Let peace prevail…

With that belief,Giri,a musician by profession,started a campaign three years ago. “When all kids in a gang go about carrying toy pistols and revolvers during Durga Puja or Kali Puja,it looks like a group of extremists are on the move. This can be stopped only if parents are conscious about not buying such violent toys for their kids,” said Giri,who has been performing in the Assam All India Radio from 1976. He used to run a music school also which he handed over to his senior students in 1996 when he became a full time activist.

Giri first donned the activist’s role in the 90s when the unbearable noise of huge trucks roaming on the roads of Dispur almost made him an insomniac. “I could not sleep in that noise. The mafias operated these trucks which had to be moved at night only since they carried illegal goods,” he said. Finding no other way,Giri staged a sit-in on the Dispur highway all through those nights with a lamp in his hand.

“The mafias threatened me. They made me wear a garland of shoes. But I did not care. However,I had written to the then President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam on the issue but nothing had been done,” rued Giri.

Giri openly confesses that he is not much interested in political happenings but he has one very strong view — that violence from any party for any cause is unacceptable. He has toured all over Assam on a cycle to spread the message of peace and even met ULFA leader Paresh Baruah’s mother during that trip.

“Wherever I went people responded overwhelmingly. They emphasized the fact that they want peace. I got repeated life threats from the ULFA at that time. I told them that I don’t understand your ways,but I do believe that both of us are serving Mother India,in our very own ways,which are very different from each other,” he said.

Giri has sent memorandums to Chief Ministers of all states to stop the use of toy weapons and violent video games among children. “I hold meetings and rallies in several cities of India every year on August 14,December 31 and January 25. After this meeting in Kolkata I will go to Lucknow and start protesting in front of the toy factories,” he said.

Giri felt the urge to do something when a neighbour’s kid shot his mother from a play gun. The woman became deaf. “The child did not even realise what he had done. It is not their mistake. Children by nature are copy masters. The parents have to be much more responsible,” said Giri.

Treading the path of an activist has not been easy for Giri. He has given up eating non-vegetarian food for the last three years,to save money for his work. “I know I will not be able to bring about any change in my lifetime. But I will keep trying. At least I will be able to sensitise a few people,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

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