Why "India Outside India"?

Since I came to NYC I have been trying to capture for the benefit of my international friends what is ‘India’ or ‘Indianness’. We have discussed various facets of Indian people, culture, ways of meaning making and what it means to live as an Indian. It was also interesting when my international friends shared what they thought being Indian was/must be like for me. I have been capturing visuals that I thought express non-Indians’ perceptions about India and also the expressions/visuals shared by the Indian community in US that must be shaping this perception. After a year of gathering images and talking in my head about it I thought why not put it all down in a blog.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Bell Bajao Abhiyan

This video was shared in our Media, Culture and Education class. I was pretty impressed by the video and also by the fact that it was distributed by Govt of India (Ministry of Women and Child Development). The video is crisp with strong visuals. The ball bouncing in the kid's hand and the image and sound of the bell are two very powerful images.


In the class, it was interesting to hear comments from an international crowd. For me the most important aspect was adolescents having power to intervene. Here are some comments from the class that stood out: would have liked to see girls in the mix; punk kids (refering to the galli cricket gang) taking social action was a powerful message, opening and closing of the doors seemed like passing of days and that the kids would always be there.


I personally thought that the same film would not have worked with girls. Galli cricket is a phenomenon. In this case with a Chaul setting, in lower middle class Mumbai. I assumed that in a different setting girls/women will have a role. I was reading more about the film maker Mallika Dutt and stumbled upon the website for the Bell Bajao Abhiyan (Ring the bell campaign). There are two more videos. Both featuring men (not young adults) taking similar action, ringing the bell. The website says the campaign is "asking men and boys to bring domestic violence to a halt". I have to read more to see why they are focusing on men. It was intersting though that I never saw the absence of girls in the video till it was pointed out.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)