" In Mourning and In Rage"

All through this week we are sharing works of artists we have been immensely inspired by. Thank you Suzanne Lacy, Leslie Labowitz , Bia Lowe, 1977 Los Angeles.

In Mourning and in Rage.
In memory of our sisters, we fight back

more here

HAHAHA SANGHA

The HAHAHA Sangha has been initiated by the Yelahanka Action Heroes (YAH).
It is a growing community of women Action Heroes who promise to laugh out loud in public 
thus making their neighbourhoods both safe and welcoming.

You are invited to the HAHAHA Sangha's official launch event on Tuesday,  

Dec 4th. 9 30 - 11 am at Ganesh Park.

So Banni!  Come with a friend, neighbour, aunt and or take the chance to invite a stranger who lives near you.

YAH team- Blank Noise

*YAH is an initiative of the Blank Noise Action Hero network. The Yelahanka Action Heroes are a locality specific action hero community. The YAH team was formed through a workshop with students at the Srishti School of Art Design and Technology.

What do you wish to do this Saturday at Cubbon Park?

Remember the wish list you prepared for things you wished you could do in your city?


Here's one more!

What are the things you would love to do at the park in your city?
(build the park wish list below)




Amrutha Bushan: * i wish i could smile whole heartedly at each and every person i saw in a park without worrying that i was inviting trouble.

* i love minimal clothing. i wish i could wear them on a daily basis;even to a park.

Dianne Sharma Winter: if i could be there I would wear a pink tutu and do handstands all across the park to the astonished cheers of my family and then someone would come along and offer me a job in the circusand i would take it

Shreyasi :I want to lay down under a tree and stare at the sky with music
blaring in my ears!! :) :D

Yasmin: I want to be able to take a nap in the park.

Aarthi: I want to skip the rope + read a book.

Saraswathi: I wish to whistle my favourite songs in public.

Jasmine : I am going to write a letter to a dear friend.

Natasha Hemrajani: i wish i could sit on the grass all by myself in tiny
shorts and soak up some sun and read and nap
without a care in the world without people staring
at my skin or at my lack of company and without
random men mouthing lewd songs at me because
this what they do when a woman appears
alone and vulnerable and skimpily dressed.

Bedatri: i want to get wet in the rain-from top to bottom,to the innermost strings of my garment and then walk back home without feeling guilty and i want to sit on the front seat of the auto and enjoy the breeze without twisting and turning in order to avoid those sudden brakes and what they bring along.

Lindsey Rieder : When I lived in Jaipur I always wanted to sit on the bench in the park near my house and enjoy watching the birds and squirrels and all the kids playing.

Soumya: I just want to plonk myself comfortable PJs in whichever position and dream away

Chitra: i wanna listen to my ipod and dance on the streets, not just bob my head and walk......

Alexandra: I am from Canada, and will be trying to erase the horrible tanline I have gotten from wearing Salwar Kameez everyday, while simultaneously entertaining my puppy whose name is Tombi.

and you?

Join us at 3 30 pm, Saturday, to do exactly what you wish to do there.
email us to confirm if you're coming!

The activities are individual based and not meant to be

co ordinated with what other Action Heroes will be doing.

There are no 'rules' except it would be fantastic if

Action Heroes wore a garment they always wished to wear

but did not because they thought they might be 'asking for it'.

The event will go on until 6 pm.

Every body is invited.

Bring along your friends, family or anyone interested.

Be an Action Hero!

Saturday Action Heroes include:

1. Aarthi
2. Machlee
3. Mangit
4. Shreyasi
5. Hemangini
6. Soumya
7. Chitra
8. Shilo
9. Ratna
10. Katheeja
11. Amrutha
12. Alexandra
13. Saraswathi
14. Jasmine
    
15. you?
    
16. sign up!! e: blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com
    

Updates from Bangalore!

Protesting the recent reported attacks against women in Bangalore and the apathy and indifference displayed by the city's Police Commissioner, Fearless Karnataka/Nirbhaya Karnataka submitted a memorandum to the State's DGP on March 7. When the group finally met him a few days later, victims recounted their experiences and the group submitted the memorandum again alongwith some specific questions:


1. Donna Fernandes (Vimochana) – Is it possible for a ½ day meeting with women from various NGOs and the police? We never get through to ACPs or Inspectors when we call the police station. We want time with you so we can better the system.

Ajay Singh – What I wanted was a half day meeting with the Commissioner. I will call Infant (ADGP law and Order, State) and invite some senior officers.

2. Group – Every month the Commissioner needs 2-3 hours to hear women's voices and NGO voices.

Ajay Singh – I can't disclose very much but I have written to him about the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and about your incidents. I have told him that these are serious investigations. It has been very disturbing for me to read your email (gesturing Rest House Road complainants).

3. Priya (victim) – Filing an FIR is the last resort and we are strong and vocal but there are so many more people who are not filing FIRs. Can a note be sent to police stations highlighting the particular incidents and urging police to take action in such cases?

Ajay Kumar Singh – Great idea will you help me work on it?

4. Group – Public communication, billboards needed.

Ajay Kumar Singh - This is a good idea.(The group needs to figure a way to take this forward)

5. Donna – It's crucial for communities to get together at various police station levels and the ACP should publicly commit themselves that these issues will not be taken lightly. We need to marginalise these intolerant voices. The local police, MLAs should be on the panel and commit themselves.

Singh – The MLAs will be busy till the elections are over.

6. Jiti – Can we build in measures like surety - what other legal interventions can be made to ensure justice?

Singh – We also get the blame for many things that are not our fault and that are the blame of other departments. For instance after the Mangalore open meeting women are saying we released the suspects but actually the courts released them. Surety/Self bail: I don't know what we as Police can suggest – may be you can meet the Administrative judge.

7. Archana – Is there any one single emergency contact number?

Singh – Well in addition to 100 do pass on this number, it's the DGPs control room and I will instruct them to contact the local police station: 22942111.

Referring to memorandum in front of him: I've agreed to almost all of these. I'll have to call the Commissioner and other officers and we can take this forward.

8. Donna - Can we have a higher monitoring committee of senior officers who will oversee the process of such cases right from the filing of the FIR?

Singh - I will pass an order immediately. (Calls PA in and issues orders to Pujar to oversee these particular incidents).

Agrees to a “a half day meeting that will end in something productive” and to issue a public statement after meeting with officers and going through the memorandum. Has also asked for a copy of all fled FIRs which was dropped off at his office the next day.

We are now waiting for him to revert to us.

Understanding , Underwearing

It is not difficult to imagine a right-wing vehicle reacting strongly to what they perceive to be contaminating influences of the 'authentic' that they zealously guard. It is, in fact, even easier to imagine that a political fabric that has resorted to every kind of staged drama of 'authentic' to build its own inner confidence. The metaphor of an inviolable/invincible male, that perceives its female property being appropriated by alien seduction as violation of its own sovereignty, in this case is hard to avoid. Much like Katrina in Namastey London finally came around and dumped the white boy and embraced Akshay's nourishing Desi masculinity to corroborate the crisis in nationalist masculinity.

V-day hullabaloo has escalated in most big cities (with Sena/Bajrang Dal folks destroying shop windows displaying V-day pretty things etc.)over the past few years. Increasing flows of global capital into our cities have accelerated the consumption and production of 'global' cultures on cityscapes. This aggravates the right and pokes their masculine anxiety even more. The recent attacks on women are a specific kind of lament of shaky nationalist masculinity losing 'control' over its women.

So what does the Pink-Chaddi campaign signify in this crisis? A direct and provocative opposition/rejection of oppressive masculinity. The obvious image of underwear signifiying feminist politics of personal becoming political. The cliched argument against this technology of radical opposition will be that it is the preserve of urbane, pubgoing, cigarette-smoking women who exclude other sections from their expressions of dissent. To me that is boring critique as it is obviously one form of feminist subjectivity that is legitimate and expess-worthy, of the many that can exist. In fact, it is probably better off being exclusionary than urbane bubblegum women being 'inclusive' by purporting to speak for large numbers that we can't possibly represent.

I want to poke the question of the celebratory/emancipatory role played by the Pink Chaddi here. The provocative image of underwear carries on its shoulders histories of clothing and containing of the body as a modality of power, the Chaddi definitely comes with baggage. The notion that a symbol of repression that is rooted in the ''vernacular'' packaging of the Hindu right has to evoke a symbol of freedom that is rooted in mass cultures of production of the erotic (pink + chaddi) carries, to my mind, troublesome implications that the way out of oppressive ''vernacular'' patriarchies are in global commodity chains. Of course, numerous examples from Bollywood come to mind, where the elusive, defiant sexuality of the woman is captured and contained once she submits to the hero's overtures and to the proposition of being owned. She is then, a good woman, a non-threatening one. The PCC turns the symbols upside down, and shows the bad, pubgoing woman as having accessed freedom. It sticks with the binaries of sari-vernacular-submissive, leather-skirt-defiant though. My question remains that in the act of opposition to oppressive nationalist masculinity, does freedom have to be contained in the Panty and coloured Pink? Does Victoria's Secret hand us the freedom that Hindu right moral police try to destroy?

Some of the others in the mass of people

Listen and read below

In conversation with some men on the streets of Delhi and Bangalore. These men were from across age groups 19- 65 and mostly from a mid income group or low income group. Some were tourist guides, some shop owners, auto rickshaw drivers, student union campaigner.


According to you, what kind of man sexually harasses or 'eve teases' women on the street?


"It's the impulsive type of guy that teases girls"

"It's the youth that eve teases girls on the street. Another person will treat her as his granddaughter or niece. If he calls for her on the street, he will perceive her as a family member".

"The guys who try to act smart are the ones that tease women. I don't know how to be smart or play cool..I am not like them".

"I am telling you. I am from a decent family. I don't do this kind of stuff. I go out to do my work and I come back home straight after that".

"The kind of guy that teases his sister will tease a woman on the street".

"It's the 3rd class or the middle class guy that harasses women".


What attracts you to a woman? what kind of woman? what about her? what do you do then?


" Her figure. Her body. If she has a good figure I am interested in sex, only sex. I am not interested in marriage".

" ...her hairstyle. her removing her hair from her face.."

" She should look fit. Others should find her attractive. Her body- her chest, hips...she should have a flat stomach, other parts of her figure should protrude. She should have nice hips".

" Clothes? I like women in sexy clothes".

" I remember she was wearing a pink colour suit, I remember her hair, I remember her make up, her eyes....I really wanted to approach her. I wanted my eyes to speak to her...and try to approach her".

" I like the simple and sober girls. The girl who wears a simple salwar suit and braids her hair. she should have long hair".

"...I gave her my mobile number and said that your incoming is free and my outgoing is free".

" ...I could sit down on my knees and let her know that she is the most beautiful girl in the world".

" I like foreigner girls".

" I do have a mother and a sister. I dont have a girlfriend or wife. 

   Will you be mine?"

For those of you familiar with how it works in India- the most frequently delivered line to an 'eve teaser' is- ghar mein maa behen nahin hai kya? Don't you have a mother or sister at home?


Credits to Ekta and Rajshekhar from Blank Noise who were instrumental to making this happen.

Get involved- Blank Noise Opinion Poll in your city!

Location: Namita Sharma's Tea Stall. Gariahat. Kolkata.

Namita Sharma's tea stall is by the auto stand in Gariahat market, Kolkata. Every evening, eva long que lines up by her tea stall awaiting their auto rickshaw ride back home. During this stretch of time some people drink tea , smoke a ciggarete, snack a bit.

Namita and her colleagues welcomed Blank Noise as an idea. Her tea stall hosts the Blank Noise opinion poll which asks a simple but infinitely complex question-

WHAT IS EVE TEASING? LOOKING? STARING? STARING AT BREASTS? TALKING TO BREASTS? ADJUSTING REAR VIEW MIRROR? PASSING COMMENTS? CALLING NAMES? RATING? WHISTLING? SINGING? MAKING KISSING SOUND? UNSOLICITED CONVERSATION? WINKING? BLOWING KISSES? UNSOLICITED PHOTOGRAPHY? TICKLING? TOUCHING 'ACCIDENTALLY'? GROPING? TOUCHING/NUDGING IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT?/ RUBBING? FINGERING?SPITTING ON? STALKING? VEHICLES( CARS. BIKES. CYCLES) FOLLOWING. VEHICLES( CARS. BIKES. CYCLES) HONKING. VEHICLES( CARS. BIKES. CYCLES)PURPOSELY DASHING? GESTURES/ACTIONS/ MASTURBATION? FLASHING? OTHERS??

There have been innumerable debates on the blog in the past over what exactly constitutes 'street sexual violence'- Can it be in the verb of 'looking' or in the adverb of 'lecherously looking'. there are questions about what constitutes a lecherous look- and the ones who experience it will argue saying ' it's obvious. we just know!'

This is precisely the kind of discussion we want to further on the streets itself. More than for facts figures and statistics we attempt to use the form of an opinion poll to start discussions. The opinion poll also becomes a 'safe' way for people to testify and admit what they have seen or experienced.

The opinion poll is bilingual- for Kolkata it is in Bangla/ Bengali and English. We are getting them made in English with Urdu/ Hindi/ Kannada/ Telegu/ Tamil/ If you would like to volunteer with translations do email us asap! always at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

By asking someone from your neighbourhood /locality to host the Blank Noise Eve Teasing Opinion Poll you are getting them involved in the process of taking agency, and also being an agent yourself. The opinion poll could also be in your college/ office/ apartment block/ market/ anywhere- email us- let's discuss your ideas

You will need to provide your local Blank Noise agent with 2 ink pads( red and blue) for people to put their thumb print.

In the next 2 weeks individuals/ Blank Noise members from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kolkata will receive the opinion poll charts. If you belong to any of these cities and would like get started - email us right away!

If your city is not mentioned and you would like start this process in your city, write in and we could have an entire bunch sent in to you. You could also be the opinion poll distributor for your city or town.

You will also receive an email with detailed instructions on how to introduce Blank Noise/ the issue of 'eve teasing' and how this process can be documented.

Coming up is an interview with Namita Sharma on her experience of hosting the opinion poll. The interview will be conducted by members of the Blank Noise Kolkata team.

We look forward to your emails! blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

Blank Noise Agents : people who are participating in Opinion Poll project to further discussion about 'eve teasing'.

1. Barkha Madhok- New Delhi- Will install the poster in her office.
2. Ashish Asgekar- Goa-will translate the opinion poll to marathi
3. Nabila Zaidi- Lucknow- will translate the opinion poll and distribute opinion poll sheets in Lucknow. She is also installing the poster at Avadh Girl's College.
   
4. Sharath V- Bangalore- has translated the text to kannada. The text has been further edited by Blank Noise bangalore.
5. Girish Pandit- edited Kannada text.
6. Meghna C edited the kannada text.
7. Soumya C. Shekhar edited the kannada text.
8. Nisha Chandwani - Mumbai added the word ' pinching' to the opinion poll list.
9. Siddarth Mukund Srivastava- New Delhi- is translating the opinion poll to Hindi.
10. Poorva Dutt - New Delhi is also translating the opinion poll text to Hindi
11. 
    

Blank Noise Kolkata in Gariahat Market

WANTED: ACTION HEROES IN KOLKATA! NOV 16!

Are you ready to be a Blank Noise Action Hero?

This Friday Nov 16 at no later than 6 pm join in as we- Blank Noise Kolkata intervene in Gariahat market. The Gariahat hawkers and vendors have voiced support towards Blank Noise and will be participating in the project over the next one week!

The action itself will be simple. All we require from our Action Heroes this time is for them to be themselves! We promise the event wont be acrobatic and will conclude at 7 20 pm.

Bring along your friends/ family / neighbour/ (anyone interested) This goes without saying- men / boys/ males/ are already a part of Blank Noise and are much needed at all Blank Noise meetings and events.

You are required to bring a handwritten testimonial of your experience on the street in the form of a letter.

Here's how:

dear stranger
.............................
............................
...............................
..........................

you could end it with the following statement- so are you a victim/ perpetrator/ spectator to eve teasing/ street sexual harassment?

sincerely

your name


The letter could be in bangla/ hindi or english. If you like you could photocopy this letter and give it to more strangers than one.

Do you own something that you love to wear but are scared of wearing on the streets, for fear of attracting the 'wrong kind of attention'?

Life-changing decisions are made everyday. The most crucial ones take place before one's wardrobe. Blank Noise asks you to challenge your notion of 'asking for it' by coming dressed in that one garment you've always wished to wear but haven't, because of your fear of the reactions it might provoke within your fellow-pedestrians.

Be an Action Hero. Be fearless. Feel carefree.

Believe -- " I did not ask for it".

To confirm please email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com subject titled Blank Noise Action Hero Kolkata. You can also reach us at 9836361612. Be in the loop with Blank Noise Kolakata by signing up at http://groups.google.com/group/bnpkolkata

Thanks!

Blank Noise Kolkata

Participating Action Heroes:

1. Sunayana Roy
2. Dana Roy
3. Saptarshi Chakraborty
4. Bimbabati Sen
5. Sandra
6. Simran Soni
7. Sayantani Dasgupta
8. Priyanka Verma
9. Soubhik Niyogy
10. Sharabh Niyogy
11. Nilanjana Deb
12. Rimi B.Chatterjee
13. Madhura
14. Dibyajyoti
15. Meghna Mukherjee
16. Romila Saha
17. Priyanka Agarwal
18. Subhayu Mukherjee
19. Poulami
20. Dipali Taneja
21. Nita P
22. Sahar Romani
23. 
    
24. you?
25.