The Healing Song

These students,from 10th grade to college,will put up a music show with a couple of numbers related to abuse. Vishal Gulve on drums,Mikael Korpela on bass guitar,Floyd Fernandes on guitar,Maahir Khan on vocals/guitar and Sandra Edmonds on vocals will take centrestage at High Spirits,Koregaon Park,8 pm onwards on April 4. “We are very glad to be part of such a cause. It’s about spreading awareness and making a difference,” says Vishal. The young band is practising hard for the show. “We want to put up a good show. We aren’t sticking to any one genre. Our performance will have two songs based on sexual abuse,” he adds.

Bajaj,who is also a psychologist at the school,is thrilled with the participation of the students. “We are charging a nominal amount of Rs 200 from attendees. This will go into a fund that will benefit six victims of sexual abuse. The children and adults in the poorer sections of society have no knowledge about how to deal with such an issue. The government does offer compensation but they aren’t aware of this and thus can’t avail of it,” she says. Bajaj has been confronted with cases in which the trauma that the victim goes through is too severe to describe in words. “We also want to start pumping money towards catching perpetrators. Why shouldn’t the night be safe for women to step out? I can be friends with anyone but that doesn’t give them the right to rape me,” she says in light of recent cases in Delhi and Noida and the response of police personnel. “See,most NGOs are doing awareness work. By next year,we want to build a fund while liaising with Childline and Muskaan so that we can provide medical,transport and every other assistance to victims of abuse,” she says.

The event will have audio-visual clippings as well as a screen showcasing ‘Project Unbreakable’ by photographer Grace Brown. Brown’s project,which has struck a chord with women across the globe,shows former victims of sexual abuse holding up a board with words that their attacker said to them – from ‘Close your eyes. This might hurt a bit’ to even ‘I Love You’. “Brown’s project is a way of helping women heal,” says Bajaj who wants to reach out to the middle and upper middle classes to tell them that it is their responsibility to make a difference,whether it’s spreading awareness or going to the police. “My maid might tell me about an incident that’s happened in her basti. So,it is my duty to act on that,” Bajaj explains.