How Some Dented and Painted Women Ushered in The New Year

In Delhi, hundreds of proudly dented and painted women , with quite a few male supporters, participated in the ‘Take Back The night’ night walk in the last hours of 2012 and early hours of 2013.  Shuddhabrata Sengupta of Kafila has given an evoctaive description of the momentous march here.

” Delhi took back the night as we moved into the new year. Took it back from fear, from patriarchy, from misogyny and a stupid state. They said it loud and clear. This is what I remember, roughly in this order.

Hum har jagah lengey Azaadi.
Dilli mein lengey Azaadi.
Hum Kya Chahtey – Azaadi
Raat mein bhi Azaadi. Din mein bhi Azaadi.
Moral Policing se Azaadi. Pehnave ki Azaadi. ‘Denting-Painting’ ki Azaadi.
Pyaar karne ki Azaadi. Dosti ki Azaadi.
Shadi karne ki Azaadi. Na karne ki Azaadi.
Baap se bhi Azaadi aur Khap se bhi Azaadi.
Bhai se bhi Azaadi. Husband se bhi Azaadi aur Boyfriend se bhi Azaadi.
Is culture se bhi Azaadi. Is rape culture se Azaadi.
In fabtiyon se Azaadi. In gaaliyon se Azaadi.
Manuvad se Azaadi. Dharmon se bhi Azaadi. Bhartiya Sanskriti se Azaadi.
Dafter mein bhi Azaadi. College mein bhi Azaadi.
Kaam karne ki Azaadi. Padhne-Likhney ki Azaadi. Masti karne ki Azaadi.
Nadiya ghumney ki Azaadi. Paharon mein bhi Azaadi.
Is Desh mein chahtey Azaadi. Is Duniya mein bhi Azaadi.
Dilli mein chahtey Azaadi. Chhattisgarh mein Azaadi. North-East mein Azaadi.
Kashmir mein mangey Azaadi. Shopian mein Azaadi.
Soni Sori ki Azaadi. Manorama ki Azaadi
Jeet ke lengey Azaadi. Pyar se lengey Azaadi.
Hum le-ke rahengey Azaadi.
Naye Saal mein Azaadi. Kal se lengey Azaadi. Abhi se lengey Azaadi.”

There is something so moving in these stark, unembellished raw lines. I got goosebumps reading them.

Sengupta goes on to tell us how, when the walk was over, participants stood around chatting and singing songs of hope, dreams and imagination in the memory of The Unknown Citizen.

Here, women singing Summertime in the bone-chilling cold followed by John Lennon’s Imagine.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one..

And then this:

Do watch this one , it is a beautiful song ( sounds like I’ve heard it before but can’t remember where) and the easy camaraderie between the singers is a joy to behold.

On this note, wish all of you out there a very happy and safe new year 2013.