The last days of December 2012 was hard for many of us. Bloggers like me across India and abroad began to write to voice their protest against the brutal gangrape and murder of a young woman in Delhi. But we wrote in silos, disparate but desparate. A young man from Guwahati, Subhabrata Dasgupta of The world as I see it decided to bring all of our voices under a single banner—the Voices of Damini campaign. Scores of bloggers poured in our articles into this space.Sep 13, 2013 the verdict and punishment for the Damini/Nirbhaya case was given. Subh asked me to write a final piece for the campaign. I was initially hesitant. After all, I had strong opinions about the case. Would I be representative of the varied voices? And then I reflected on why I joined this campaign, what it meant to me and others and realized—yes, I am fit to write this final piece.
Extract from the Post:
“Dec 16 brought us altogether, brought together histories—social and personal, of various forms of violence against women and we wove a rug together with our stories, with threads dyed in our memories. We then held aloft that rug and ran the streets of Urban India physically or in spirits for her, and for us.
We now called her Damini. Some called her Nirbhaya. She was the masthead for our stories.”
Read more on this post here:
http://subhabratadasgupta.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/still-awaiting-justice-for-damini/
Well written post, Bhavana! Powerful, emotional and you capture the collective voice of all people. Her voice has now given voice to so many without one. Her life has transformed the mindset and understanding of an entire country. It's not the end but simply a beginning as you point out in your article.
ReplyDeleteWhy does it take such horrific acts of violence to chip away at patriarchy and our male-influenced, dominated culture? And even to bring it to light?
Yes, Vishnu--it was just a milestone in a long journey. It was hard to see some considered as the end in itself.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, why does it take such extreme violence to bring light to issues when folks have been talking about it all the time? I think it is because we don't listen. We talk too much. Talk away. Talk on and on. It is time to cease that and listen.