MORE PIX!!!

A friend who came to cover the protest for his paper sent me these pix.. i'm not supposed to use his name.. but thank you for sending these along!!

n i just noticed... i look rather pissed off in the pix... lol...

black thoughts...

maybe its the sheer lack of sleep and tiredness catching up with me... but suddenlpy i find myself wondering if the protest we made at jantar mantar was really worth it.... we got people to appreciate us.. we did what we wanted to do.. we got media attention.. yes yes i know..
but while we can be happy about having had our voices put to teh public... there were so many inciodents of violence across the country... sure.. as Usha says in her blog.. so many were averted... but its still true that the POLICE threshed so many couples... we shut up the sri ram sene.. the shiva sena toned down its activities.. and in Delhi.. the abvp actually took out a march instead of teh usual slugfest... sure.. things were calmer... and yet i have this feeling that something is about to erupt... call it premonition.. or simply black thoughts... i have a VERY nasty feeling that this aint over yet... we have won a little battle.. YES we have... but teh war is yet to come...

pichchar abhi baki hai mere dost....
*siiiggghhhh*

GIRLS AREN'T CATTLE.. STOP LOCKING US UP AFTER DUSK!!!

The title of the post is the slogan that fascinated me the most in today's protest.. JANTAR MANTAR... STAND UP TO MORAL POLICING!!

today i learnt what a single person could do... kudos to you namrata.. for pulling together the protest teh way u did... for something put together in less than a week online.. it was AMAZING!!
a lot of people turned up.. including some bloggers.. and u shouldve heard the excitement in people's voices.. "Youre the one who writes that!!! OMG! ive been following your blog!!"
the best thing was taht people really believed in what they had to say.. the worst.. inane qns by some sections of the media... one enterprising yellow journalist actualy asked Namrata if she had been a victim of the moral police.. "maine toh suna hai ki apke saath bhi aisa kuch ho chuka hai..." and she started laughing... i mean.. WHERE did the guy get his questions from?????
good thign was that everyone else from the media was super supportive.. and i'm not saying that just coz i'm a journalist myself.. but it was REALLY cool how even the TV guys showed a rather sympathetic and supportive side.. wish they had concentrated less on the Valentine's day...



The protest was not about Valentine's day or the right to go to a pub... it was for the right to live in freeedom. with dignity.. and the liberty promised to us by the Indian Constitution. it was about teh right of every woman...and man to choose thir lifestyle and teh fact that no political twit has any right to tell teh rest of teh populace what to do...






There was this uncleji there who stopped by on reading our placards.. and asked us what party we belonged to.. he was rather surprised to find that none of us were part of any political outfit.. that we were just a bunch of people who felt concerned enough to come out on the street in protest.. several people passed by in cars and buses and read our banners.. i saw so many ppl react with a smile.. one girl even waved a 'thumbs up' gesture at us... it was heartening to see taht so many people cared...

I carried one placard home with me on the metro... it was for the first time that i saw not lecherousness but curiosity and to an extent appreciation in people's stares... all through the metro ride.. and the rickshaw ride from teh station... dont know how many people read that placard in my lap.. " girls are not cattle. stop locking us up at dusk" for the first time.. the men who stared at me were not looking at my body.. but the placard... women on the road smiled at me.. people stopped to read..
my own little protest.. to add to teh big one i had been part of...

"dharmarashak bohot hain.. samvidhan ki raksha kaun karega!"





This is the Picture that the ASSOCIATED PRESS.. AP guys have put on their website.. be happy girls.. our protest is on international media..




wish i could get more pix... i didnt have a camera and my photographer only sent me these...
but if u want you can see more pix on Indyeah's blog... ofsongsforthesoul.blogspot.com

or namrata's avalentineforindia.blogspot.com


NDTV apparently showed teh protest live.. as did Cnn ibn... there were people from TOI, HT, Mail today, India Tv, rashtriya Sahara, Indian Express and a host of others... Mayank Austen Soofi, blogger and photographer was also theer.. as was adnan from Reuters...

i hope Mayank wouldnt mind.. but i thought i could put a link to his flickr photostream..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayankaustensoofi/

Valentine...

I met two bloggers from Delhi today.. and realised perhaps for the first time just how powerful a medium this is..
ever since the attack on women at a pub in mangalore.. and last week's kidnapping attempt at kolkata med college.. i've been bubbling with this anger that i didnt quite know how to deal with.. all i could do was fume and swear and argue with my dad over how most men in this country deserved to be shot and left to bleed..
in the last two days.. ive realised just what CAN be done if you really put your mind to it..
my last post was about teh consortium of pubgoing, loose and forward women.. a faceebook group tahts planning a pub bharo andolan and various otehr peaceful measures to counter teh sriram sene's attack.. TODAY i met two women not much older than me.. who were planning a protest rally at Jantar Mantar ON valentine's day....
it was freaky enough sudenly running into the person who'se work uve been reading for quite a few days and who your friend recommends.. what really blew me away was teh level of dedication these guys had... Namrata, whose blogs at http://www.avalentineforindia.blogspot.com/, has single handedly put together the entire protest.. complete with media contacts.. including yours truly.. and online discussions with other bloggers.. Abhilasha.. blogname Indyeah... http://www.ofsongsforthesoul.blogspot.com/ has even contacted other bloggers across teh country.. including teh girls behind the pink chuddi campaign... she's even a member of an online group dedicated to writing against gender inequality..
and was was so awesome was that they'd read MY little personal rant of a blog...

i'd gone to do a writeup on namrata's initiative.. and found myself dedicating time to make sure that i added my two bits to it.. tahts what this entry is for btw.. my friends.. who may or may not read my report in teh paper tomorrow.. may just read my blog and decide to come for teh protest..

Jantar Mantar. saturday 14 february 2009, 11 am -1:30 pm.
Please Come

coz its not about the valentine's day celebrations.. its about being able to step out of the house without fear of molestation.. its about being able to walk around with your friends without getting rude stares and cheap comments from passersby.. its about being able to LIVE.. as opposed to plain surviving...

do it for the greatest love of your life... your freedom..

The Pink Chaddi campaign

Women of the world unite.. you have nothing to lose but your chains...
according to some Indian politicians.. beating up women and molesting them isnt half as deterimental to "Indian Culture" as women stepping out of teh house and 'talking to men'... apparently these bastards of the taliban (can anyone see how ironic it is that the Hindu far right and the muslim far right have exactly the same misogynistic views..) think that they can get away with insulting wome in the name of "Indian Culture'....

its teh same sick attitude that made the taliban create women's only hospitals with no medication.. and ban girls from attending school.. its the same mentality that can thrive in a social setup where a new bride is tortured for dowry.. where a girl child isnt allowed to live even before she is born.. its the same attitude that can blame teh victim of a gangrape for 'inciting it because she didnt sit at home'..

And its high time we put an end to it.. valentine's day may not have meant quite so much to us all this while.. but this year its got to be different..
the whole legend of valentine's day started with a rebellion against a tyrant who would not let people marry by choice.. lets turn this day into a symbol of rebellion against the sick patriarchal mentality..


http://www.thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com/

letting go....

"please talk to me.. we need a chance at closure.."
"why cant you give up past regrets annie??"
"I know its over.. its just gonna take some getting used to.."

"you broke it and threw it away.."
I had accused him of letting go.. of spoiling everything.. and i had held on to the little piece of glass that signified a promise of love.... i'd cherished it and saved it in a little corner of my purse.... as the memories and the pain lay protected in a corner of my heart.. today i let them go...

a kiss.. and i let it drop..... said goodbye to something that had been part of my life.. part of my soul..
i left it at a place where we had memories... where today i went with the determination to forget the past and grab on to life NOW before it passed me by...

I kissed it.. and left it there... with a little pile of paper...
goodbye