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Thursday, March 09, 2006

Make some noise, Some Blank Noise!


Make some noise, Some Blank Noise!


It was womans day yesterday! Isnt every day womans day? Doesnt the day belong to them as much as it belongs to men? Dont women take care of us men every single day. Dont they do the things men do, everyday. But it was womans day yesterday. 1 day in a year to celebrate yearlong acheivements. The irony eh?



This Blog is an ode to all the women I know. All the women who have influenced me and continue to change me everyday. Its these women who have made me the man I am today. Its these women who make me a better man each day! My mom, my grandma, my aunts, my school friends, my classmates, my ex girlfriends, my teachers, my neighbours daughters, my friends, my sisters, Ammu and my female listeners. A huge Thank you to each one of you! :)



This Blog is also my bit for the Blank Noise Project . A unique anti street harrassment project. They also have offline activities in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. Make sure you take a look, and see what you can do to spread the word. Do your bit to help women from all around!



My womans day went off pretty well. I went to sleep the previous night watching "Casanova". A story of women actually, (will blog that sometime soon) . I woke up with 2 women by my side..*grin* (now now dont get all excited, One was Ammu and the other mandy) . The first thing I did in the morning (before even brushing my teeth) was head to supermarket to buy the girls a pack of "monthly protection gear". What a way to start womans day eh? lol. The entire day was packed with women and things women need. A friend of mine did a radio show on radiocity with Jasmeen. Got me thinking on the true meaning of womens Day. To convince me of my opinions and fortify my thoughts, came a blessing in disguise! A womans day event. My night ended with a womans day fashion show event At I Bar, Bangalore.

Last night It finally hit me! At the pub, during the event, as semi naked men were walking on the ramp, I realised something! The ladies were whistling, hooting, screaming, burping and being completely outrageous. The things that men usually do. Once the male models started walking the ramp there was ample Clawing, pawing, grabbing, Commenting on Sizes, tightness and color, and glaring, and other ego-gnawing acts. There was a lot staring and letching. And lewd gesturing. Some women even went to the extent of pulling out the models clothes. (the models did seem to enjoy it though) Some women even went on to comment that a planet "without men" would be ideal. Another even went on to explain how she loved vibrators to men!! Another Said she'd like her "sausage".. without the "pig" sheesh!! the things a poor innocent compere has to go through!!
For one night, All the women thought like men! They even acted like men!

Just one night of male bashing, and adam teasing (if there's such a term), made every man in there feel really insecure. It made every man squirm. It made every man cover his private parts. Made every man wish he was somewhere else, probably safe at home. Im sure most men in there wished the earth would cave in and swallow them.

I empathise with women, who have to go through this every day!
I empathise with woman kind, who are taken for granted!
I empathise with girls of all ages who have to mind their tongue, clothes and bodies because us men will do what we do the best.. "Think Like a man!"

Street Harassment is a common phenomenon. All of us know at least 1 girl who has been troubled/letched at or felt up/grabbed by a complete stranger at some point of her life. And mind you, these are only smaller issues. The bigger ones usually go unspoken for. After hundreds of arguments and multiple fights against men who indulge in street harassment, one wonders if there's any point to standing up for it at all!

And then it dawns on you! What is happening is a world wide phenomenon. And unless someone stands up for it, correction, unless everyone stands up for it, things WONT change!!!

There can be a million questions!!! Will men always be men? Or will they change? Women will always be oppressed? Or will that change? Only Time will give an answer to that. But all of us can work our way to the answer we want.

I urge every woman who reads this to get Angry. Get angry for your own sake. Anger creates fury. Fury creates fear!! I urge every woman to get infuriated! Indulge in wrath!! I urge you To NOT lay low!

But its important to get out that anger in the right way. Its important to channelise it. Start using Pepper spray, learn the Three point technique (Eyes, Solar plexus, groin) , start educating the men you know, Talk to other women about things that trouble you, about men who harrass Start voicing your opinion. Start to Make some noise. Some blank noise.

Im proud to be part of the

9 comments:

Unknown said...

My comment to show my support and solidarity at the thoughs expressed! Thank you for making men realise what women go through on 'just another day'!

Unknown said...

@ Rajni,
I sense angst in your words!
I also sense sarcasm!
Elucidate?

silbil said...

i am amazed..and so heartened that so many of you have so much so much to say and everyone has expressed yet another different aspect of the problem...
it was a very well written post...
:)

Dewaker Basnet said...

hey anjaan black noise project..thanks for the info man..no woman deserves to be treated as she is been treated today..unfortunate..glad we have people living a cause like that..

Unknown said...

@ Sibil
There are so many more angles you can take with this problem. An issue as massive has this has to have opiniated people expressing their views.
Its a war, and the more hands that fight, the more victorious the battle!

@ Dewakar
Yup YUp yup!
And ur welcome!

Tones And Echoes said...

Thanks for visiting my blog anjaan and well, I did it again. I linked an excerpt from this post to my blog because it was so inspiring. Keep up the good work and thank you for spreading benevolence, goodwill. Sincerely, FrenchIndian

(p.s.: looks like you're having some fun in some far away places with a woman you love (above post)~~~ good for you!)

Mumbai Monsoon said...

Indulge in Wrath ?

But against whom ? All men ? I don't think converting the entire fairer sex into midandrists is really an effective solution.

Educate all the men you know

You're assuming that men are unaware. Yes, I will concede that while most men are aware of eve-teasing in general, they don't know of its banal nature and yes, I think women in general need to speak out, vociferously!

At the same time, a blazing militant feministic approach is not the way to go about it either. Its really unfortunate if you extrapolate these unfortunate occurances and classify all Indian men as ass grabbing, nipple squeezing bastards with a superiority complex.

Look, clearly eve teasing is a dreadful evil that needs to be urgently addressed, but appropriately so. Efforts need to be made to raise awareness among young girls, because thats when the first incidents happen.

Everyone is shocked and disgusted that a 10 year old girl is felt up, but perhaps if we had made an effort to make that girl aware and instill some confidence in her, then perhaps she would immediately have shouted out in dismay and the offender, caught and duly punished, will be prevented from harrasing anyone else in the future.

All I am saying is this. Let us use this excellent forum, BNP, as a platform to educate, raise awareness and bring together all concerned individuals, regardless of gender in an effort to curb this evil.

Amrita Pande said...

hi
Your blog was well thought out and very honest! I enjoyed it. but a quick comment on the last comment - tho' I do agree with Mumbai monsoon that ppl of both gender need to be "educated", aggression is not always the best strategy. And creating a forum that focusses too much on "educating women to make noise" has the risk of falling into the "blame the victim" trap. For ex. One of the biggest problems rape victims have in court cases is to first debate out why /why not THEY made enough noise. is that the point that needs to be stressed? I don't think so...

Amrita Pande said...

As soon as I posted my comment I realised it can be misread. I DO NOT mean women should not make noise. I have felt totally disgusted with myself each time I have chosen to stay silent when things like that happened to me. But what I wanted to caution ppl against is too much emphasis on "women making noise". Making noise without proper strategising can actually backfire esp if u haven't gauged your support system adequately. I have a couple of experiences when I chose to talk back and got mauled instead of just leered at.
I feel very positive about the work Blank Noise is taking up - just anxious that the issue doesnt stop at "the things that a woman needs to do"... GAH I AM STILL NOT ABLE TO COMMUNICATE TOO WELL!