ACTION HEROES IN BANGALORE

Action Heroes include:
Ratna Apnender
Laura Neuhas
Soumya Chandra Shekhar
Kripa Jaganath
Radhika Miglani
Priya Thangarajah
Ponni
Kunal Ashok
Tharunya Balan
Vinaya
Vani Subramaniam
Anushree M Jois
Sujata Bhatt
Shobha Vishwanathan
Rachel



An Action Hero wore the arrow and stood by the railing. The other Action Heroes went about dispersing testimonials in the form of letters. The receivers of letters were asked to identify the girl with an arrow and join her..

Dear Stranger


It was always a feeling of shame. Shame that when 14, a passing cyclist grabbed me. Shame that in the school bus, the driver always fiddled with the rearview mirror so he could look at my chest. Shame that men leered with smug smiles when I walked past. Or tried to brush up against me. Shame because I felt it happened only to me and only because there was something wrong with the way I looked or dressed or walked or talked or was. Something wrong - terribly, terribly so - with me.

And the only reaction seemed to be silence. Because confrontation might lead to attention being drawn to a dirty experience I wanted to keep secret. Because speaking out meant acknowledging that something was wrong when I could cloak it.

You will see me. I am the girl by the railings wearing a red arrow. If you know what it means take an arrow from me, wear it and stand with me. I will be around until 7 this evening.

Sincerely,

A girl

The arrow symbol definitely got the team some attention. Some responded but not too many actually joined us...moreNitesh( boy in mustard shirt) joined Kunal Ashok and began to distribute pamphlets. It was a mixed reaction from women passersby- while most ignored, the others chose to say, ' we are in a hurry'. A woman is unlikely to stand on the road, look back at people in the eye and draw attention to herself, that's precisely why 'eve teasing' is ignored.

Our first time Action Hero Kripa writes:

when i started out giving letters to people a lot of times i felt i have to be assertive but so may people shy away or wave their hands saying" no thanks, we dont need it".. making eye contact is easy.. but persisting at it.. not in a confrontational or retaliating manner but as a way to make that "connection".. thats really tough... that something i need to work on....

standing by the railings.... that got me a plethora of reactions... eye contact here is not tough.. having a blank look.. like i dont really have anything to do.. know what?.. i realized at this point.. i started to like what i was doing. i dont want to perform anymore. i want to be... like how i was at the railings.. i faced mockery, genuine interest, active participation, negativity, in difference,curiosity, intimidation created because of the "performance",humour,and some times just plain idiocy of some people and most importantly questions in my mind.. to which im still finding answers...

Soumya C Shekhar writes:

I loved wearing the arrow. It was a pleasant change to be looked in the face (eventually). I really enjoyed this intervention and somehow wearing the arrow really helped me be in the "performance" mode and use my body as a statement better. I thought claiming space in front of mota arcade with a "follow the leader" plan rocked! Really wish we do more of those. Maybe next time I'll be at the pamphlet/letter distributing end and see what insights I can gather from that perspective. It was also nice to see a decent number of girls turning up at events and encouraging people to join us and be part of BNP even if it was just for a minute was again a great idea which I hope to see repeated very often. All in all very very enjoyable.


Next Bangalore event is on Jan 7th 2007!

Bangalore Dec 10th: Calling Action Heroes!

To be an Action Hero, please email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com, subject titled, ' Bangalore, Action Hero'. Hurry!

To be in loop with bangalore discussions and events sign up at http://groups.google.co.in/group/bnpbangalore

Participants include:

1. Ratna Apnender
2. Yamini Deen
3. Soumya C. Shekhar
4. Tharunya Balan
5. Nishrin Aziz
6. Sujata Bhatt
7. Itisha Peerbhoy
8. Radhika Miglani
9. Laura Neuhas
10. Shashikala S
11. Kritika Veigas
12. Kunal Ashok
13.Shreya Sajankila
14.Parineeta Balasubramanium
15. Priya Thangarah
16. Prasad
17.Vani Subramaniam
18. Sneha Singh
19. Krupa Jaganath
20. Shobha Vishwanathan
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.

Read about Blank Noise Bangalore's recent street intervention here.

Mumbai Dec 10th

To participate mail us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com, subject titled ' action hero. mumbai'.
You can also log on to http://groups.google.co.in/group/blanknoiseprojectmumbai?hl=en

Mumbai Action Heroes include:
1. Pallavi Sen
2. Shriya Pilgaonkar
3. Nisha Chandwani
4. Varsha Chandwani
5. Cheryl Deutsch
6.Gayathri Parameshwaram
7. Rajvi Mariwala
8. Deepa Jhaveri
9. Kabi
10. Sophie
11.
12.
13.

+ Chinmayee Manjunath

Venue: Bandra Terminus

Mumbai's most recent public intervention can be read here.

DELHI DEC 8th: Are the Action Heroes ready?

This Friday we tie up with Jagori, Delhi, and ask Kya Dekh Rahe Ho? ( what are you looking at?/ Y R U LOOKING AT ME?) Talking of looking- Blank Noise T shirts ask auto drivers with rear view mirrors' Kya Dekh Rahe Ho?'( what are you looking at?!)

Jagori's safe delhi campaign has also made a short film, 'Staring hurts'.

For more details/ or to sign up, email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com, with subject titled 'DELHI. ACTION HERO.'

To be in the loop about Delhi Blank Noise events specifically join us at
http://groups.google.co.in/group/bnpdelhi


Action Heroes include:
1.Abby Crisman
2. Abby Baxi
3. Harneet Bhatia
4. Naveena Swapnabh
5. Annie Zaidie
6. Girija Duggal
7. Shruti Priya from Jagori
8. Nikita Doval+ anon friend
9. Suparna Kudesia
10. Priyanka Verma
11. Atreyee Majumder
12. Ritambhara Mehta
13. Smita Jain
14. Anisha AK
15. Sid Singh
16. Siddarth Mukund Srivastav
17.Seema Srivastava
18. Rohini
19. Kalpana Viswanath
20. Kalyani Menon-Sen
21. Shubha Menon
22. Deepa Menon
23. Amit Kendurkar
24. Kurien Abraham
25. Sandhya
26. Mahavir
27. Madhu
28.Tarunima Sen
29. Seetha Natesh
30. Sujata Sarkar
31. Samvedna
32. Benita Sharma
33.Amulya
34.Anupriya


HURRY!

Mumbai intervention - December 3

Andheri station at 5pm on a Sunday evening is packed. As crowds milled around, the six action heroes moved within the spaces outside the platform. What was first met with amused curiosity soon became the focus of attention within about 15 minutes.

We started by spreading out across the space, with enough distance between each girl so as not to seem like a group. Then, everyone stood in a row, first on one side and then the other. Gayatri handed out the first testimonial to a young man who stood outside an STD booth and stared at her for a while. He read it, made his calls and walked away. Nisha, Rajvi and Aurina gave the next ones to a group of four, who read it, did not look at the girls again and passed the testimonials around to other men. Sophie gave one to a man who stood across from her; he read it, came up to her, thanked her and left. As the girls experimented with the space, standing alone, all together and then in twos, men, alternatively, either looked away or stared back quite in disbelief. Before we left, after an hour, we distributed testimonials to the mute spectators. From the sidelines, I saw two boys walk past, and mutter - "What are the spice girls doing here?" They got a testimonial from me and walked away with shamefaced grins.

The 'spice girls', our action heroes, reclaimed Andheri station one teeming Sunday evening. And next week, we'll move to another public space.

Here are accounts from some of the action heroes who participated:

this was the 2nd time I participated. to tell you the truth i was pleasantly surprised. i am told and i know that men are slow to change and accept things. but men whom we gave the testimonials were reading it seriously. and were giving it a thought. this is a good thing. but i dont expect this to happen in deep suburbs. and definitely not in any other city. now if i ever want to stand in the premises of Andheri station, just like that, i think i will.
- Varsha

well, i feel very empowered with every intervention of ours. but i feel that as we were all 'decently' dressed, we got a somewhat positive response (i cringe to use the word 'decent'). how people's reaction would be if we were in 'revealing' dresses (i cringe again) and standing just like that ? at andheri station, a spectator who read our testimonial asked what about the girls who wear 'revealing' clothes. i feel this kind of attitude needs to be tackled in our subsequent interventions.
- Nisha

I was always taught that staring at people was bad manners. Needless to say, then, it took me a little while at the intervention to get into the groove of things. At first, I found myself reflexively looking away when a man caught my eye. But once I got used to the concept, the feeling of empowerment was incredible. What I realised was that, true to the feminist axiom, it all just comes down to power. Once confronted with a reciprocal glare, I'd say 99% of the men cowered away, sometimes with sheepish grins, other times looking over their shoulders in disbelief to check if I was still staring at them. And I was. And I enjoyed it. And I want to continue to do this in my daily life, not just as part of a Blank Noise intervention.
- Aurina

well, this was my first intervention and a unique experience indeed. it takes a little effort to tune oneself to actually stare back at the men. but, once you get used to the shift in the power equation, it feels good. i got this rush of courage, i dont know from where! may be because, we were all in a group. it was interesting to gauge the reactions of the men. some of them are very timid on the inside but show just the opposite on the outside.
- Gayatri

personally i have never been scared to give it back to men who were getting intimate with me without my consent. i have been dealing with this since my childhood. Sombody staring at me doesn't really affect me because i just don't pay attention on the other side maybe i'm stared at, because i'm a foreigner. But i can't take any intimate contact, whatever it might be, against my will.

When this occurs i just slap or push and say that they dont have the right to touch me. i participated in the performance because men have to understand that they don't have to take women as merely an object of pleasure and that we do not enjoy their unchosen behaviours.

how i felt during the performance ? it felt a bit strange to be there and pay attention to looks men were giving . in the begining i wasn't really sure if i had understood the purpose of the performance till there were some guys who weren't merely staring at us out of curiosity. During the performance we were demanded to stand alone or in a group. standing in a group is definately very powerful, because of the energy that comes out of the group. i think that the idea of giving the explicative pamphlet after holding on to their looks was super positive and i was amazed by the response of the men who we gave the pamphlet to.
- Sophie

Sign Up!

BLANK NOISE PROJECT will intervene on the streets of Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai between the 3rd and the 10th of Decemeber

Are you ready to be a Blank Noise Action Hero?

Email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com, with your, ' city name/ Action Hero'.

Mumbai will have two events over both sundays.The first event is on Sunday, Dec 3rd at Andheri Station, 5 pm sharp.

Participants include: 1. Pallavi Sen 2. Nisha Chandwani 3. Varsha Chandwani 4. Riya Kartha 5. Suparna 6. Sowmya 7. Rajvi Mariwala 8. Deepa 9. Aurina Chatterjee

Bangalore: Dec 10th.

Delhi: Dec 8th. Blank Noise partners with Jagori.

(Hyderbad & Chennai to be announced)

Who is an action hero?
A Blank Noise Action Hero is a super woman who has dealt with street sexual harassment by not ignoring or avoiding it but through confrontation and by taking agency.

One Night Stand-( Bangalore)

shoo












Location: Bangalore
Site: Brigade Road
Nature: Cosmopolitan/ Market/ Crowded.Busy/
Actors: Blank Noise Action Heroes
Date/ Time: 12th Nov- 5 pm to 7 pm


How would you react if you were walking down the street and saw women just standing, hanging around, and not waiting.

How would you react if each of these women looked at you, and it was not an invitation?

Women present on the road were handed a letter that bore a testimonial of street sexual harassment. The letter was also an invite to participate in the Blank Noise intervention, ‘One Night Stand.’

One of the letters said:

Dear Stranger,

Who we are, where we go, what we wear, how we sit, stand, talk, walk in our very own cities. When we demand the need to make our cities non threatening , I don't expect anyone to think of me as their sister or mother, but to really look at women as citizens who have every right to be out on the streets, without any explanation. Sometimes we just love to walk, stand around, hang around, without looking 'available.'

If you know what I mean, come and stand with me by the railing between 5 30 and 6 30 pm.

Sincerely,

A girl


Some women responded and we gradually saw the nature of the street transforming as more they joined in.

The public passing by gradually took to notice that ‘something’ was going on. The Action Heroes re configured themselves by standing closer and looking at every passerby,

Soon they were looking as a collective and being looked back and looking at being looked back.

Towards the end there was a crowd watching the Action Heroes watch. Ofcourse, some present in the public could not but help feel and show that they were challenged/ threatened in the eye game.

Not a word exchanged. Who ever said, but it was only a ‘look’?


Action Heroes report:
I thought the action on Sunday night was a terrific success. When we lined the railings in front of the arcade, most people who passed through noticed the change. They may not have realized exactly what was going on, but they could at least tell that something was different. Men in particular would often look back two or three times with a confused glance. I liked the subtlety of that -- no big signs or posters, but a noticeable shift in the gender dynamic of the area. I also personally enjoyed the freedom of staring and glaring back at the men who passed. And while standing in the center of the sidewalk passing out letters, I enjoyed being stationary while other people had to shift around me. I hadn't realized how much I normally skirt around men -- to make room for them and avoid colliding into them -- and it felt good to force them to move around me.- Sujata Bhat

As an individual I must say that it definitely helped. I don't know if I'll be able to go back there tomorrow evening and do the same thing that we did yesterday. But what I do know is that I can afford to have a little more faith in mankind. Because even as I stood there, between two guys, they did absolutely nothing. I got a few stares, sure, but I realised that men will look. It's how you react to it that matters. Am I going to look down and let it get to me? Or am I going to stare right back and let them know how exactly it makes me feel? I've realised also that we don't need to go around beating up men for staring. All we've got to do is let them know that they don't scare us, and that we don't like it.- Sanjana Janardhan

Since it was my first time, it was a mixture of a lot of things... the project was extremely interesting and it felt good to stand up for our rights and do somethin bout wats not right instead of just criticising bout everything thats wrong with the world!- Shreya Sajankila

Blank Noise Project thanks

• Radio One and Anjaan
• Radio City and Vasanthi Hari Prakash/ Anjana
  
• Midday
• Smriti Chanchani for taking the photographs

action heroes include:
shashikala, Nishanthi Makkam, Parineeta, shreya, krutika, Payal Kamat, Nisrin Aziz, Yamini Deen, Ratna Apnender, Manju Ramanan, Kadambari Kapor, Anupama Vadnagra, Soumya C Shekhar, Smriti Chanchani, Archana Srinivasan, Sujata Bhat, Tharuna Balan, Madhurya Balan, Anusree M Jois....

Dev Sukumar, Krishanu, Kris, Prasad, Rama Krishna, Abhiji Rai, Kailash Jodatti, karthik subbaraman

WOMEN WANTED IN BANGALORE. SUNDAY NOV 12TH

Who we are, where we go, what we wear, how we sit, stand, talk, walk in our very own cities. When we demand the need to make our cities non threatening , I don't expect anyone to think of me as their sister or mother, but to really look at women as citizens who have every right to be out on the streets, without any explanation. Sometimes we just love to walk, stand around, hang around, without looking 'available.'

Blank Noise Project Bangalore calls for women/ girls/ ladies/ of all ages, languages, colour, and shape to be participate in a street intervention on Sunday Nov 12th. Venue: Brigade Road. By participating you will be celebrated as a BNP Action Hero.

We guarantee that this action won't ask you to be acrobatic, but to be yourself, and experience the site you act upon transform. Be the stimuli, be an action hero.

To know more and to participate call us at 98868 40612.
(This street intervention will be approximately 1.5 hours)

List of participants here:

1.Ratna Apnender
2. Yamini Deen
3. Soumya Chandra Shekhar
4. Payal Kamath
5. Anushree M. Jois
6. Vrinda Maheshwari
7. Sujata Bhat
8. Nanjami
9. Shakuntala
10. Akhila Vasan
11. Leslie Ziani
12. Sanjana Janardhan
13. Manju Ramanan
14. Kadambari Kapoor
15. Sashwati B
16. Ritu
17. Chitra Badrinarayan
18. Nisrin Aziz
19. Tharunya Balan
20.Jyotsna Mandana
21. Shreya
22. Alka Shankernarayan
23. Smriti Chanchani
24. Shweta Jagdish Chellaram
25. Archana Srinivasan
26. Aishwarya
27. Krupa Jaganath
28. Monica Gupta
29. Anupama Vadnagra
30. Shyamli Panda
31. Sunaina Suresh
32. Sneha Singh
33. Arundhati Sanat
34.
35
36
37
38
39
40.............

(Male volunteers are welcome! )

Dev Sukumar, Rahul,Vivek, Thomas Abraham, Rahul

I DARE- EVERYDAY

Savita: age 22 - I was walking down the road. Unknown hands ‘accidentally’ brushed against my crotch. Time 9 pm.

Mohini: age 25 - A stranger man in his rubbed his erect genitals on me. Time 3 pm.

Farah: age 16- I shouted at a man who was making sounds and looking at my breasts and the public started laughing at me. Time 12 30 pm

Sujata: age 13- I was waiting for my mother to pick me up after school. A man in a car stopped "How much for an hour?" Time 1 30 pm

Pinky: age 11- I was taking the bus to tutions. A hand up the back of my skirt. I was numbed. Time 4 pm

Sonal: age 13 - On the scooter with Appa. Two boys pinched my breasts as they speed by on their bikes. Time 8 20pm

Piya: age 27 2 men above the age of 50 passed comments about my breasts. I spat at them and hit them with my chappal. Time 5 pm

Niti:age 18. an unknown groped my breast and disappeared in the crowd. The hand is yet to be identified. Time 3 pm

Jaysree: age 19. I was walking home and a guy in a car tried to pull me inside.
Time 6 pm

Garima: age 16 was stalked for 1 hour and had to hide in a phone booth. Time: 7 pm

Laxmi: age 37 I was constantly ‘accidentally’ elbowed in my breasts by a man in front of me. Time: 4 pm

Alka: age 9 - A man I don’t know whistled at me when I was going to school. My mother did not let me go to school that day. Time 8 .05 am

Nupur: age 32 I was waiting for the bus. 4 cars with men stopped by and asked me to come with them. Time 8 15 pm

Radha: age 50. I was enjoying my daily morning walk until I saw a van kept following me and asking, how much? Time 7 am

Priya: age 17 . He held me from the back and tried to drag me into a lane. I bit him and ran away. Time: 6 45 pm.

Meetu: age 7 was getting inside an auto. A man put his hand between my legs.
I am speaking about it after 20 years. Time 5 pm

Gayatri: age 53 I was getting inside a bus. A man put his hand between my legs. I reacted. I slapped him hard. The public also joined in. Time 6 pm

Anusree :age 21 Man on a bicycle rode past and spat on me. Time 6 35 pm.

Mansi: age 17 Anonymous man kept mumbling, whispering that he wanted to 'fuck me'. Time. 4 45 pm.

Sushma: age 31 A man squeezed my breasts hard and disappeared. Time. 9 pm

And you?


( These testimonials are of bloggers who participated in the Blank Noise blogathon conducted in March 2006. The blogathon was an online mass catharsis, with over countless number of bloggers building testimonies of 'eve teasing' online. Private has collectively become public , with people from all over the world testifying, speaking, debating, screaming, sharing their experience with the issue of street sexual harassment/ ‘ eve teasing’.In May this year Rehaan Engineer collaborated with Blank Noise to produce a sound peice from the blogathon.

We announce the start of a webspace/ a blog where you can come and share your testimonial of street sexual harassment. The testimonials blog space will be constantly building itself with your participation. If you would like to share your experience, let it out! mail us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

Thankyou!

The Blank Noise Team

I REPEAT

I DID NOT ASK FOR IT. YOU HAVE NEVER 'ASKED FOR IT'. WE WANT 1000 TESTIMONIALS TO SAY IT LOUD ENOUGH SO THAT THE WORLD CAN HEAR IT.
THE BLANK NOISE PROJECT NEEDS YOU TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
I REPEAT. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ASKING FOR IT.

(To send in testimonials of clothing please email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com and we will get back to you. ) Come along! Participate and be our Action Hero!

About the project: Did you ask for it?
Blank Noise wants you to discard your clothes worn at the time you were eve teased (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. That you are to blame and only 'provocatively dressed', and therefore 'immodest' women are eve-teased.
We hope to gather clothes across different cities as testimonials of eve teasing and install them on the streets. We hope women will stop blaming themselves, your body, your clothes. What Blank Noise hopes to do is bring together 1000 clothes, install them on the streets, in public spaces and collectively question the notion of 'modesty' and defy the assumption that we ' ask for it.'
Over the last couple of months our volunteers, both male and female, have been collecting garments from people they know, home, family, colleagues, friends. You could volunteer too and work towards making this happen. Thankyou

Good press is good press. Bad press is really bad

I enjoyed watching Rang De Basanti. It was entertaining, had a kind of spirit to it that touched many people.

A couple of months later DNA reported that the Blank Noise Project ‘started’ as an off shoot of Rang De Basanti?

Anyways…the Blank Noise Team laughed it off…it was not hurting us anyway.

What got to all of us here was a report by IANS about the Blank Noise Project’s Night Action Plan. Chinmayee, Knownturf and Hemangini defend it.

We are grateful to be supported by the press in so many ways. The project has reached people beyond the blogosphere, thereby widening our base of participants who go on to become the Blank Noise Action Heroes.

1. Blank Noise is also focusing on how to say instead of making everything a slogan. What is the message? What is the strategy we are adopting to communicate?

2. Blank Noise has worked through performance, thereby creating an experiential realm. For us, a headcount of 5000 is not as important as the ability to build an experience, depending on the strategy adopted. A night ‘march’ is different from a Night Action Plan, Blank Noise is currently engaged in the latter.

Blank Noise Project is not as much about action reaction but about probing, delving, experiencing, empowering and translating.

Thankyou!

The Blank Noise Team

Some More Noise: Blank Noise Project. Delhi

('panga nahin lene ka' is hindi for 'don't you mess with me')

Some More Noise was a sound and performance intervention that took place in the South Extension subway. 30 Blank Noise Action Heroes showed up and built the event.

The Action Heroes ( women) confronted the public by simply standing in the subway and maintaining eye contact with passersby. An intimate situation would result in the action hero giving a letter to the stranger. The letter bore a testimonial of street sexual harassment starting as ' Dear Stranger'. The letters were both in Hindi and English.

( these letters are various people's blog posts from the Blank Noise Blogathon conducted earlier in the year.)

Male action heroes stood outside the subway distributing pamphlets

A sound piece enclosed the space and filled it with noise.

The event was supported by Khoj, as a part of their public art residency programme. Thanks to all at Khoj, Pooja Sood, Aastha Chauhan, Manoj, Hemant, Rohini Devasher, Arun and Ramesh.

Delhi: Some more Noise

image1+2 are of the participants a couple of minutes before the public intervention in Delhi's South Extension Subway.

30 Action Heroes met an hour before the event to discuss the plan of action.

There was a new set of action heroes this time- The Blank Noise Action Heroes Team included students from Lady Sriram College, and members from the youth team of Action India.

Action Heroes: Abishek Baxi, Abigail Crisman, Amit Kendurkar, Anna, Annie Zaidi, Atreyee Majumdar, Geetanjali, Ekta Muktiar, Naveena, Priyanka Varma Sonu, Samvedna, Sujata Sarkar, Rahul Bhattacharya, Yuvraj....

Video Documentation by Astha Chauhan. Photos taken by Ambar Sharma.

Video documentation coming up.

Intervention in Delhi - Oct 8!

Let's meet up this Sunday in Connaught Place. Meet at Barista, N-Block CP (Outer Circle) at 4:30 PM.

Pallika and CP are just screaming for intervention!!! Email that you are coming so we know how many people to wait for!

Email is: bnpdelhi@googlegroups.com

Bangalore intervention

It was on August 6th, so follow the link pasted up above and leave us your thoughts!

Night Action in Vasant Vihar!

1] Sparse attendance was, er, an under-statement. However, thinking back to the evening, I realise that sparse attendance was not the problem, given our agenda - of putting up posters and stencilling. Vasant Vihar the Priya complex esp, is a place where most women do feel safe. There isn't much groping etc. But even within safe areas, there are pockets of discomfort. For instance, there are benches and sort-of squares/round platforms (?) where young people sit. Girls will sit there in groups or with male friends but never alone.

My thought - do we want to tackle this sort of discomfort, as opposed to active eve-teasing/harassment, at this stage?

2] Once outside the complex, the roads were completely deserted, from a feminine perspective. We did not attract that much unwanted attention because we were three women accompanied by four men. But there was no other woman out on the roads at that time, though this is a residential area, more or less, and it was only 10 pm. We did talk to people who came up to ask what we were upto. (Since there was a BBC radio guy there, with a mike in his hand, that led to a different kind of conversation.

Abigail adds: having someone from BBC with a microphone led to a somewhat different interaction--but it was interesting as during these actions we often do not engage with the public. A few men on the street were interviewed regarding their views on eve-teasing, whether they thought the way we were approaching the problem was correct, etc.

One of the men said that in his 23 years he has never eve-teased a girl. When asked how he would react the next time a woman was teased in front of him, if he would speak up, he said he could--but what can one person say or do? He can speak up but it won't change the fact that everyone else is still taking part in it or still silently watching. He also mentioned cases of violence against those who spoke out against harassment when it happened with the women in their family.

Another man was of the opinion that men will not eve-tease in a public place, that the presence of the public will stop them. But "agar by chance" it happens all the woman has to do is say something and they will come to her aid.

The comments made I thought were generally positive, even if they tended to be of the nature, "I've heard it happens" or "occasionally it happens...").




Back to Annie:
3] Good moment - a car full of drunk young men slowed down near us while we were stencilling near a bus-stop. One young chap got down to talk to me. I read out some of the testimonials we were painting on the roads. He asked to be allowed to spray-paint (and did a good job). His friends in the car were acting dismissing and tittering. He turned around and told them "It happened to my sister too." That, rather effectively, shut them up.



4] Unpleasant moment - one of the stops where we put posters turned out to be a sort of hangout place for another bunch of teenaged boys - this is where they hid their cache of booze, we think. They were already somewhat drunk, perhaps, or perhaps were annoyed with us for being in their way... they passed some comments, after reading the poster. Like, "Oh, so you are not allowed to touch, to look, to whistle... make sure you don't whistle, yaar, but what you should do is go up to the girl, tell her to make friendship; that's what you should do." This was not, strictly speaking,a wrong thing to say, but was said with a smirk and with deliberate sarcasm.
How is one to deal with responses like that? Should we deal with them at all?




5] I think we need to work out different strategies for different areas of action. We need to think of doing more than just putting up posters or stencils or testimonials at night. Maybe build up an idea (and material) bank. Anybody who has new ideas could mail Jasmeen and let's see if something workable works out.



These are: Annie Zaidi and Abigail Crisman's thoughts, Melissa Zuroff's photos.
Email us at:blurtblanknoise@gmail.com


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NIGHT ACTION!

(Please note: this is the new plan)
Time: 9 pm, Friday, 29th Sept.
Meeting at: Barista, Priya complex, Vasant Vihar.

This time we tackle Vasant Vihar, some parts of which should be fairly crowded on a Friday night, but curiously, the 'safe' zone ends immediately outside Priya theatre complex. The plan is to meet at this complex and then take a walk round to another market nearby, and back to the Priya complex, with posters, stencils, paint, Blank Noise etc.

(If you're media we'd appreciate that you call us, talk to participants and understand where we're coming from rather than show up, misunderstand, factually distort and misrepresent. But hey, you already know that!)

Hope to see you all there!

Night Action Plan. 2

Calling Action Heroes

Blank Noise Project, Delhi calls you to engage in our 'Night Action Plan 2'

Where: Lajpat Nagar Market

Date: Friday, Sept 29th

Time: 9 pm

criteria: wear something you always wanted to but could not.

Walk includes some talk. food. drink and 'action'

warning: (Action might require people to sprint, hide, run)

We will arrange for taxis to get home. Blank Noise will be grateful if people lend their cars for public service.

( Last Friday's Night Action Plan was between Dilli Haat and Sarojini Nagar Market.
Over the course of 2 months we propose to have testimonials of street sexual harassment all over Delhi with a new location every week.)

T SHIRTS FOR AUTOS!

DEDICATED TO ALL THE LADIES IN INDIA WHO HAVE TRAVELLED BY AUTOS AND HAVE HAD AUTO WALLAS ADJUSTING THEIR REARVIEW MIRRORS. GIVE IT BACK LADIES! KYA DEKH RAHE HO?


BLANK NOISE T SHIRTS ARE AVAILIABLE IN SMALL, MEDIUM, + LARGE. THEY ARE BOTH SLEEVELESS AND WITH SLEEVE. MAIL US AND WE WILL HAVE IT SENT TO YOU. THANKYOU!
The ts maybe dedicated to women in india but are for any/every woman. ( In future, the t will also be in SOME regional languages- kannada, telegu, tamil...respond and you will hear from us)

Buy a set of 3 for Rs. 300 and gift it to your friends!

Each Shirt costs Rs. 160/

To buy a t shirt email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com and we will get back to you. Thankyou!

T'S were created at a public art residency in KHOJ, Delhi.

SOME MORE NOISE- calling volunteers

REMINDER- SUNDAY/ SOUTH EX SUBWAY-'SOME MORE NOISE'
CALLING VOLUNTEERS!

COMING UP: BLANK NOISE Ts for AUTO RIDES

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

SOME MORE NOISE- calling volunteers

SOME MORE NOISE - is a sound and performance intervention scheduled for Sept 17th at South Ex Subway, New Delhi

Blank Noise calls for volunteers, both male and female !

To participate please call 98734 85284 immediately!


The show will be put together with the Blank Noise Team, Delhi. Thanking Raj Shekhar for working on the audio interviews.
Supported by Khoj Public Art Residency and Ashoka Foundation

Night Action Plan

Blank Noise Project, Delhi calls you to engage in our 'Night Action Plan'

where: Our Friday Night Action Plan begins from Delhi Haat at 9 pm------girl's hostel------towards Sarojini Nagar Market.

criteria: wear something you always wanted to but could not.

Walk includes some talk. food. drink and 'action'

warning: (Action might require people to sprint, hide, run)

Confirm by calling Blank Noise Delhi at 98734 85284

We will arrange for taxis to get home. Blank Noise will be grateful if people lend their cars for public service.