Meet To Sleep- Co Organised With Why Loiter in Mumbai

Image source: Why Loiter

Photo credit : Meghna Bohidar

Meet- To -Sleep Diamond Garden, Chembur, Mumbai

Action Heroes/ Sleep Loiterers - Meet To Sleep at Diamond Garden, Chembur

Image via Meghna Bohidar              " An argument about why we shouldn't sleep. one of that we were asked was if we didn't have any space to sleep at home!

Diamond Garden, Chembur Why Loiter led by Sameera Khan, Shilpa Phadke, Shilpa Ranade. fb page

Talk To Cop

#ActionHero #citizen @womanaquarter is taking ur qs to the #Police on Friday. Ask anything u want to know. Tweet #TalkToCop
— BLANK NOISE (@BLANK_NOISE) June 10, 2014

Talk To Me:

Talk To Me was designed to fight fear itself. To get rid of biases and prejudice. 

To create space for a conversation, not threat. To make cities, neighbourhoods, streets friendly. To build empathy. 

Five tables,  two chairs per table, chai and samosa. 

The Yelahanka Action Hero invited a stranger to an hour long conversation about anything- fear, love, life. At the end of the conversation the Action Hero gifted a flower to the person across the table.

A conversation is a collaboration and requires openness, willingness, vulnerability. 

After Conversation: Action Hero Pavithra

After Conversation: Action Hero Radha

3pm -7 30pm

Action Hero Masood

Action Hero Arushi

Action Hero Spandhana

Action Hero Mithra

Action Hero Anamika

Action Hero Shalini

Action Hero Arushi

Action Hero Rahul Singh with New Action Hero

Action Hero Anusha ensures a samosa at every table

Action Hero Pallavi December 2012: In the past we have focussed on city specific Action Heroes eg: Delhi Action Heroes, Bangalore Action Heroes. In November last year we initiated the concept of a neighbourhood Action Hero network.   "Yelahanka Action Heroes" was formed during a month long Blank Noise Action Hero course at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology ,with a group of 19 students. Team YAH practiced a range of events/ interventions from mapping, identifying places perceived or identified as unsafe and worked out strategies to build safe spaces . This location was known as 'Rapist Lane' by many students at Srishti. We have no reports of rape to justify it's name but several incidents of molestation/ sexual violence have created its reputation. Our objective was to make the Rapist Lane, now the Safest Lane.  Factors that make it unsafe include it being dark, with no street lights, no commercial activity, men on bikes/ cars would occupy this space towards the evening to drink inside the vehicle. During the day the space was occupied by empty parked private buses.  * There was a unanimous sense of having overcome their own fears when they participated in this event.  Biases work both ways. There's unsafe and there's a perception of unsafe. Often the unknown is feared, thus makes it unsafe. In this case unknown strangers who were further distanced due to the distance of  socio economic class, language, gender were brought together over tea and samosas. It was an open conversation with no agenda or pre set questions. They were asked to not talk about street sexual harassment . Being defensive, hyper alert to 'making safe'  doesn't ever lead to actually 'feeling safe'. We tend to make ourselves feel safe by building defence. We need to make ourselves safe by making familiar instead. It requires a purposeful unclenching of the fist.  Fear creates fear. Defence creates defence. We need to build safe cities with empathy. * The team was asked to share their response by adding in what they learnt about the 'stranger' and what they learnt about themselves. Here's what they said- Action Hero Vishaka : The fact that I could converse with a stranger without hesitation increased my confidence. I was trying to make the other person comfortable, which shows that I was trying to think from his point of view. He was shy, so I tried to make the conversation light-hearted and fun.  He was quite open and sharing. He was a teenage boy, focusing on his academics. He spends his day going to school, doing homework, going to tuitions and playing sports. Action Hero Anamika What I learnt about myself is that I can talk to a stranger, that’s something I had never done. This exercise actually made me feel a little more confident. and the guy I had my conversation with was one of those who stalk girls and drink on the safest lane, follow girls on their bikes. i was glad he was honest to me. what i learnt was not all ‘such’ guys are threatening, as in, yes he does all that, but he wouldn’t harm anyone physically, poor fellow is dying for a girl friend  . And the fact that I actually made him realize that his way of approaching wont get him any girl and that he genuinely wants to change made me feel really good about myself. Action Hero Spandhana: What I learnt about myself was that I was more open talking to a stranger than I expected, however there were awkward pauses, what I learnt about the person was that she really wishes that she was allowed to study after she finished 10th grade, her dream is to study and earn her own living and not have to live off her husband’s earnings. Action Hero Saasha:What I learnt about myself- I could carry on a conversation for more than 30mins even though there was a huge language barrier between me and my partner. After the conversation I realised that it isn’t that tough to talk to a stranger. I was so worried about what I would talk to my partner about but the conversation was so easy and fun! I learnt that my partner was very content with all he had. He loved his life just the way it is. Action Hero Mithila:What really surprised me was that even with huge language barrier, it was kinda nice to talk to her. And after a while we just fell into normal conversation. We had similar views on a lot of things and after the initial awkwardness it was easy to talk her. What i really liked was that I made a new friend:) Action Hero Astha: The conversation picked up at absolutely random topics and because we had a language barrier I was surprised to see for how long it went on. We majorly spoke about love and how it affects life. What I learnt about the person was that he was really sweet in the beginning and even towards the end but his intention towards me changed. He seemed to be a very emotionally sensitive person, who has family responsibilities. He is a person who works according to his will and mood. He makes sure he does things he love to do, in order to be happy. What i learnt about myself was that I could actually ever speak my heart out in front of a stranger. I always knew that I could make conversation, but I let go this time. Even though we hardly understood what each other said, I think we spent a good time. His change in behaviour and his courage was the only thing that really surprised and dissapointed me. Action Hero Arushi: Strangers are sometimes not so strange Action Hero Anjali:When I first thought about this task, I felt a bit apprehensive about doing it, as I am not very comfortable with talking and making conversation with absolute strangers. However, after watching my classmates interact with the people on the “safest lane” i was completely inspired, and after some time I was eagerly awaiting my turn!When It was my turn, I was actually able to engage completely in a fruitful conversation with my partner. I learnt that no one is ever an absolute stranger and there is always something to talk about. I also learnt that if I push myself out of my comfort zone like I did for this intervention, there are always pleasant surprises that you find! I learnt that my partner Prajwal wasn’t very different from me. He too enjoyed playing with his friends and reading, and he was a very soft spoken person. Action Hero Mariyah:What I learnt about myself was I felt more approachable, it gave me more confidence about my communicating skills.What i learnt about him: He had a thirst for life, he wanted to become a lot of different things. he had big dreams, and he seemed ambitious. Action Hero Shipra:I feel that the fact,that I would probably never see him after that conversation, put me at complete ease and chatting with him was a piece of cake.

Links:
The Atlantic by Sarah Goodyear

Kas Kay Has

This is also pre invite to all Local Action Heroes. Little bit more to follow. Ready? Yes.
Tumba Thanks!

FACEBOOK: I NEVER ASK FOR IT FEB 17-27

Call for facebook action! Action Heroes wanted!

• Change your facebook status message to what you were wearing when you experienced any kind of sexual violence and add 'I NEVER ASK FOR IT'. Message to your friends.
• change your display photo to an image from here
• take a photo of the garment you wore when you experienced any kind of sexual harassment harassment > add it to the Blank Noise facebook group. Email us the photo at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com
  
• Message your friends/ family/ colleagues/ male or female> get them involved.
• GUYS- WE WANT BN GUYS! change your fb profile pic and add in your fb status- SHE NEVER 'ASKS FOR IT'.

end result: you're a super action hero!

TWEET NOW Feb 17-27 #INEVERASKFORIT

feb 17- 27 choose your twitter page backdrop


@blank_noise

• tweet what you wore when you experienced any kind of sexual harassment with #ineveraskforit. (feb 17-27)
• retweet the message above

CALL FOR ACTION:
clothes collection drive- bangalore feb 20
clothes collection drive- delhi feb 27


thank you for linking!
STOP STREET HARASSMENT

STATUS UPDATE FOR " I NEVER ASK FOR IT "

Sept 4 to 11th witnessed several Action Heroes change their facebook profile photo and status update messages.

The list below is a compilation of facebook status messages. The event asked participants to be Action Heroes by changing their profile photo to any of the ones shared here and their status message to a statement that questions the premise "she asks for it" .

Add in yours and or send us what you found on your friends status message.

For those of you who missed it you can catch up right here.

Action Heroes and their status message:

Tanvee.Rujuta Nabar.Vaidya- I'm a very loud person and often end up drawing attention to myself in public because in my madness. I NEVER ASK FOR IT

Pooja Gupta - "What is his problem? Can't he see that i am not interested ?"

Pooja Gupta- "Why can i not loiter on the street without reason ?"

Jasmeen Patheja-" is an unapologetic hot hudgi. I never ask for it."

Kinshuk Surjan - " I stared at a girl today. Am I an eve teaser ? "

Apoorva Bhandari- " No matter what time of the day or night I am out , I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'

Annie Zaidi- Nobody goes 'asking for it'.

Apurva Mathad- I saw someone being whistled at near the Sony world junction. She did not seem to like it..

Mina Hussain- wears what she likes to the bazaar. I never ask for it.

What did you say on facebook ? Tell us QUICK!

The facebook event was designed by Tanvee Nabar and Pooja Gupta. The sign Hot Hudgi Here has been created by Neha Bhat. Blank Noise did a 2 week workshop with the team and this work emerged from this process. Tanvee and Pooja continued to work with Blank Noise after the 2 week workshop; hence the event!

Here's what Tanvee and Pooja have to say:

The basic idea was to spread the idea of ' I NEVER ASKED FOR IT'.

The reason for using Facebook is mainly because we noticed that there is a disconnect between a blog or a website and people who are not 'looking' for this blog or website. Whereas with Facebook, we are sure that people will see the message.

The question was - "How can we get lay-people (people not having an active interest already), both men and women, to engage with this idea of 'not asking for it' in particular and Street Sexual Harassment in general?"

The reason we picked this was because we were both surprised by the extent to which we have ourselves internalized ways to be safe and thought that safety should not be a negotiated circumstance.

Pooja felt that that this requirement for women to internalize or be blamed for the ‘consequences’ worried her.

Tanvee felt that she wanted to concentrate on not street sexual harassment but the attitude that it was received with, which often led to blaming the woman.

So we felt that through this concept of ‘I never ask for it’ we could introduce to a public this view point of it not being the woman’s fault.

The answer was - Facebook. A popular social networking site that thousands use every day.

What interested us in particular was STATUS MESSAGES and how Facebook 'friends' can comment or 'like' your status message and how this could be harnessed for public debate.
It may bring different friends, who don’t already know each other in contact, creating an awareness of the universality of these problems.

We see it as a neutral space for public debate and not a male-bashing event.

HOT HUDGI HERE was created by Neha Bhat. Tanvee and Pooja appropriated it for the facebook event by creating variations of the same such as ; HOT PATAKA HERE, HOT ITUM HERE, HOT MAAL HERE etc.

Here's what Neha Bhat has to say:

The sign is a reaction to a recent case of violence against women in the city of Bangalore, which I had a close encounter with.

A group of drunk men forcibly entered a house occupied by young, college-going girls and boys in the late hours of night and demanded, “ Hudgi, Hudgi, yelli?”, in kannada,or ‘Girl! Girl, where is girl?” in their drunken stupor. Physical violence towards whoever the men encountered there followed and ended, only when some helpful neighbors physically intervened.

To mark the site of this type for violence and harassment against women, what if the sign ‘Hot Hudgi Here’ was blown up to a size of around ten feet and installed there?

Another idea would be to make every woman on a particular street wear a T shirt with the Hot Hudgi sign printed on it. Everyone woman on the street would declare that she was ‘hot’.

This type of a methodology inverts the nature of the victim, by saying, “Yes, I’m hot. Here, I tell you I’m hot. I invite you to look at me. Now what?”

Step By Step Guide to Unapologetic Walking:

What?
Step By Step Guide to Unapologetic Walking posters.

about:
http://blog.blanknoise.org/2008/10/step-by-step-guide-to-unapologetic.html


When? Where?
Every 2nd weekend in your city. your street.


How to?
Simple! BUT needs time and a some running around; not that much running around if tasks are delegated.

Appoint Step by Step poster event in team + Action Hero in charge ( eg. Bangalore= Naksha)
Get text translated to the local language of your place . ( eg. Vishaka Vinod + her uncle )
Get someone to write the text on the comp/ or source a printer who would be willing to do so.
Find a local printer/ CHEAP printer.
Raise funds to print. ( here's how you can also support us/ help us meet our expenses. to donate email us)
Get posters printed- appoint one person to deal with the printer/ do the running around.
Choose a specific location for the event/ map the location + interactions.
Make glue ( eg Naksha made smelly but efficient glue with maida, carried it in little packets for everyone to use).
Announce on the city specific google group/ facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124202554296&ref=mf
Make a calendar- share it online with your city Blank Noise googlegroup so that anyone can sign up / mark dates with details such as ' date/ time/ place'
IMPORTANT-you need to give time for planning and making events happen.
Sustain it!

Preferred: if you can buy a BN step by step tee and wear it for the event!

Next one in Bangalore is 2 sundays from now. Location Vasanthnagar.
To confirm write to us at blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com

We will share the Bangalore event report as soon as it's ready. It's on its way!

I made a little wish in a big park:

Saraswathi:

This was one of the 'whacky',creative things to do and I enjoyed every bit of it:)

Secondly, this felt like 'self-assertive' feminism, simply trying to claim one's space and one' spersonal freedom in public places. No man-hating or blaming others.
Third, this was quite action oreinted and 'being there' . Participating in person is a differently empowering experinece altogether as compared to discussing or talking about things (those are important too however).

I was doing much more service to myself than a social service or changing atttitudes of others. I was breaking free of my own inhibitions and questining what is 'appropriate' in public-like dancing in public without music; or what is appropriate because I am a woman-like lying on a park bench without meaning to 'get laid'.

I was changing my own attitude. I gained a little more confidance and trust within myself.
There are some things I do anyways-like pouting etc. Now I would feel less guilty or responsible if some man stares at me for it. I just like to do it and I accept myself for it!

Apurva: It seems such a simple thing for me to go to the park and sit or read or sleep out there that I never even think about and take it for granted, . It seems to be a traumatic experience for you. I do not think I can ever understand or really connect to your experience in public places. Somehow, talking about it and seeing it happen before you are different things, I guess. I feel that we need to capture these situations in more than words...

Soumya: I distinctly remember that about 2 years ago i traveled through Cubbon park to office and craved to spend a lazy morning and afternoon just lolling about in the grass. The practical answer i would give myself was that i had to go to work... but somewhere i also knew it was because i didn't want to "invite" creeps or any "incidents". Today when I sat in the park and did nothing but watch people go by, enjoyed the feel of the grass and even dozed off for a bit, I wondered... why did i have to wait for being a part of blank noise to do this? what has changed in me for having done it?

Shreyasi:When I told my friends that so I’m spending my Saturday afternoon at a park, just lying down staring at the sky, oblivious to the people around me and listening to music, they thought that I had lost it. The most common reaction being a very sarcastic “yeah right”. Then someone said “Dude, Cubbon park isn’t really the safest place you know… there are strange creepy men so will you take care please”.

I think that was the reason why I wanted to do this. It is my space too… so why should I have to think thrice (read a zillion times) before I go there and do something that is only very normal to do in a park. Moreover, I didn’t know for sure. It was only assumed that the park, like any other public space, was going to be filled with letchy men trying to make you regret having come there in the first place. I was happy that my assumptions were wrong. Maybe so because I had my own set of guardian angels in the park who I knew were looking out for me. Maybe because I wasn’t subjected to the usual doze of comments and stares. Maybe because I was so engrossed in doing what I was, that I was oblivious to them, if they were there. But the best part was that I was relaxed enough to let myself get that oblivious!

I wore a kurta with a deep back. I wore a mask. I sat on a park bench n read. And somehow doing something as small as that felt like being free. Then soon enough it was time to challenge that... push it a little bit. I laid down on the park bench and put on the music. I allowed myself to shut my eyes. I could not allow myself to fall asleep! I think it was just the fact that no matter how comfortable I got I still was in a public space and I have learned to not trust them.

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
    

I WISH. I WANT. I BELIEVE

We invited bloggers to tell us their dreams and fantasies for their city. What are the top ten,
twenty, one hundred things that you wish your city just let you to do?

Many of you have emailed us. Thankyou for dreaming, wishing, sharing:

We open the wish list, right here! Do keep sending them in!


" I wish there were more women.. not just in my city but on the planet. I wish more women were not afraid (of men, of society, of being physically weaker) I wish more women would discover their potential and be themselves.

I wish to be able to walk late at night in my city and find atleast 50% of the population, at that time, to be women. "
- Soumya


I wish to...just be myself... not think about who's watching me.. if i want to just sing to my heart's content.. swing about and walk the streets.. laugh... express myself.. without anybody misconstruing anything i do or say!!!!!
Kripa Jagrajan


Complete my work for the day even if it means reaching home at 11 at night (safely, and without having to get nagged by my people of course!) That would be my dream come true.- Amrutha


i would like to walk down the street, wearing whatever i want, without being stared at, or verbally harassed, or laughed at, or scowled at, or looked at as if i were an alien.

i would like to feel safe walking alone at night.
i would like to feel safe walking alone during the day.
i wish i could hug my male friend without getting stared at.
i wish i could swim in a bikini.- anon.

I would love to grow accustomed to being myself.- anon

Well, I would love it if I could see women walking down the streets with their heads held high. Not looking at the pavement, not looking around because they're uncomfortable, jus STRAIGHT AHEAD.-Archana


I wish i could dance in the middle of where ever i was when i heard a
good song ..
i wish i could kiss my BF without having 50000 eyes peering at
me..thinking im a loose woman with no morals
i wish i would sing at the top of my voice while window shopping
i wish i could take off my pullover without worrying abt my top coming
off as well, n my stomach showing, n men ogling at me
i wish i could just scratch my breast or arm pit or whatever if it itched
i wish i could stand on MG doing nothing ..without fear that someone
would recognise me ..or think of me as a pick up
i wish i could go to a tea/pan/cigarette stall at any time of day or
night n not have only men flock around it n make me feel like im
intruding their space- Nazia Masood

I wish I could take a walk or a ride on my bike in the night (midnight even) through Chennai or or Kochi, without fear- asha menon

To go out at night without getting my parents all worried.


I dream of walking through the street, skimpily clad, with no leering glances, my hair uncombed and my manner free spirited , at any god forsaken time of the day or night, without having to think twice or ever ever considering myself the weaker sex, who is obligated to be vary of ones movements for fear of 'inviting trouble'.
i dream of just standing by the sidewalk without reason or purpose.
i dream of sleeping on the pavement, breathing the starry heavens.
i dream of lurking in the shadows of the streets.
i dream of a passing thought, while sitting cross-legged, drinking in the coolness of the concrete.- Manisha Sharma


I wish I could walk down my road, without feeling the weight of a hundred eyes on me/- Sanjana

1. i want to get wet. drenched. all of me wet with rain. and run.
2. i want to walk sideways on the pavement.
3. i want to be able to wear my silver hoops with "SEXY" on it.
4. sit under a tree and read. -Pallavi


Make a plan for the night , wear what I want to ,go where I want to , how I want to, come back when I want to and not worry about violation of any kind- Yamini

I wish I could come and go from my apartment at any hour and not have my landlords tell me that I might be mistaken for a prostitute.- Theresa Lacey



I have a dream, i dream of a Calcutta which is safe. safe so that i can roam through the streets without having to look behind with fear in my eyes. i have another dream, i dream of equality i dont want to be discriminated because i have a vagina or i belong to a different caste. i also dream of an india which can be called utopia. i want to talk to my mashi. i dont want unwanted male attention being inversely proportional to my clothes and i want to have the freedom of choice and expression without being called a "slut".

these dreams are not made up to sound great, i blog about them regularly. i love my city and everything in it ( like a true blue calcuttan) just that some things have gone wrong. it does not make my city rot but my city is not as safe as i would want it to be, i want to change that aspect keeping everything the same. a few things have gone wrong here and there, i just want to undo those changes.
- Anwesha Haldar

I want to be able to walk - slowly, calmly, deliberately, alone.
through the streets at midnight, just so I can see the moon and the stars and write my poetry, without constantly fearing for my body.
Tharunya Balan

I want to walk through the city without feeling like I'm pushed to the edges. Without having to side step for the men who don't make room for me. To feel like I own the street the same way they do.- Abigail crisman

i would like to wear a swimming costume if i go to a beach.
Nisha Chandwani

i want to wear a swimming costume (skirt/shorts......anything with my legs on display) without waxing. lets those curlywurlies show!. i really really want that. and i mean without waxing for 4 months....like right now. my legs resemble a mans. really.
yes so my wish is : to not wax, just for a bit, and yet wear everything that "requires" glossed up legs, arms, underarms...yes. i want that. And to wear a bikini on the beach. its a personal limitation strengthened by stares and glares.- Pallavi Sen


To be treated with respect,
To be considered an equal,
To have men look at me as a real person, not an "ownable" object,
To not have men undress with me their eyes,
To let go of the anger and fear I harbor toward street harassers,
To walk freely without anxiously second guessing who is following me, teasing me, or about to grab me,
To enjoy the sidewalk once again.

For men to actually look me in the eyes and not ogle my breasts, legs, butt,
For men to grow balls and develop some decency (for the love of humanity!),
For women to own their bodies and their physical space,
For women to protect and cherish their rights.- Laura Neuhas


You have those times when you just cant seem to get through the day but somehow u do. only because days brings light & life with them. the nights, however, haunt you and all you want to do is take a walk or drive around...maybe stop for a cup of coffee...i dunno bout other cities doing so, alone in Delhi, is a mortal sin.

From the time of growing up, we are dependent on parents, friends, relatives... just because we cant even think of stepping out of our houses alone at most times. sometimes, even in broad daylight. and then people wonder why are women in Delhi so 'spoilt', we aren't. Its just that we live in terror each day.

I wish i could stop being dependent on others for everything in my life. is that too much to ask...that too in the capital of our country? pallavi malhotra


To walk alone and not be accosted by strangers who've assumed that I need a lift, a conversation, a friend, a lover.

To step out on Holi and not be afraid of water balloons or chunks of ice
To not worry about getting home safe each time I go out with friends.
To not have to keep looking over my shoulder.
Annie



I wanna run wild, on the streets, on the grounds, in front of my house
not when they ask me to run on a race in the meet , nor when I jog in the park
I want to sit idle on the park bench, on the road side, on the beach, on the benches in front of the corner tea shop
I wanna stare!
I wanna hang around!
I wanna whistle in the crowd, inside, outside, in the wilderness of my loneliness
I wanna see the moon rising in the dark sky lying down on the riverbanks, not sitting on my terrace
I wanna swim, as they all do, taking off their outerwears, not caring about anyone else, no not in the pool, in the rivers, in the lakes, in the sea
I wanna drench in the rain, without an umbrella, not accidentally, but for the sake of it
I wanna day dream standing on a crowded aisle,
I wanna walk back from work on a lonely night, and have my dinner @ the
I wanna dance on the pavements,
I wanna go theatres, whatever rating the movie has
I wanna walk slow, when everyone else runs around
I wanna sing, hum, play on the streets, race my bike, catcall, hip-hop, shout, laugh,
I just wanna LIVE!
:) Suman. S


My dream for my city is to be able to walk down the street in a skirt without anyone honking or yelling out a window at me.
Annie


I would like to go for a run whenever I please in my city
I would like to share a healthy discussion about sex
I would like to feel proud of every aspect of my body
Sowmiya Ashok

I want to be relaxed and not chew my nails out every time a female friend is out late at night.- Uday Prakash


I want to be able to not treat every man/boy with suspicion.- Ratna Apnender



Hang out, loaf around, goof about, do total lukkagiri, in any corner of my city without anyone physically molesting me, verbally assaulting me, hauling me to a police chowki, questioning me or analyzing my dress sense, my loud laughter, or why I’m there at that late hour of the night.

I want to sit on the grass in any park in my city or saunter down any sea front promenade in my city and be able to stare at the trees or the sea without being stared at.

I want to be able to enjoy my city’s many spaces without being held hostage to acts of consumption – that is, I may want to buy that cup of coffee because I want to drink a cup of coffee but I don’t want to buy that coffee because that is the only way I can find a place to sit and relax for a bit.

I wish I could find a clean and available place to pee in my city – so that I can enjoy my city outdoors more without having to cross my legs all the time and be in a hurry to go home.

I want to have the right to be out in my city anytime of the day or night without fear, without retribution, without holding my pee and I want everyone else in my city – rich or poor, hawker or homosexual, old or very young, disabled or fat to have this right too.

 Sameera Khan/journalist, writer & researcher/ age 38/Mumbai


I wish i could walk down the street without worrying if any part of my body looks too "inviting"

i wish i had a zap gun to shock every person who gave me unwanted attention

i wish i had a necklace that shot a blinding light at the wandering eyes that lingered too long at my breasts

i wish i never felt bad about myself because of the way some sexually repressed man looked at me.

i wish that there were as many girls and women hanging around idly on the street as there are boys and men.

i wish there was a way to make men see how it feels to be objectified and humiliated every single day. That it is just as much of an insult as it is to be demeaned and disrespected by a corrupt employer or slumlord.

i wish that more men would join the struggle against gender-based violence.- Surabhi


i love walking. i want to be able to take a walk anytime anywhere on my own, and not have to get someone to come along with me depending on the time and place.-Vrinda

I wish I could stand at a crowded bus stop, waiting for a bus, without being made to feel by the leers of passers-by that I was out selling myself.- Tanushree Parial


I want to confidently refuse a lift from a male friend and go back by myself even though it might be late in the night...

I dont want to fret and look at my watch every time i attend a late night party.

I want to travel across this wide and diverse country with my backpack for company and not safety worries...Manjusha Vijaykumar


"If Wimbledon could do it only in 130 years, we should prove to our country that we can accomplish the same in less than half the number of years it took our erstwhile rulers"
Wimbledon has realized and equalled the prize money for both Male and Female participants shedding its 130 Yr old custom of Men being paid higher prize money than Women. What am referring to in my above statement in not in monetary terms, instead its to stress the equality that Men and Women should enjoy in this World be it in Rights, Rituals, References or as all you women dream in Roads too and at any point of time at that.
"Let us strive and succeed in making the difference" ~Vicky.

. i wish my friends would not have to be silent and pretend being 'normal' even when being 'stared' at, every time we go out, only to make sure a scuffle would not ensue. -Krishna


I would love to fly over the city, in a hot-air balloon or a parachute.- Amelie


i'd like to be able to not have to think before
wearing my tank top, or even go out without a
dupatta/chunni (i know it's done a lot but i still get
self-conscious at times!)
Even more, i'd like to be able to hang with a guy in a
bar, without people around 'knowing' that i'm sleeping
with him --- funny (how else to take it?) story here:
one of my neighbours saw me in a local bar with a
friend of mine who was visiting from NYC and
subsequently 'warned' my husband - in a joking manner
- whether he thought it was wise to work such long
hours ... I walked around feeling a little like i was
carrying a big red A on my chest ... but then have
gotten over it & even been spied doing the same thing
:) Atiya Hussain


i second that. i was in madya pradesh last week
shooting a documentary with a japanese american
friend of mine and everywhere we went, the men -
not the women - would ask me in hushed hindi
with a snigger if i was his 'escourt' heavy subtext
and wink nudge - or what our relationship was to
each other, straight off - sickening really that there is
no concept of manners in little india - how is it any
business of theirs to dare ask me personal questions
and also how extremely pathetically narrowminded
to think there can only be one relationship between
an indian woman and a foreign national travellling
together.

so yes. i'd like to be able to travel any number of men
of various nationalities without being given the 'look'
Natasha Hemrajani


I wish I could walk down any street whenever I want, day or night-Prasheila

I wish I could sit on the beach all night and listen to the music the waves make ..- Uma


"i wish Bangalore got a woman's touch as opposed to masculine
monstrosities in terms of architecture, public spaces, etc. "

"i wish all the women i knew can return home late in the night without me worrying about it."
Kunal Ashok


I wish I could just walk out onto the street without having my "game-face" on! - Aviva Dharmaraj


1.i want to DANCE! in public
2.i want to able to sing aloud (ive done it once with this delightful girl) in a BEST!
3.make a dancing chain(hands on shoulders of person in front) and walk down haji ali! dance down.
4.make two nipples on the nipple area of tshirt. this is cos i was made to "delete" the word from an article i once wrote for the malhar mag. it was about BNP. "pert n*****s are not a sign of promiscuity" - Pallavi Sen



i wish i could stretch. i long lumbering warm fuzzy full bodied stretch. like a cat. without thinking about how im looking and am being looked at.

i want to grab my boy and hug him and kiss him cos i love him but im a bit afraid to. in public. they might haul me up for inappropriate behavior. (anon)

'walk around without a bra!'- sangita shirali

Love the roads at night, always hold myself back in the middle of the night…I wish I can just let go.- Shweta Baxi Tyagi

Would love to walk on the streets in peace without being rubbed and fingered or stared at by men. maya

I want to be able to walk down the street naked. I want everyone else to be naked too. Stark naked. There will be no room for an issue.
- anon

I wish Gandhiji's dream of a truely free india becomes a reality -
when a lady wearing all her jewels is able to return home safely all
alone in the middle of the night!~Anand

I wish there were women as nightwatchwomen. Not because watch men are unsafe, but because we have no concept of a nightwatch woman?! Imagine
saying “ watch woman!!”- Jasmeen


There are so many things that I CAN'T do - at least not without a deep sense of unease - purely by virtue of being a woman...
I wish I could wear tank tops and skirts while travelling by public transport on those scorching summer days.
I wish I could walk into a bar alone and nurse my drink, occasionally eating some peanuts, without attracting curious stares, without looking "available."
I wish I could buy condoms without a second thought.
I wish I could travel the country without filling my bags with salwar kameezes and dupattas.
I wish I cared less about my body, about whether or not I looked "fat" or "cheap."
I wish I could go to the gynaecologist without the mortal fear of being "lectured" for being sexually active and yet unmarried.
It goes on and on and on...Aurina


I could walk alone at night with just the moonlight and no fear.
Be a part of a concert and not worry whose hand is where..just enjoy the pure thrill of being there. Tejal


1. I want my husband, father or brother to never ever feel the constant need to protect me.
2. I want to never ever desperately wish I had a male escort while walking on a deserted road after dark.
3. I want no parents to feel the rage, anger and guilt that my parents feel when I encounter abuse on the street.
4. I want pepper sprays to be a thing of the past. -Preeti Raju


i wish .....in my city gorakhpur all person speak up..! on women violence and discrimination....(chuppi toro)- manish

I would like to see my city as police station free city.( i mean no necessity of tht)- Sudheer


what i really want is to walk in this city, at any time of the day be it morning, noon or night without

a)anyone slowing down their car and presuming that if a girl is walking then she HAS to be fair game

b) school boys thinking that whistling at a woman and singing songs is a rite of passage which they cannot do without

c) i want to walk without looking over my shoulder all the time. Delhi is a beautiful city and just for once I want to walk, taking in the surroundings, admire the trees, the buildings and the chirping of the birds without wondering if the man behind me is actually the creep at the previous bus stop who was staring at me.- Nikita

1. Be able to take a nice book out to Cubbon Park by myself, sit on a bench, and read in peace.
2. Be able to ride a bicycle to work without feeling like I'm on a suicide mission- Debbie Gross

i want to wear a lakhnawi dress without a slip underneath.
i dont want to be looked over when i wear tight tops.
i want to wear short skirts, dresses no matter my figure.
i want to shop on crowded streets without worrying about groping.
i dont want to think twice before going out on the eve of holi.
i want to hang around a disco/pub without looking 'available'
i want to m
ove about any way i want, without adjusting my top/jeans. i dont want to worry abt my cleavage showing. -varsha chandwani

. I want to go to a concert and the market place without
worrying about being groped
I want to be able to tell a new male acquaintance that
I live alone with female roommates without worrying
about compromising my safety
I want to get wet in the rain without worrying about
my nipples showing
I want to work out and play squash in a white t-shirt
without being stared at once the sweat makes it
transparent.
Sowmya rajaram


I wish to walk around once without being virtually raped.
I wish to feel free even while I am walking through the crowds.
I wish to work in a non-gender-biased environment in my city.
I wish to proclaim loudly that I am equally Mentally Strong and Technically Updated like my Male colleagues.
I wish to feel the open night breeze run through my hair on the city roads in my city.
I wish to walk through the crowd without the fear of being touched... in my city.
I wish to taste that dish served by that food stall guy in those secret alley's in my city.
I want freedom to Eat, Drink and Wander around in public without any Fear in my City. -SVETA TARE


I would love to go jogging at the beach or along carters without being conscious of the fact that "too much of me" is moving ....

I would love to wear my white shirts more often without thinking twice before wearing them.. in the fear of everything being transparent at the end of the day....i hate carryin those files just to cover my bust..

I would love to feel secure and comfortable past 8,the next time i am waiting for a friend on the road...

I wish i could still wear my short tops without having to stretch them till they completely cover my tummy..

................................so many things to say....most of them seem to be the "wrong thing" to do....

PS i hate it when anybody say" are you sure you want to wear that?"....i am always sure.. - Shreya Pilgaonkar


I could sit on the promenade, reading, without the searching stares, without the raised eyebrows or the none-too-discreet gestures.
I could leave the house in my tracks and ganjee, without worrying about whether or not I will be whistled at or groped.
I could sit in an auto without holding my bag tight against my chest.
I could walk without the insistent honking of a car drowning out my music.
I could run without first checking that I have on the most supportive bra ever known to womankind.
I could stand, sometimes, for no other reason than the fact that I want to.
I could eat pani-puri on the streets, just by myself, without always having to wait for someone to come along.
I could take an auto at night through the smaller lanes, so I get home earlier, instead of having to go all the way around.

I WISH....
that within the walls and spaces, within the streets and the alleys, within the chaos and the sudden startling serenity, within the madness of urbanity, within its rare silence, I could be me. Just myself in my city.- Chinmayee manjunath


1. Go out late at night to watch stars, go for a drink, come back from a friend’s house …
2. Ride my bicycle through whatever territory I want at whatever time of the day or night
3. Feel safe in a taxi by myself
4. Wear short skirts when it’s very hot without being stared at
5. Not wear my sunglasses at day time to stop people thinking I look at them ‘provocatively’
6. Eating ice cream without feeling obscene
7. Kissing my boyfriend in public when I feel like it
8. Riding a rickshaw without hearing kissing noises from guys on the side of the street
9. Lying in the park reading a book without someone coming up to me and asking me ‘which country’ and liberally continuing onto more private issues effectively spoiling my day
10. Being alone in an open space/landscape without feeling unsafe


My wish is very small!! I often stay awake late and in between my work, I st and in my balcony and watch the quiet, deserted, and beautiful road in front my house. Once in a while I find a man walking with his hands in his pockets, or with a cigarette in his hand, softly whistling or lost in thoughts walking along. I want to walk all alone, past midnight on the lonely streets of my city, enjoying its beauty without its crowds, without its noise. Just go for a long walk all alone without the fear of violence!! I REALLY DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH OF IT IS THE INSTILLED AND INTERNALIZED FEAR WITHIN ME AND HOW REALLY THREATENING ARE THE ROADS IN THE NIGHT. I HAVE NEVER WALKED THE ROADS ALONE PAST MIDNIGHT!! - SHARADA

I want to not worry about my legs being unwaxed and wear a skirt, without being gawked at by men and women alike.
I want to smile at a man without being afraid of him harassing me.
I want to smile at people without them thinking I am a lunatic.
I want to live.
I want to be me.
I want to wear a burkha and sit in a theatre.
I want to go for a movie on my own.
I want to sing while I walk without being thought of as inviting.
I want to not worry about my bra strap showing.
I want to not have to wear a bra.
I want to be able to sit in a park alone and not be harassed.

-Suparna

I want to play and run along with my son on the
roads in my colony and also playgrounds.He wants it. I
enjoy it.- Madhuri Kalpa

1. i wish there were no such terms as 'skimpy' or 'revealing' when it comes to clothes...clothes are just clothes

2. i wish i could wear whateeever i wanted to wherever..be it office..or when im going by bus, auto..anything!

3. and i wish i could go for late night cycle rides anywehere...not just in the universty of hyderabad!

3. i also wish there was no friggin dress code in offices/colleges

4. and i most certainly wish bangalore city becomes less crowded and less polluted and LESS expensive!!!

5, n that people got married only when they felt like it...with no pressure of time or age or body clock or any of the crap!

6. and that my wokr timings got better so that i could have sent this list two days ago >:|

Chitra Badrinarayan

1. I want to go out with boys and not hear my mother's voice in my head warning me to "not let them try anything!".
2. I want to laugh out loud in the street and not have people throw me disapproving looks.
3. I want to be able to hug friends without worrying about what they're thinking.-Tharunya Balan

I wish I could kiss my man deep and long, without having to pull away because someone's staring.

I wish I could book a room for two without being looked at oddly.

I wish it wasn't necessary to always travel in groups to be 'safe'.

I wish I could travel without worrying about what to wear and who will say what.

I wish I could walk around in a loose and comfortable bra.

I wish I could wear transparent clothes without a slip in the scorching summer heat.

I wish I could walk out of the house before sunrise without a worry in my head.

I wish I could stand at chowpatty, look out at the sea and sing my heart out.

I wish I could wear tight, short, dressy stuff in the local and not be stared at.

I wish that I could walk along the shore at Marine Drive late every night, alone, without anything but the moonlight, and anyone but my shadow.-Riya

I wish smiles were innocuous. I wish I didn't have to analyze whether a man's smile was friendly, or not. I want to smile back without an implied invitation.- Sujata Bhat

1. I want to sit with a friend without being termed anything demeaning...at any hour of the day!
2. I want to get back from work and be able to go for a walk
3. I want to wear 'airy' tops in sweltering Delhi heat
4. I want to sit without wondering if people, sitting behind me, are gawking
5. I want to take the right of men (in my life & otherwise) to tell me what to do/ wear “for my own good”
6. I wish people wouldn’t press themselves on me in public transport…even when I am clad in a suit!
I wish I had the freedom to be on my own & just be myself…
-Pallavi Malhotra, 23, Delhi


You have those times when you just cant seem to get through the day but somehow u do. only because days brings light & life with them. the nights, however, haunt you and all you want to do is take a walk or drive around...maybe stop for a cup of coffee...i dunno bout other cities doing so, alone in Delhi, is a mortal sin.

From the time of growing up, we are dependent on parents, friends, relatives... just because we cant even think of stepping out of our houses alone at most times. sometimes, even in broad daylight. and then people wonder why are women in Delhi so 'spoilt', we aren't. Its just that we live in terror each day.

I wish i could stop being dependent on others for everything in my life. is that too much to ask...that too in the capital of our country?

I wish I could wake up and walk out to get my paper without stressing about the "right clothing"

I wish I could walk on the road at night with out looking back.

I wish I could ask for contraception at a pharmacy- irrespective of the gender of the salesperson

I wish I could walk to the swimming pool from the dressing room in my swim suit ONLY

I wish I didnt always have to wear a bra

I wish I didnt have to glare back at random men on the road as much as I have to

I wish I could buy wine without getting odd looks

I wish I could take myself out for a drink alone at a bar and not look available

I wish I could stand anywhere on the road for however long- without feeling the need to change positions or look down

I wish I could just walk. Whenever, whereever, however.- anon

• that i could wear high heels and feel sexy - and not have to worry about whether i'll be able to run away in time

• that my city did not view me as just a body, i wish i could get rid of the feeling that to be a woman is to be a body, i wish i could forget my body

• i wish i could sing out loud the songs stuck in my head - and not have passing men think i am singing the songs because i am attracted to them

• i wish i could own a bright bright bright neon red car, drive alone at midnight, turn up its stereo to the max, make it wheels screech on the tar - and no one bats an eyelid when they realise the driver is a girl

• i wish it was possible for me to bend down to pick up things that happen to drop - and not have to think twice about it.

• i wish i could let myself fall asleep on the bus after a tiring day - and not have to worry about whose groping hands will wake me up

• i wish for the day to come when i feel empowered enough to bargain with auto wallahs after dark, i wish i could spend that extra money on icecream- PRIYANKA
  

NIGHT ACTION PLAN 1- DELHI

ACTION HEROES: ANNIE ZAIDI. MONICA MODY. LEZLEY. DEEPA. SOMINI SENGUPTA. ABIGAIL CRISMAN. SAUMYA AGARWAL.LAMAT. +1, SUJATA SARKAR, SAMVEDNA, PRIYA, ASTHA, SUSAN, EKTA JATWANI, DEEPTI, NILANJANA ROY, AKSHARA.....

THANKYOU MANOJ, RAHUL BHATTACHARYA, , SIDDARTH KARARWAL, ARUN, HEMANT, RAMESH, KHOJ STUDIOS.........

The news media was present.
video: watch the CNNIBN coverage!
print: The Hindu / Delhi News Online

BLANK NOISE HYDERABAD: DISPERSING TESTIMONIALS

Blank Noise Hyderabad Team participants for the first public intervention included
1. Ratna- also from Blank Noise Blore
2. Tanu
3. Arshi
4. Diya
5. Vrinda
6. Lakshmi
7. Meghna
8. Soumya
9. Ambrish
10. Bobby
11. Venkat
12. Krishna
13. Amit
14. Uday

photos by Uday and Ambrish

Blank Noise Hyderabad intervened at Eat Street and an open ground adjacent to it, by giving random strangers letters. These letters contained blogger's testimonials of eve teasing (from the blogathon).

A more detailed account from email extracts:

Ratna:
Blank Noise Hyderabad met at 5.00 p .m at ES, began working on folding the letters etc. Later we found out that the ES security guards weren't going to allow us to distribute pamphlets even on the pavement outside and also that distributing pamphlets itself was banned in Hyderabad!

[ES is a food court type thing- partly open air, on a road by the lake that also has parks etc, so we started outside ES and walked along the road through the park and also through an exhibition. Outside ES and along the road the people were - a lot of young men and some older men and families too, but the area wasn't crowded at al

The women stood along the wall and stared/ tried to keep people’s gaze.

The women volunteers leaned against a wall and gave a letter bearing an eve teasing testimonials to people amongst public (mostly men) who responded in some way.

The group also went to a mela ground like place and the women volunteers just hung out at different spots maintaining eye contact. The men played the role of passive observers, spoke to people, photographed and distributed pamphlets/testimonials to people who they thought were responding to the situation or even ‘checking us out’

Arshi says:
To begin with it was very difficult for me to stare back at men. Even after trying it a couple of times I felt really uneasy when one person continued looking at me, rather scanning me up and down. On giving him the letter he continued smiling, as if I had handed him a love letter. I stood across the path to see his reaction. While reading he kept biting his lips, winking and showing it to his friends. The letter did not seem to affect him.

After a while he noticed the other women around me and men carrying pamphlets, some clicking photographs. Then probably out of fear or curiosity he began a conversation with Uday and (Ridiculous enough!!) even showed interest in joining BNP.

I had to give him the "unwanted" sticker. This time he did not make any eye contact and looked apologetic. Next time I'm sure he would think twice before indulging in eve teasing


Uday says:

Some of the comment heard yesterday:
1. "What are you guys doing about Adam teasing? You guys need to keep track of the trends. As one of the victims of it, I can tell you its more of adam teasing that takes place these days." - This came from a guy who was obviously trying to hit on one of the participants, while the intervention was on, so I stepped in to talk to him.

2. "Which newspaper are you from? Plz dont publish our snaps, plz understand we come from respectible families and it will get very embarrasing if you publish our snaps."

3. "They are asking us not to tease girls who wear bad clothes (?)". This came in response to a question from a passerby as what we were doing. The question was obv aimed at us, but this decided to step in and answer it for us. Incidentally he was a buddy of the guy who made the statement in 2. He actually said this in telugu - "chadda battalu". When asked what he meant by "bad" clothes, he listed, sleeveless tops and mini skirts. The person who asked what we were dng there said "Being a man, if I can wear a ull shirt and trousers, why do the women dress themselves in such short clothes?"

more coming up...

The act of dispersing testimonials in the form of letters also took place in Delhi and Chennai on the 28th of May.

Thankyou for reading...

Blank Noise Hyd.

Interventions and techniques

Campaigns, street actions

DID YOU ASK FOR IT?:
Blank Noise wants you to discard the clothes worn at the time you were sexually harassed on the streets. This collective building of an installation of clothes seeks, primarily, to erase the assumption that you 'asked for it' because of what you were wearing. The popular assumption is that the girl is to blame because she was 'provocatively dressed', implying that 'immodest' women are eve-teased. Clothes are contributed with a note by the volunteer which explains the circumstances under which they were harassed and includes a usually intimate description of what the participant was feeling, thus acting as an outlet for a kind of purging of experience as well.

We hope to collect 1,000 clothes and assemble them in a gigantic installation out on the streets in the major cities of India. The hope is that the clothes will act as a public testimony and rejuvenation of public memory, collectively defying the notion of 'modesty'. Clothes are coming in from as far apart as Baramulla, Kashmir and Chennai, Tamil Nadu and include school uniforms and salwar kameez's.

To sceptics who ask whether this doesn't imply falling into the role of “victim” whereas it might be more empowering to emerge from that label and fight the experience, Blank Noise suggests that this collection serves to purge memories, jog public and personal memories (thus countering the tendency to brush off street harassment or live in denial about its existence)

This part of the project is open to anyone anywhere: people need to mail in their clothes or arrange for us to help them ship it over to our Bangalore studio.

REPORTING TO REMEMBER:
Following a series of attacks against women and on minorities across Karnataka, Blank Noise began the Reporting to Remember project. Many of the attacks were against people found talking to members of the opposite sex when they were from a different community; or eating with them; or travelling in the same transport as them. But there were also concentrated attacks against women in a pub (Mangalore - 24/01/09), driving on a busy street (Bangalore, Feb 09), trying to catch an auto (Bangalore Feb 09) and others, indicating that women were being attacked for no other reason than that their actions were deemed to be against "Indian culture" whatever that monolithic identity was assumed to be by these -often right wing- young men.

This is an online project, launched in March 2009.


MAKE YOUR STREET SIGN:
This is a project inviting contributions online here. The idea is: We are talking of safer cities not feared cities; We are talking of independent women, not paranoid women;We are talking about collective responsibility- don't tell me to be even more 'cautious';
We are talking about eve teasing as street sexual harassment and street sexual violence; We are talking about autonomous women, not just mothers daughters and sisters amidst fathers brothers and sons.

Over April-May 2009, online.

BLANK NOISE GUY:
Increasingly, Blank Noise meetings are attended by men. Blank Noise has now begun to document through video and written testimonial the relationship that men have to issues of street harassment; the reasons why they come to Blank Noise meetings and volunteer with us, despite our attention being largely focussed on the harassment of women. Some exploration has begun here.

Internet based, bagun in April 2009.

MUSEUM OF STREET WEAPONS:
No, we do not condone violence of any kind, but Blank Noise has been interested in examining how women convert everyday objects into articles of defence when on the street. This project also explores the mindset with which different women set out to face the street. Safety pins become little knives, deodorant sprays are accompanied by pepper sprays and ... well take a look here. The project is also on facebook, up here... um, link coming soon.

It was begun online in December 2008.

BLANK NOISE THIS PLACE:
Remember it, record it, report it with a photograph at Blank Noise This Place. Begun online in 2008 (although informally before that!). Send pics in here: blurtblanknoise@gmail.com and see the other photographic reportage on this Flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blanknoisethisplace.

TALES OF LOVE AND LUST
Also known as the vocabulary project, stemming from a need to build a dictionary of 'eve teasing', Blank Noise asked participants to email in to us comments and remarks they had heard addressed to them on the street. We compiled them into what we call an 'eve teasing' vocabulary. We represent this vocabulary in the form of charts, school-style, simple lettering and graphics, in an attempt to desexualise and remove obscene reference from the terms that are used leerily at us on the streets. When participants sent us food names that they had been called - 'cham cham', 'tamatar', - for instance - Blank Noise returned to the original, clinical, hard-fact meaning of the word and presented charts with the term followed by its meaning, to show what we are not. For instance, it might be hard for some men to believe when they hiss 'cham cham' at a girl on the street, but we are not in fact an East Indian sweet. Sweet, spongy and soft patties made from milk, flavoured with saffron, in a sugar syrup. In this way we take back the word and assign it its original meaning devoid of lewd ascription.

This is online and readable on:
Tales of Love and Lust 1
Tales of Love and Lust 2
Tales of Love and Lust 3

This was an online project, but posters have been printed an put up in offices in Bangalore.

UNWANTED:
Photographing the perpetrator:
Women, camera and the internet.

Here the Blank Noise volunteer responds rapidly and powerfully, by photographing the perpetrator, thus seizing control of the situation and flipping the power relation where the male has assumed control. Photographs are posted on the Internet, along the same lines as those practised by HollaBack NYC, a U.S.-based group that Blank Noise is associated with.

Critics may argue that this violates the rights of the perpetrator to state their defence, by publicly condemning them without allowing for a response from them, but Blank Noise believes that street dynamics are on-the-spot and rapidly changing, requiring a response that evolves within the same dynamic since the law is often handicapped to deal with street harassment. “Natural” processes of justice, for instance, would imply reporting street harassment, calling upon witnesses and requiring the filing of FIRs whereas the actions that violate personal and physical space are often fleeting or done on-the-run and sometimes hard/impossible to prove.

Mostly this has been used in Bangalore.

NIGHT WALKS:
Many women in India wouldn't imagine exploring the streets of their cities at night, alone, unaccompanied by a male escort or using private transport. Blank Noise Project's night walks invite women to come together to “hang out” on the streets... the feel of this intervention is often light hearted and celebratory. Women can stop to eat at roadside dhabas, or just run along the streets, enjoying the public space and revelling in the feeling of being out at a time usually considered taboo.

Some night walks have been more narrowly focussed, with women using stencils and posters to publicise Blank Noise and talk to people about it on their way.

Has been conducted in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Y R U LOOKING AT ME:
One of the earliest Blank Noise interventions, here groups of people (sometimes joining the group spontaneously moments before it begins) wear one letter each of the provocative phrase Y R U LOOKING AT ME on their breasts in shiny red reflective tape. The group appears and disappears at traffic lights and at major public crossings and is completely silent, maintaining eye contact with the stream of traffic lined up at the signal. Often when challenged by a frank and fearless female gaze, onlookers tend to look away or feel embarrassed; thus the ubiquitous male gaze is countered and an interest is generated which allows for dialogue to open up. When the light turns green, volunteers disappear into the sidewalk, distributing pamphlets and answering questions.

Has been conducted in Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and New Delhi.

ACTION HEROES:
This is the current stage of the project and can be considered a variant of the earlier stage. Condicted in the same spaces as the role playing interventions, these require women to take control and respond to harassment. Often street interventions involve an “incident” of harassment and action heroes respond as they wish, aware that whether they choose to scream out or stay silent, the response is a conscious and deliberate one.

Volunteers are handed whistles which often rent the air during an intervention, signalling the alarm and emergency that street harassment should trigger and thereby negating the denial response where the girl moves on, pretending nothing happened that is unusual.

In Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi. Details on blanknoiseactionheroes.blogspot.com

BLOG-A-THON:
On International Women's Day, March 8, 2006, Blank Noise extrapolated its current intervention onto its blog. In 2007, the blog-a-thon invited women to pick up the imaginary baton from the Blank Noise blog and write a post about a personal experience of harassment on their own blog, linking back to Blank Noise. Many women from across the world shared intimate experiences that they had buried or forgotten. The anonymity of the internet granted safety and a sense of power and women shared frankly experiences that resounded with other participants, thus creating an online community that shared universal experiences despite being separated by miles of physical space!

In 2007, in keeping with the Action Heroes theme of the main project, Blank Noise's blog-a-thon asked women to share how they had responded and/or fought back.

This is an online project open to anyone – those who use the internet could email us their posts or write them on their personal blogs, but people were also encouraged to share verbally and Blank Noise volunteers would translate this on to online text.

I WISH
This campaign asked people to email us what they wished from their cities. Often city streets and parks are functional spaces, that we use merely to navigate and would not linger in, savour or enjoy. But we asked people to look beyond the reality of unsafe streets into an ideal world where they could imagine an alternate reality. The results were telling: people wrote in with wishes as simple as "I wish I could sit under a tree and read', suggesting that the simplest pleasures are a luxury in much of urban India today. The blueprint for this campaign could be used as a guide, showing Blank Noise what its participants are hoping for and could provide indications for what direction our future work might take.

Techniques

Testimonials:
Testimonials are in the form of letters created using materials from past Blog-a-thons. They begin “Dear Stranger” and go on to detail an experience of street harassment and present a very personal view of the experience from the victim's point of view. They seek to encourage the recipient to see street harassment at once as a very personal experience that can leave long lasting trauma as well as an event/s that is experienced by a wide range of women from different backgrounds: thus the convergence of the universal and the particular resident in an act of street harassment are conveyed by the young women volunteers through these letters.

Recipients are usually passersby but have sometimes been the area's residents - by knocking at their apartment doors (as in Mumbai). These are usually distributed at night walks or at interventions such as Y R U LOOKING AT ME.

Stencils:
Stenciling includes spray-painting testimonials like short FIRs, leaving it as graffiti in bazaars, bus-stops etc. and is created usually night walks.

Posters:
Posters mentioning the law against street harassment or maybe a list of things women find invasive or equating to harassment. These are created from sessions with Blank Noise volunteers and sometimes as a result of opinion polls.

Opinion polls and dialogue building:
The second phase of the project sought to elicit responses on the act of street harassment from people on the streets where these acts take place. Blank Noise volunteers, armed with dictaphones and opinion charts, asked people for their opinions of street harassment. What is it, who indulges in it, when does it happen, what are people's responses to it – these are some of the questions we asked and mapped on to chart paper. This action allowed us to open dialogue with people in a non-confrontational manner as well as helped us understand different people's perspectives on harassment involving the changing nature of the city, globalisation, the influence of popular culture and its use as a schema through which to interact with the opposite sex and so on.

Conducted in Bangalore and Delhi, there are now attempts to make permanent some of these polls so that people will find charts at their neighborhood paan store or bus stand, keeping the issue alive and the debate ongoing.

T-shirts:
We call these “Auto T-shirts” since they are meant to be read off the reflection from a rear view mirror in an auto. Asking Y RU LOOKING AT ME in Hindi and Kannada script so that it's what meets the viewers eyes through a mirror.

Mapping:
Blank Noise volunteers in Delhi map “harassment spots” on a city map. Women place a red thumb print on a city map to mark an area they have been harassed and once volunteers have marked the map, it is offered to passers by who add to the map. Testimonials are handed out during this process and it also serves as an opening for dialogue on issues that Blank Noise works with.

Role playing:
This intervention seeks to reclaim public spaces for women. Begun on Bangalore's crowded Brigade Road, volunteers show up on a weekend afternoon, wearing a form of clothing they would not otherwise wear out in public, and adopt a persona appropriate to the clothing.

Through the course of the intervention they occupy the spaces most aggressively occupied by males: for instance, along the railings and outside the liquor shop at the head of the street. Brigade Road is well known for its hordes of lingering males, draped on the railings often reaching out to pinch the women who walk by or to stare incessantly at them, thus making the experience of walking down the street one that is unpleasant for many women, who walk with their heads lowered and bags clasped around their person.

This intervention allows women in large numbers to linger on the street, taking over the spaces hitherto reserved for males. The intervention seeks to imagine what the public space would look like if it were filled with as many women as there are men usually – how does the dynamic change, and what does this mean for women's safety? Women are free to explore negotiations of the public space through different persona: one woman could be dressed as a sex worker for instance and suggest invitation through her body language (the intervention does not use words), another could be dressed in a saree draped provocatively: the intention is only to wear what you would not otherwise and explore the space from a fresh perspective.

This intervention has been conducted in many forms routinely in Bangalore and the intention is to build it up as a regular feature rather than a random occurence. The main challenge inherent within it is to translate the power and relaxed attitude displayed by most women volunteers during the intervention into a similarly confident experience that they can draw upon when walking by the street otherwise, outside of an intervention.

Has been conducted in Bangalore and Delhi.