Sankalp 2013: An SSR Event

“We are the angry and the desperate, the hungry, and the cold, we are the ones that kept quiet and always did what we were told”.

Women in our country are given the status of “Laxmi”, “Saraswati”, “Durga”  and even that of “Sita” but do we practice the value of the epic Ramayana that we worship and emphasize so excessively, so profusely, is the question that needs to be answered. When Raavana abducted Sita and kept her in confinement for 365 days, he did not touch her even once. Will that happen in today’s age? If a woman gets kidnapped today do you think a man will refrain from touching her? Or will she have to sacrifice her life in order to prove her sanctity, her innocence? Just like Sita did. Education is imparted about gender equality and values but is it practiced?

 The time to discuss, debate or march with a candle in hand about issues relating to Dowry, Eve Teasing, Molestation, Sexual Harassment, Incest, Rape and lot more has long gone, now is the time to take action or else it will be too late. With such strong views in mind and resolve to change, the SSR Committee at SIMSREE organized Sankalp 2013, an inter-collegiate competition, on International Women’s Day. The event proceeded with the first hand narration of the day of infamy, 26/11 terror attacks of Mumbai by the real life ‘Dabangg’ or call him ‘Singham’, Mr.Vishwas Nangare Patil, IPS officer and addl. Commissioner of police (West zone). He explicitly described his experience of that gloomy day as he was one among the very few armed policemen who were present at Café Leopold within the very first hour of the firing, who pursued the four attackers inside the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers Hotel. The words that he spoke skimmed the souls of every one present.

Following which Mrs.Nisreen Mamaji, alumnus and proprietor at Moneyworks took on the stage to educate and inspire the female to invest wisely. She gave some really wonderful ways to calculate the actual amount of savings that one must plan and invest for the future. She even proposed some truly good opportunities in which youngsters can start investing for a brighter future. Mrs.Usha Laxman, Director at Muktangan instructed the audience about the activities which are carried out at Mutangan. Muktangan is an initiative of Paragon Charitable Trust, a pioneering educational programme with an innovative model, working in close partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. It is an educational programme that offers alternatives to orthodox educational practices. The project seeks to offer a sustainable model of quality education at an affordable cost for the economically deprived sections of the society. Mrs. Usha Laxman is the daughter in law of the well renowned cartoonist Mr.R K.Laxman. At the end the duo announced the winners for ‘Drishti’ poster ad making competition the subject for which was Promoting Education.

After which ‘Kalpana’ the case study competition initiated. The case was based on REAP “Reach Education Action Programme” (a Mumbai based NGO) which was born out of a need to combat illiteracy and ensure every child is in school. For millions of children out-of-school and in child labor, education is still a distant dream. Yet, it is a known fact that primary education is the key to development and that the future of the country is shaped in her classrooms. From a modest beginning of 15 literacy centers in 1998 REAP made giant strides and within a short period expanded its network to over 450 centers by 2005 covering more than 10,000 learners. These include children on the street, slums, rag-pickers, child laborers and tribal children. Every year about 3500 children are mainstreamed in formal education. REAP also networks with government schools to upgrade quality education and prevent drop-outs.

Lastly, Mr.Alyque Padamsee, an Indian theater personality and ad film maker a.k.a the Brand Father of Indian advertising came to address the spectators on his initiative about the Zero Tolerance Campaign for Sexual Harassment against women.  He is probably best known for his English-speaking and for playing “Muhammad Ali Jinnah” in the film Gandhi. For 14 years, Padamsee was the CEO at Lintas who built Lintas India to be one of the top ad agencies in the country. Over the years he has built more than 100 brands. Presently he is the CEO of AP Advertising Pvt. Ltd., the well-known Image and Communications Consultants, who provides consultancy services to a number of national and multinational companies, as Creative Advisors.

Mr.Ruben Mascarenhas, who accompanied Mr.Padamsee, also works as a part time activist and volunteers for the Zero Tolerance Campaign. Mr.Padamsee spoke about how each woman in our country is a vulnerable victim to sexual harassment & molestation. Almost every woman passenger who has commuted on the suburban railways has a horror story to tell. Male hawkers selling their wares in women’s coaches are another problem, not all behave like gentlemen. But few women object to hawkers on board as the convenience of buying knick-knacks overrides security concerns. It all starts with a wrong mindset and attitude which must be rectified. Both the men spilled some beans on their progress to stop sex crimes against women. Lastly the winners for ‘Sangharsha’ the ad video making competition were announced.

It was a great initiative that was taken up by the SSR Committee and all those who were present had something to learn. SIMSREE applauds the efforts put in by each and everyone to make the event a great success.