Hope you read my last post… before the Meet

I-change to Indi-change: Make a promise, keep the promise!!!

🙂 🙂

8th March 2013, International Women’s Day it is!!!

I do not believe in the concept of celebrating only one day for the most special people among the God’s creation- Women. In fact every day should resonate with respect and concern for the fairer and weaker sex. I call them weak because the world sees us like this. In fact, the rising violence, cases of molest and rape have almost pushed our existence to a pathetic state. But in this male-dominated society, I am glad at least we have  a day marked for us.

This year I Bunked office!!!   😉

….after all it was my day and I dint want to work.  I wanted to celebrate it my way, by doing something which would be satisfying. Hence I chose to be a part of a pledge, a promise.

The evening was well spent at the Indi-Change Meet organised by Indiblogger. It championed the cause of standing up against the violence and injustice done towards women.  The brigade of bloggers came from Delhi and in and around NCR to join a campaign launched by Breakthrough and Bell Bajao (Ring The Bell). 

People from all the avenues of the society were present there to make it an evening of healthy discussion, implementation of positive thoughts and to take it forward. Special guests were there to Ring the Bell and take the initiative for the day.

Sir James Bevan, KCMG, British High Commissioner, was the first to commence and address the audience.  It was a pleasure to hear from him about the importance of women in his life. Rajan Anandan, CEO, Google gave an effective talk too. He promised to invest and support Tech-Start ups which had women in their teams.

There were conversations between Indira Jaising,  Rahima Khatun, Pushpa Balmiki about the state of women and delay in implementation of laws related to women empowerment. Sonali Khan was the anchor of the great show. But hearing everyone speak about the women empowerment left me thinking with only one thing. When we all want the same then what is stopping the law makers from putting it into implementation. Is a revolution needed from the society?

When actor, Rahul Bose said that we have to grow our boys positively, he also emphasized on the fact that the women, lady of the family have to be accepted and treated more importantly than the men. Activist Anand Pawar also spoke very effectively. Masculinity and drawing the lines was the theme of the event. Author Advaita Kala too said that women have a great place in the society and every time they should not be on the sufferance side. The portrayal of women in cinema also needed to be more impact making.

The portrayal of women in film, TV and advertising was also discussed.Some of the best people were available at one platform to express their views about women, value of women and each of them promised to do their bit for the women. Ring the Bell is a drive which has brought one million men who are part of it through one million promises. I am sure there are many more to come….

It was amazing to meet/see some intelligent people talk and perform there. The event rocked with performances of  Mahabanoo Mody, Swarathma band and Anushka Shanker who also came to pledge their support for the good cause. Best of all, Thanks to IndiBlogger for inviting all bloggers !!!

 Had the most amazing time at the Ring the Bell campaign/Indichange. The Swarathma band took our hearts away and they were the stars of the event. The cute and lovely expressions made by Anushka Shanker  made her expressive and beautiful face lit up more. Her performance was powerful too.  Music has always played a great role in standing for such causes and it did once again….

This social media storm event was organised at the British Council, New Delhi and the schedule was tightly packed from 5-30 p.m to 9-30 p.m. I must say it was 4 hours of power-packed excitement, enthusiasm, fun and healthy interaction.

From the left : Gayatri Soni, Myself, Neha Kapoor and a foreigner who is working on fighting social media bullies and stalkers.

I brought some lovely memories from the evening. It was fun to catch up with few unknown faces whom we only know through their writings. I sat with two blogger friends Gayatri Soni and Neha Kapoor. Interacted with a few more while having snacks. The Ring the Bell cup and the writing pad  given by Indi team was a nice gesture and and the cup stands tall on my writing table reminding me of the cause every minute… Wish I could share the picture.. will do soon. Hope such events happen more often and are taken from their stage of ignition to fruition. Lot depends on the boys and men of our generation.

We all have to unite to fight the crimes.

Happy Blogging!! Happy Pledging!!

Images: Courtesy

Indiblogger, Indian Home Maker

Related articles

• I-change to Indi-change: Make a promise, keep the promise!!! (manjulikapramod.com)
• Million men asked to “Ring the Bell” in campaign against violence against women (ilg2.org)
• Delhi bloggers meet to Ring the Bell 🙂 (indianhomemaker.wordpress.com)