideas and audience expectations. We still have a long way to go!”
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The model of the club is to operate on a low cost, volunteer basis- and it has collaborated with more than 50 people. Amongst them are Papa CJ and Isak Jansson, stand up comedians of international repute who were part of stand up comedy event in 2010. Along the way, the club has won awards at national level cultural festivals and performed extensively. The club members also raise money for causes close to their heart via fundraisers.